| | | | |  | | | |
| | | |  Amazon.com:
When you put the word "masterpiece" in the title of your debut double CD, you'd damn well better be able to back it up. Thankfully, Cody Chesnutt has the goods. This precocious, sex-obsessed, spaced-out, spiritual singer is practically bursting at the seams with talent and ideas. With The Headphone Masterpiece, he delivers a homemade, lo-fi stew made of smooth funk, forceful rock, and gritty hip-hop, all topped off by the sweet-crooning voice of a great soul singer. Across 36 tracks, Chesnutt invites you into his psyche, and it's a unique journey to say the least, wending as it does from the weightiest of spiritual concerns to that morning's hard-on. So is it a masterpiece? Well, not quite. Even Mr. Chesnutt must believe that he's got better music still in him. But The Headphone Masterpiece is an ambitious opening salvo from an artist who may well take his place in the celebrated lineage that extends from Hendrix and Sly Stone through George Clinton, Prince, D'Angelo, and so on. Once he learns to harness his surging electricity, Chesnutt may offer us a true masterpiece--or even a few of them. --Marc Greilsamer | | | | |
Average Rating : 
Rating :  - Lives up to its title
This is another CD I just had to check out after hearing Chesnutt (apparently, it's written "ChesnuTT") sing on Dave Chappelle's Block Party (Unrated Widescreen Edition). He has a very good voice and, given the company he was keeping on this DVD (not to mention his inspiring guest appearance on The Roots' Phrenology), I was curious as to why I hadn't heard more of him or seen any of his videos on MTV Base.
One listen to this CD and I had my answer. He's all over the place. Not in a bad way but I could immediately see why it might've been very difficult for label execs or commerical radio (or more importantly, for listeners) to categorise or pigeon hole him. In this day and age, such categorisation or pigeon holing seems essential if commercial success is the primary goal.
Sometimes using his natural voice and sometimes a falsetto that while never off-key or flat, always sounds incredibly raw, the man leads on a complex journey covering 36 songs spread across 2 discs, through soul, neo-soul, electronica, hip-hop, spoken word, rock and some of the most sexually explicit lyrics I've ever heard. And I've heard quite a number. The second disc is "enhanced" and I assume this means it does something when you put it in your PC but after the Vivian Green Vivian debacle a few years ago, I will not be attempting to find out. The music alone is more than enough for me, thank you.
"The Headphone Masterpiece" is a very ambitious title for any CD but I think ChesnuTT lives up to it here. Especially when you consider the fact that he's "written, arranged, composed, performed & engineered (recording & mixing)" every single song. If you can stay with him while he takes you over musical valley and hill, I believe you'll find it quite a full and enjoyable experience. You definitely need an open mind though - in more ways than one. This is more Van Hunt than Ne-Yo or Omarion.
Personally, I love it.
 | |
