"Niggaz running a race just to settle for Solange...2nd" - Pusha T
Now don't ever get it twisted. Pusha T is my dude. EASILY one of my favortie MC's over the past 20 years. But that line...right there? Nah bruh. When you're dealing with Solange you're never "settling" and shorty mos def ain't coming in 2nd place. Now, of course, I get the reference that Beyonce will always be 1st and Solange is coming in 2nd place behind her but in my humble opinion, B and Solange are running in two completely different races. B does what she does and Solange does what she does and they both do it VERY well. Like my dude Beans would say...facts. In fact, if Solange's last name was Jackson NO ONE would even be comparing her to Beyonce because again, they're in two totally different lanes. Now, that we've got that hoopla outta the way, most folk who know me, KNOW that I swear by Solange's 2nd album "So-Angel & The Hadley Street Blues" so at least for them it shouldn't come as any surprise that I was hype as hell when word got to ear that Solange had a new album dropping. And then when I heard that Raphael Saadiq was the executive producer?!?!? Man please, that was literally the cherry on top. So, since I'm a die hard Solo fan, I'm sure ya'll are wondering just how dope is "A Seat At The Table?" Well, let me tell ya'll...it's REAL fucking dope!
"A Seat At The Table" sets off with "Rise" which is the perfect intro into what you're about to be blessed with and "Weary" is dope as hell but the party really sets off with "Crane In The Sky." Over a uptempo rim shot banger with some classic Saadiq's bass work going on, Solo goes into all of the things she's tried to do to make herself happier, "I tried to drink it away, I tried to put one in the air/I tried to dance it away, I tried to change it with my hair/I ran my credit card up, thought a new dress would make it better/I tried to work it, but that just made me even sadder/I tried to keep myself busy, I ran around in circles Think I make myself dizzy/I slept it away, I sexed it away, I read it away." "Mad" featuring Lil Wayne breaks down getting pissed off but at the same time, learning to let it go, "Don't You Wait" has a electro feel to it and has Solo telling folk if you're expecting some lovey dovey music from her while black folk are catching hell in this country, don't wait for it and I'm sure "Don't Touch My Hair" will become every black woman's theme music as much as I hear them beefing about how white folk always wanna touch their hair. "Don't touch my hair, when it's the feelings I wear/don't touch my soul, when it's the rhythm I know/don't touch my crown, they say the vision I've found/don't touch what's there, when it's the feelings I wear."
"F.U.B.U." feat. The Dream is STUPID and along with Kendrick's "Alright" should be the anthem for any marches, protests, black lives meeting, all black girl's scout meetings, black bar mitzahz, etc. "Borderline" featuring the Abstract Poetic and "Junie" are both dope and "Don't Wish Me Well" is the album's lone slow jam banger & it's definitely a BANGER! "Scales" ends the album with Solo talking about how the streets see black men in the hood as kings but the world sees them as failures but my favorite song on the album is "Where Do We Go?" Maaaaaaaaaan this song is SOOOOOO dope! From the door the drums on this jawn bang and Saadiq's bass playing just takes it to a whole nother level and gives Solo the perfect canvas to talk about how to get through a break up. "We bowed our heads, we broke our bread that night/shook our hands, then conquer and divide/this used to be home, this used to be what we know/what used to belong, now good and gone/ and I don't know where to go, no I don't know where to stay/don't know where to go, and I don't know where to stay, where do we go from here?" I'm telling ya'll, this jawn right here is the dopest thing since sliced bread...for real.
Now I'm not even gonna hold you, when I first saw the tracklisting, I was blown cause I'm like why does shorty have 21 songs on here? Nobody's gonna have a dope album with 21 songs cause with that many songs there's way too much time & space to drop the ball. Plus I know a good 6-8 of these "songs" are really just interludes and if there's one thing I think is played out in 2016, is a rack of interludes. Yeah interludes were dope back in '87 when De La's dropped "3 Feet High & Rising" and introduced them to us but that was 27 years ago. So at this point I didn't know what to expect throwing on "A Seat..." but guess what? Solo absolutely anihilates everything I just said cause each interlude has a place on the album and feeds PERFECTLY into the next song. From "Dad Was Mad" which has her dad breaking down segregation and intergration which feeds perfectly into "Mad." Or her mom breaking down her feelings on black pride on "Tina Taught Me" flowing perfectly into "Don't Touch My Hair." And I won't hold you again, but when I heard that Master P was gonna be all over the album I was like...huh? But even P's interludes are dope too! And I don't even like Master P! It's to the point, I wanna say his interludes actually help make the album even doper. So, all of that to say, Solo has ANOTHER damn near classic banger in the chamber with "Seat" so Pusha's gonna have to come up with somebody else to come in 2nd place cause 2nd place damn sure don't belong to Solange.
4 outta 5 mics
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