Released 10/12/2010

Buy the album on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-foreign-exchange/id62851911

Phonte, one half of Little Brother, and Dutch producer Nicolay, recently released their latest album as the Grammy Nominated duo The Foreign Exchange, Authenticity. Being as this is their 3rd album in 6 years (releasing a joint every two years), what’s to expect from a a group that’s not as successful as they are acclaimed? Do they stick to the formula until the masses pay attention, or do the push the envelope forward and whoever jumps aboard can go back and do their homework? I put my headphones on to check this joint out.

The first thing I noticed is that this is a total sonic departure from their previous two albums. However, this was to be expected, if you really think about it. Connected (their debut), while dense with lush keys, bass and drums, was still very rooted in hip-hop, with Phonte doing a great deal of rhyming still. 2008′s Leave It All Behind saw Phonte going into MC mode a lot less. This album is the same in that respect, and Nicolay has almost completely shied away from the boom-bap foundation for this album.

The result is an album rooted in honest stories about the many journeys of love. Don’t Wait advises us to act immediately if we’re in love with someone that “loves us back.”  Maybe She’ll Dream of Me, the official first single is a charming ode to a lady who’s so beautiful that she’s probably never heard a no before.  Also, this is one of the only time Phonte spits a verse on this album. The title track, Authenticity, finds Phonte pleading to his lady about whether she’s looking for something that’s real, or if she just wants the impossible: a perfect relationship.

As far as production, Nicolay chose to employ either a lot of 80′s sounding drums over layered synths, electric guitars and bass (i.e. Authenticity, Don’t Wait), A tad bit of boom-bap over big sounding pad sounds (Make Me a Fool, Maybe She’ll Dream of Me), or go completely acoustic with the instrumentation (The Last Fall, All Roads, Laughing At Your Plans (featuring Yahzarah). When intertwined with the melodies, they always tend to work out perfectly. While Phonte can most definitely hold a note, his voice lacks range of any sort (aside from the occasional attempt of a falsetto), and sometimes it gets lost in the arrangements, as in the case of the otherwise excellent Laughing At Your Plans.

All in all, if I had to say anything bad about this album, it would be that it’s too short, and that Phonte’s voice needs a little more power on some of the songs. Even with that, it’s still WAY better than most of the R&B you will hear this year, and any year, and that’s just the bottom line. I know more than 3,700 people would love this album (Author’s Note: FE’s debuted at #165 on the Billboard 200 with sales of only 3,700 copies). I would strongly advise you to click on the link above and get some Authenticity in your headphones…NOW!

Minda: A few words that come to mind when I reflect on Aaliyah:
- Classic: Timbaland created some of his most timeless music with Aaliyah. To this day when an Aaliyah track comes on the radio it doesn’t feel dated or played out.
- Gorgeous: She was one of the most beautiful women I’d seen in my entire life. I remember watching the “Try Again” video over and over on BET in awe of her.
- Talented: Yes, she could sing, but she she could also dance. She was just a force to behold and it’s unfortunate we never got see her reach the heights of fame and success she deserved.
R. Kelly: Erm… let’s save that talk for another time

Click here to view the embedded video.

Reg Young: I was working at Record Town (later renamed to FYE) in Ford City Mall. I was working in the stock room at the time. We always got the shipments for new releases before they actually came out. So I had actually been listening to her album back in the stock room the entire week before its release in July 2001. Quite honestly, I remember not liking it initially. I felt like a lot of the songs were kind of boring when I first listened to them. Over time more of the album grew on me. I had seen on MTV that she was going to do a video for “Rock The Boat” and was pretty excited because 1) The beat was nice and it was one of my favorite tracks and 2) I figured we’d get to see a little skin. I had a little crush one her obviously.

Some weeks later I had moved into the dorms at UIC, and I remember being in the room settling in when news of the plane crash killing her hit, it was devastating to say the least. Here it was, another young artist, and just seemingly a beautiful person, gone just like that and way too soon. In my opinion, it wasn’t until after she passed away that her worth as an artist was truly realized. She was blossoming into a great actress and she was beginning to take control of her music. The tide was turning and the best was yet to come from her, but I guess God had other plans. We’ve had our share of young ladies come and go in the music industry, but none left the mark on our hearts that Aaliyah did. Rest in peace, Baby Girl!

Click here to view the embedded video.

JGill: Aaliyah passed 9 years ago and the story of her passing hit me like a ton of bricks when I was 15 in 2001. See I had my first dance to her “One In A Million” when I was 11 years old in the gymnasium of Glenside Middle School with the girl I was so called “in love with” and spent my time chasing all throughout in high school.

First, here is the video for Chris’ new ballad called Crawl – this definitely has single potential. And if the violence between them did not happen I think this song would definitely have the world going crazy. Its the Chris that we know – the Chris that we knew before February of this year. Oh well, another dream deferred. Check this out…

Now here’s Rihanna’s new video for her single, Russian Roulette, which did not get many good reviews upon its release a couple weeks ago. Its definitely not one of my favorite songs by her – I’m actually digging her track with Jeezy called Hard. That goes pretty hard. I think her album will be decent, but I’ve heard that she missed out on working with some great producers and went with the usual team that she works with. So we’ll see how that works out…

Who’s album do you think will do better? I’d like to hear your opinion…

This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

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This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

Ro Spit ft. Curt@ins, Big Sean & Bun B – Number 1 – A new track from The OH S#!T Project dropping Wednesday…

50 Cent – Man’s World – This is Curtis’ Full/CDQ version of a BISD bonus track, in stores next week…

Sheek Louch – Everyday (Prod. By Pete Rock) – Here’s another new joint from Sheek… hopefully this means a new mixtape is coming soon…

Diamond ft. Keri Hilson – Like A Stripper – The former Crime Mob member links up with Keri Hilson for her new single…This should be interesting, I wonder what the reception will be for this…

This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

Robin Thicke – Shake It for Daddy ft. Nicki Minaj | Meiple ft. Jay-Z – Two new tracks from one of the best crooners in the game right now…He’s already hit it out of the park with Sex Therarpy here are two more up-beat tunes…

Lloyd ft. Bun B – Like Me – The Young Money singer enlists Bun B on this track,  that is supposed to be on his new album, The Young Goldie due out in December of this year…

Joell Ortiz – On Tour Freestyle – Is it just me or does it seem like Joell wants to body everyone’s beats these days? I’m really not complaining but here’s another, this time conquering Wale’s World Tour track off of Attention Deficit…

This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

R.O.E. ft. Chris Mathien – The Gloves (No Quit) – Here is the homie R.O.E.’s new single off of his debut EP, “A Pen. A Mic. A Dream.” presented by Rock The Dub…

Lil Wayne ft. Birdman – No Ceilings (Prod. By Cool & Dre) - This track appears on the official version of No Ceilings… but this is the final/mastered version

Jamie Foxx ft. Gucci Mane – Speak French -  The first single from J Foxx’s upcoming album due out early next year…

R. Kelly ft. Tyrese, The-Dream, Robin Thicke, & Maxwell – Pregnant - This is an early version of the super single from Untitled… Just Kellz and Tyrese on this version but the final should also include Robin Thicke, The-Dream & Maxwell…

This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

The reactions from the ladies was like when I see Rosa Acosta do anything remotely nasty (I think I saw some panties and drool fly across the Twittersphere…) and most of the fellas didn’t appreciate the hoopla – which is normal (I didn’t either). But let me make this clear before you view for your 1st or 33rd time today, if your video needs to have a Parental Advisory Explicit Content tag to it then you pretty know it got pretty heated in the making of it.  But anyway, Trey went all out on this video pretty much withholding us from the actual freak session that came after this foreplay filled video. After watching this, I wouldnt be suprised if Trey got some video girl love…#imjustsayin…where is BET Midnight Love or Uncut when you need it? Goodness…

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This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

Here’s something soulful for you in the middle of the week…Released yesterday, here is the latest from the musical architect and producer extraodinaire, Zo!, who is widely known for his instrumental albums has collaborated with the likes of Phonte, Yahzarah, Darien Brockington, Sy Smith, and Carlitta Durand for this new EP…Check out the tracklist and download link after the jump…

From The Foreign Exchange News:

Working on this record has been a labor of love for everybody involved, and we hope it serves as a teaser for Zo’s upcoming full-length “SunStorm,” dropping next summer on FE Music. Enclosed in the “…just visiting too” zip file is a digital pdf booklet complete with all the album credits, information on the album’s vocalists and contributors, as well as information on the originals. Enjoy the music, pass it around to a friend, and as always thank you for the support.
We hope this record makes your transition into the holiday season much easier. Thank you for listening.

Team FE marches on!

One Love,
‘Te and Nic

Zo! – Just Visiting Too…Mixtape

This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…

XV – Vizzy Zone – The Kansas MC, XV jumps on Kid Cudi’s Cudi Zone…And bodies it…

Back By Popular Demand (Popeye’s) Freestyle – Joell comes thru once again to kill somebody’s beat…

Rihanna ft. Young Jeezy – Hard – Jeezy assists Rihanna on this track from Rated R…Now this one is def first single material…

This is WHAT’S IN MY HEADPHONES…