Lenny Kravitz hates it when critics call him retro, contending that love, revolution, and smooching should belong to every generation. But the problem with Kravitz’s new album, It Is Time for a Love Revolution, is not just its bland message; it’s that it rips off artists like David Bowie, Led…

Beanie Sigel’s rough-and-ready new CD stands in direct contrast to his onetime mentor Jay-Z’s latest. While Hov reminisces about his pre-posh days on American Gangster, Sigel is still living them on The Solution. Since his last album (2005’s The B.Coming), Sigel was acquitted of attempted murder and spent some time…

Kate Nash’s debut LP, Made of Bricks, was released last summer in the U.K., where she became an overnight sensation; both the CD and single, “Foundations,” charted at number one. The 20-year-old from a London suburb pals around with Lily Allen, with whom she’s frequently compared. Yet unlike Alright, Still…

Though some believe Lupe Fiasco is too smart for mainstream rap, that’s not exactly true. Most of the lyrics on his sophomore release, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, are pretty basic, clichéd stuff, right down to the CD’s opening monologue, “They thought it was cool to tear down the projects and…

Wu-Tang Clan’s fifth album comes at a time of strife within the group. Ghostface Killah and Raekwon have laid into Wu ringleader and beat maker RZA for the album’s creative direction. Calling Wu a sinking ship and RZA a “hip-hop hippie,” Raekwon says the beats on 8 Diagrams are too…

Chris Brown is well known to screaming teenagers, but he broke out to a wider audience at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. There, he perfectly parroted the Gloved One’s Moonwalk, prompting Justin Timberlake to tell the world he felt old. That indicated the torch had officially been passed. Brown…

Despite his announcement late last year that he had fathered an illegitimate child, Alejandro Sanz remains an internationally beloved Latin balladeer. An aging heartthrob and the bestselling pop star to ever come out of Spain, Madrid native Sanz is not yet a household name in America, despite hitting big with…

It’s been a tumultuous year for Phonte and Big Pooh of Little Brother, the Durham, North Carolina, group that became one of underground hip-hop’s brightest stars at the beginning of the decade. This year saw them part ways with producer 9th Wonder, who seemed to have his hands full producing…

Soulja Boy’s entry in the minstrel rap sweepstakes is called Souljaboytellem.com, and it has been virally marketed in a savvy way. Nonetheless, it’s about as stripped-down as a record can be. This is what rap would sound like if it had been invented in the 19th century — simple snaps,…

For an indie-pop group, Georgie James has had a rapid ascent, and they deserve it. Former Q and Not U drummer John Davis put his head together with the band’s other primary member, fellow Washington, D.C., songwriter Laura Burhenn, in 2005. Before long, they were opening for Camera Obscura on…

While putting together his latest verbose yet exhilarating album, None Shall Pass, Aesop Rock moved from New York to San Francisco, got married, quit smoking, and turned 30. So, it’s not surprising that the record shows changes in his style; rather than battle-rap-style posturing, it focuses on semiautobiographical stories from…

Derivative, repetitive, insipid, insincere, and pandering, Songs About Girls also has the worst insert booklet in recent memory — seven pages of will.i.am mugging in a checkered suit. The first song, “Over,” a lover’s lament featuring a sample from Electric Light Orchestra (never a bad thing) isn’t terrible. But with…

Kanye is the most exciting man in rap because he puts out quality, popular albums. Forget the artless 50 Cent and Akon — Kanye tries harder, and Graduation, which has 13 bangers and zero skits, reflects the man’s tireless work ethic. Having united backpackers and clubbers with his first two…