Coolio Stays True To Rap In ‘My Soul’

Coolio

“My Soul” (Tommy Boy)

A clever skit on the Grammy-winning South-Central Los Angeles rapper’s third album summarizes the dilemma of every artist who reaches crossover success: how to maintain your identity while trying to please the world. In the sketch, one voice urges Coolio to make hard-core gangsta records, while another demands that he do more for the black community. It’s a final, older voice that gets him, telling him to rap about what’s in his heart and in that way salvage the soul of his music.

Preserving integrity is the one thing Coolio easily achieves here. The record gets off to an impressive start with “2:21 Minutes of Funk,” with Coolio freestyling with fury and pushing off his naysayers. The best songs are those where Coolio takes the mask from different sides of society and takes a look inside. Coolio proves himself an artist who’s still worth listening to.

Vanessa Williams

“Next” (Mercury)

It should be abundantly clear by now: Williams is not the chanteuse to turn to for cup-runneth-over emotion. She’s much too cool for that. A typical Williams tune is one in which she can deliver a technically pure, if emotionally distant, performance.

She employs a variety of producers here, but the sassy, upbeat defiance of “Happiness” makes you wish she had confined herself to the services of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. They have a knack for loosening up even the most determinedly cool vocalist, and Williams is no exception.

Ever the trained actress, she turns “What Were You Thinkin’ ‘Bout?” into a caustic, scorned-woman’s tale. Not even the song’s quirky rhythmic turns can throw her. Williams is too smart and savvy to ever deliver a record that’s not worth a listen. When she finally decides to apply her daring and smarts to nothing but bold, A-list material, that will be the record truly worthy of her gifts.