Yup, I said it: Dwele's new CD, Some Kinda, is a one-hundred percent baby-maker. It's that intimate, that seductive. Music to make deep, passionate love to. Honestly, this is a first-to-last track aphrodisiac in a manner I've not heard since Marvin Gaye's hypnotic I Want You , a soul music classic.
I kid you not: Some Kinda is a purring, creep-up-on-you Neo Soul mindf***. Amidst today's yelling and screaming hip-hop world — which I enjoy — this is a subtle but powerful charmer. The strong silent type.
Ladies, Dwele is quite the sensuous crooner. The man coos everything you wish your guy would open up and say. In other words, Dwele's got major game. The kind you'd kick Boris Kodjoe, Shemar Moore, and Brad Pitt to the curb for, if Dwele approached you in a club whispering words this way.
Fellas, if you're planning the night when you'll make your big move on a new lady in your life, get this CD. Don't mean to be crass, but by the time the second or third track ends, you ought to hear Victoria's Secret being whispered in your ear. You'll be smoking those proverbial cigarettes well before Dwele reaches track fifteen.
Now for specifics. Some Kinda is non-stop, deep thought by Dwele (Gardner), 26, who gained national attention years ago as an emcee-vocalist in the Detroit-based rap group Slum Village. Slum Village is a household name among sophisticated beat eaters, for those with a taste for acts such as De la Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Common and Mos Def. Jazz-informed message hip-hop on a higher level.
So with a step away from his progressive rap group, who is Dwele today? A young man with jazzy Neo Soul-ish vocals, practically channeling the warmth of Marvin Gaye. He did, after all, grow up breathing Motown's funky-fresh air.
But his was an atmosphere in which tragedy struck at an young age. His father was murdered when he was ten. There are fleeting references to this on his records; if you know the story, you'll get it. But it's not alienating, these brief remembrances. They're endearing. In an interview two years ago, for his first solo album, he told Wordmag.com this about his loss:
"The loss of my father really inspired my creative side. By getting into music, it provided me with a way to cope with his death," says Dwele.
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