Mariah Knocks 50 Cent : The Emancipation of MiMi
© Mecca Donna
Mariah is 2005's comeback kid! There is a general feeling of happiness for the return of America's beautiful R&B/ Pop Star. Mariah Carey usurped the #1 spot on the charts from Hip-Hop's Juggernaut 50 Cent. She's beating out the tough guys with her ninth album entitled "The Emancipation of MiMi". Really it should be no surprise to any of us.
Mariah has a history of beating out the competition. What competion? Try the Beatles. That's more than big. She sang her way to the top as the artist with the most cumulated weeks at the top of the Billboard Charts- nixing the Beatles. Need more? Try every female artist. She is THE best selling female artist of all time. Not Whitney. Not Aretha. Not Patti. Not Beyonce. Mariah. I know it's an awakening of sorts, but some memories have to be jarred.
"The Emancipation" has been said to be her labor of love. I will say it definately out scores her previous attempts "Glitter" and "Charmbracelet". The album features Hip-Hop's Snoop,Twista, Nelly, Jermaine Dupri and Kanye West. These features were enough to get you to nod your head and move your feet a little, but I can't go so far as to say the project is magnificent.
Even though the production from heavyweights like The Neptunes, Kanye West, and "Big Jim' Wright is somewhat commendable, the vocals don't have the same substance as the 90's Mariah. The 70's smokey feel tracks like "Mine Again," "I Wish You Knew," and "Say Somethin " gave the album a feel of consistancy.
The attempt to spice it up came from "Shake It Off" and "It's Like That." These are the dance club tracks and Nelly's vocals are great. The contrast makes for a surprising appeal. But it's falls short of the glory of the artist that sat at the top of the charts every year in the 90's.
The album is totally listenable, muted vocals aside There are times when Mariah's vocals are airy and forced and production fails to cover and compensate. It makes you long for the former Mariah who belted out vocals you could sink your teeth into.
The ending note to the album was amazing. She made you believe in that 7 Octave range again. It gave us all proof that the "Vision of Love" Mariah still lives inside of her.
"The Emancipation of MiMi" is commendable. 400,000 copies sold in the first week out. (Nothing to sneeze at) But Mariah Carey is what legends are made of! 15 #1's , multiple Grammy's, American Music Awards, and countless others. If she can pull off this sort of amazing response with half the gusto, it's going to be awesome in every sense of the word to listen to album 10.
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