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More Than A Woman
12/05/2002 8:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
Toni Braxton's given her men the sweet stuff, as a Babyface-style balladeer. She's given them the sexy stuff, as a heatseeking hottie. But on her fifth solo album, she's flat-out giving them hell.
"Why did I treat you like my king/When you were out doin' the wrong thing?" she growls on "Let Me Show You The Way (Out)," and titles like "Hit The Freeway" and "Lies, Lies, Lies" suggest Toni's pissed about more than the toilet seat being left up. But all this anger's not just therapeutic--it also makes her transition to hard hip-hop diva seem sensible, instead of just a marketing move, by grounding it in something real. (Or something that sounds real, anyway: husband Keri Lewis did produce the guitar-heavy "Lies.")
The move toward the street begun on The Heat is accelerated here, and the Neptunes and Irv Gotti trade her sizzling tracks for a rare luxury--the chance to work with a truly great vocalist. Only when she's reduced to singing hooks, on "Give It Back," does Braxton falter; otherwise, the defiant More Than A Woman proves it's sometimes better to get mad than get even.
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