Search - Lv :: How Long

NEVER THOUGHT LV WOULD BE BACK

listontookadive | leeds england | 10/03/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"To my shock, LV returned in 2000(a long enough break for people to disassociate him from the faddish Coolio and "Gangstas Paradise"). Now hes on Loud Records(a far better label than Tommy Boy, even if it does largely churn out redundant ghetto ******) His new album thankfully boasts a new(ish) direction, but is difficult to categorise. The production is more advanced than the bland g-funk he use to perform on, and his voice is mucho impressive. Thankfully there is only one guest rapper on this album, Chef Raekwon, who adds his psychotic, meaningless rants and ghetto ebonics to the otherwise enjoyable "Hustlers 4 Life", which features an eerie violin loop.Otherwise, LV focuses on rnb, even if that irritating ghetto slang is always present in his lyrics. The first single "How Long" is really catchy, "Forgive Me Girl" has a hypnotic keyboard sound, there are too classy and enjoyable cover song which really showcase the big mans impressive voice "Womans Gotta Have It" and "I Dont Know Why" and "Thinkin Of You", where LVs sings a tune about missing someone over a simplistic acoustic guitar.It drags a little towards the end, and there are times you wish the production would be a little more adventorous. I would warn you that this album does take a little while to grow on you. At least it did with me, and seemingly the reviewers in Vibe and Source who obviously didnt give it much time. It did take a few listens before i fully began to appreciate it so i just thought i should give that a mention."