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Concrete Rose
01/05/2005 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dan Leroy
Having achieved far greater success than her very modest vocal abilities would suggest, Ashanti is no stranger to haters. She addresses them on “Freedom”: “In my heart I know they wishin’ I would stop.” And Concrete Rose might just do the trick. Built on repetitive hip-pop grooves that seem part of some misguided attempt to show Murder Inc’s gal Friday has grown, it exposes the limitations masked by the usually tuneful, often-clever R&B of her first two, chart-topping albums. While ear-catching elements surface from time to time – the nifty phased drum loop of “Focus,” or the off-kilter Oriental chimes on “Love Again” – you’re six songs in before you get one you can hum (“Don’t Let Them,” whose washes of organ provide as much vintage soul as Ashanti can handle). By the time a couple more show up, the disc is nearly over, and you’ve endured a plethora of forgettable two-chord vamps and “Turn It Up,” a disco stomp that will have Ja Rule’s G-Unit foes bent double with laughter. Without material, this Concrete Rose withers before your ears.
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