Alternative urban, that bastion of edgy, smart black music, has a dirty secret: at times it's guilty of playing it just as safe as the mainstream. Nu-soul brothers and sisters like Raphael Saadiq and Leela James make engaging, grown-up beats for soul connoisseurs. But take a listen and it ain't too hard to tell that they're drawing on the same me-decade Marvin, Curtis, and Aretha that inspired turn-of-the-century neo-soul predecessors like Maxwell and D'Angelo. How many times can we hear that '70s show before it starts feeling overplayed?
The quest for fresh alt-soul begins with Goapele. The Bay Area native first set heads nodding with her 2002 debut. Its refreshingly guileless mix of late-night grooves made it one of that year's standouts. Her latest, Change It All (Sony), finds the songstress revisiting that familiar groove, one that involves tranquil vocals and languorous beats. The plaintive "4 AM" is cut from the same gauzy cloth as "Closer" (the singer's breakout hit). Trust us, this is a good thing.
But true to its title, Change It All also takes a few unexpected turns. On a few tracks, Goapele flirts with electro-pop, and it works, surprising though it may seem. Her most successful effort in this vein is "Love Me Right," a buoyant party-starter that bubbles with the same infectious exuberance as OutKast's atypical "Hey Ya." And the singer teams with indie rock producer Linda Perry to give us "The Darker Side Of The Moon," a slow jam that melds soul and rock-ballad influences.
Goapele takes some missteps into frustratingly vague and cliché territory when she attempts to tackle social issues. The album's title track is weighed down with a message that informs but never really ignites. But overall, Change It All takes listeners on an enjoyable and genuinely adventurous journey.
On Ma'at Mama (K7), Philly native Ursula Rucker makes music that is as deliberately turbulent as Goapele's is serene. Alternative urban doesn't get more alternative than this. First off, Rucker isn't a singer but an erudite and very well respected spoken-word artist, draping her thought-provoking poetry over jazzy hip-hop beats. As an MC-poet, Rucker is nothing short of brilliant. Her confrontational wordplay bears echoes of dazzling lights such as Zora Neale Hurston, and Black Arts poet, activist, and icon, Sonia Sanchez (who also guests on one of the album's tracks).
Breakups, sexism, slavery, dirty politics—no dark stone goes unturned in Rucker's world. She's a fed-up wronged woman on the biting "I Ain't (Yo Punk Ass Bitch)"—"Fit me into your busy schedule of self-admiration/Sell tickets to your one-man show of self-adulation/At the high price of my self-deprivation/I ain't buyin' what you peddlin' no more." The fiery "Rant (Hot In Here)" is a battle cry for resistance and revolution ("put some heresy where your heart is"), taking on politics and big business: "Freedom is of late/Nothing but a generic catchword/Overused by those who wish to stay heard/Stay in power, fuel capitalism, perpetuate fear/While wearing the cloak of democracy/Great protector of humanity." And "Poon Tang Clan" is a magnificent sprawl of swagger, indignation, and media conspiracy theories, one that finds Rucker on a mission to redefine and empower the black inner-city experience on her own terms. It all adds up to music that's never less than incisive and memorable. Ma'at Mama is not to be missed.
Both Rucker and Goapele are brave and generous enough to give us music that eschews complacency to offer their version of the truth. And the truth is, alt-urban can be so much more than just a one-note groove.
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