G.O.O.D. Music’s recording artist Teyana Taylor brought back the 90s in full form last night. Her new mixtape was announced some time ago with clips on Instagram and it finally dropped last night at midnight.
The Cassette Tape ’94 is a 5 tracks affair where the history of the Golden decade of R&B is condensed. Through the clever use of samples, such as Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” on “Undercover,” Teyana was able to turn up our nostalgia levels from 0 to 100.
“Your Wish” fuses the sounds of early 90s Hip-Hop with the doubled vocal tracks, adlibs and melodies you’d find in girl groups. “Tonight” is the kind of New Jack Swing ballad SWV showcased on their first record, instead.
The production of the mixtape was mostly handled by J. Hill, JR Rotem, Da Internz with the help of Kanye West and others, while the only feature is her boyfriend, Iman Shumpert, on “Who’s Gonna Make it Home.”
Teyana’s first album, VII, was released last year and while it had some shining moments, it wasn’t exactly consistent from start to finish. What she delivered with this mixtape is solid, high quality material that would’ve made for a great concept album. That’s why the only complaint is that five tracks is way too short. Give us more!
Grade:
85/97