I got about halfway through this tape before I realized that my fears that I had before putting this on were coming true. This is just another R&B tape. I love R&B/Soul music, emphasis more on the soul, but just the same I like good R&B music. But the problem with today's R&B music is that there's no soul. Everything pretty much sounds the same. I can name a female singer, and then throw a rock and hit any two female singers that sound virtually the same. There are very few female artists out there that have a voice that is distinguishable from the others. There are some songs I like out there, but I couldn't really tell you who it is by out of fear that I'll pick the wrong name, and someone will say "see, you don't know nothing about R&B".

In the past we've had strong female singers that had their own identity and had their own sound. Whitney, Mary J, Mariah, Aretha, Patti, Nina and many others. Now just about all these singers sound the same. Whether it's Candice Jones, Lumidee, Beyonce, MEgan Rochelle, Kelly Rowland or any other of these carbon copy females, every song sounds the same on the radio now. Not only do the voices sound alike, but the production, the "sound" is alike.

Everyone wants to copy the last great hit, that no one makes NEW good hits. When Timbaland came out with Ginuwine's Pony, every wannabe producer (and some name guys) rushed out and tried to copy the style so they could do the same. Dre's always had copycatters, and the same goes with Rodney Jerkins and Pharrell.

That reminds me of a story about someone I like a lot. Hot 97 DJ Angie Martinez, when she was doing her first album, she had Pharrell in and she was like, "I want a beat like *X* song had" and Pharrell was just like "let me make you one for YOU".

Everyone wants to replicate a hot sound so much that what happens, which is what has happened on this tape, is that everything just about sounds the same.

Not to say the tape isn't any good. There's some nice songs on here, the production on them are nice, but as I said, it all sounds pretty much the same, whether it's a female artist or a male artist. It’s definitely a tape that you can throw on and not be mad that you did, but just don’t expect to hear much to differentiate one track from the next.

And that's not Cool Kev's fault entirely. He compiles what's hot, and apparantly what people like hearing is the same thing.

The one standout thing about this track is the lady who hosts the tape. One Miss Emily King. I predict that if this lady follows her instincts, and maps out her own sound and doesn't rely on simply doing what the last person did, and what the current person is doing, than she should be alright.

Her songs here are the best thing about this tape. Walk in My Shoes has a nice beat to it and has #1 written all over it. Emily King seems to be destined to have her upcoming album sitting in my CD player for quite awhile. (3/31/07)