1. Wrong Singles Were Chosen
Without much debate we’d probably all agree that “She Bad Bad” was pretty damn bad, bad…and not in a good way. “Make it Out This Town” is a pretty good change of pace and a maybe a second or third single from the album but after limping out the gate with the chosen lead single, it didn’t hit like it could have. Even more problematic is that it wasn’t even the second best song on the album. The one single they got right was “Eve”. However, that should have been the lead single from this album. Lyrically, it’s one of the strongest songs on the album (since you said this was about you lyrically locking the game down). The hook is fun (and for those saying it’s annoying but rocking out to Bugatti, I’m judging you) and it screams your name, for the muh’fuckin win. The track seems to reach back to “Tambourine” which I still feel is a moment you need to try and get back somehow.
Where I almost totally convinced that “Eve” is the best song on the album, my only stutter step in giving it the title is with “Grind or Die”. The title says most of it, but when you hear the track and the flow, you’ll be just as equally torn as I am. She’s on some serious attack mode on this one versus nameless rappers with more attitude than we’ve seen from her since maybe her first album.
You could go one of two ways with the third single.“Wanna Be” has the energy you really want for a third single and adding Missy to any track commercially is a win. It gives you a tie in to your old fans and since Missy seems to always be current, you get the new fans as well. I’ll admit that this song is powered mostly by the feature of Missy but the other option, “All Night (ft. Claude Kelly and Propain)” is the opposite. This song has a much better sound overall, but lacks the star quality of a Missy feature. Propain provides a dope verse that will have anyone checking for more of his work after hearing him spit.
These changes in strategy: A reintroduction, a clear purpose or statement for the return and selection of the best songs on the album for singles would have yielded much better results than what she’s received. The album isn’t bad and it does have some of the hallmarks of someone who’s been out of the game a bit. She panders a bit to the current music scene and there is some lack of continuity in tracks, but the strong tracks on this album are great and 3 of my favorite songs of the year, male or female. Eve has NO lack of talent, but I think the lack of strategy have hampered what could have really been a solid lock on the female game commercially, no lip service.
*Lip Lock was released on her own From The Rib Music label