Arts & Entertainment

New group with same r&b sound

By Katrina Esco
The Daily Cougar

Coming off a four-year hiatus, Blackstreet is back after what many thought was the end of the New Jack quartet. 

The group split shortly after their last release Finally in 1999 with what looked like slim chances for a reunion. 

Joseph Cultice/Dreamworks Records

The group Blackstreet as it was known is no more. The nameis the same, but the members have changed. Levi Little and Dave Hollister are no longer with the group. 

The new faces of Blackstreet include Mark Middleton and Eric Williams along with two original members, Teddy Riley and Chauncey Hannibal. 

The mastermind behind the latest release, Level II, is veteran producer Riley. Though the members are different, the Blackstreet sound is still the same. 

The party track "Wizzy Wow" is extremely trendy. Rapper Mystikal appears on the track and delivers the energetic, gritty lyrics that his fans love. 

"Wizzy Wow" is last on the CD, but the album does begin on a better note. The intro "Ticket to Ride" gets us ready for the tracks that follow. 

When compared to boy bands today, Blackstreet has a more mature sound. This could be the reason why songs like "You Made Me" are the best tracks on the album. This song is both sexy and sensual and delves deeper than the one-night rumps that have come to be accepted from artists like R. Kelly. 

In 2000 Hannibal filed a $2 million dollar lawsuit against group leader and producer Riley for misappropriation of funds. 

Hannibal claimed never to have received royalties and to have been insufficiently paid after the groupis break with their label Interscope Records. 

Riley then filed a countersuit for slander and defamation of character. No further legal action was taken.

Blackstreet

Level II

Dreamworks

The verdict: Level II remains satisfying from the intro to the end.
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