A rare thing this, a CCM album which would sound quite comfortable alongside the best of all current American rap/dance sounds in a disco or on radio. A couple of years back when Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel" first arrived, I remember thinking "why can't Christian albums sound like this?" Well, allowing for the obligatory Christian music time lag of a couple of years, here it finally is. A swingbeat/rap/soul Christian dance album, that luckily hasn't yet dated too much. In five year's time I can imagine piles of Christian albums sounding like this, but right now there are hardly any, so check this one out! Stephen Wiley may have been one of the very first Christian rappers, but unfortunately it's taken until now for his material to be on release in this country, and the couple of his tracks that previously appeared on the 'Ultimate Rap' collection sound rather dated today as they were recorded four or five years ago. This on the other hand is distinct from other Christian rap albums, as it's a collection of songs! They have real choruses and good singers involved: white soul girl Renee Garcia and hard rock man Greg X Volz are among the backing vocalists. A rhythm and a rap may be enough for others, but for Stephen Wiley, there has to be a tune as well, so the rap ends up being just one element in the arrangement. One track pays homage to today's number one craze, called "Teenage Mutant Youth Group Member" while another is reminiscent of LL Cool J's quiet moments - "You're My All" has slow moody sax. If you enjoyed "It's Time" from The Winans, then I think this will be for you. A little less soul and more rap than the four brothers, plus more Bobby Brown style funk, and you've got Stephen Wiley's new album. I could compile a whole Inspirational Dance Chart from these tracks, and so I recommend you don't let this one getaway!
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