plorentz's Full Review: The Way It Is [PA] by Keyshia Cole
He might be out on the street, crumpled over on his knees, beery-sweat-soaked, white wife-beater ripped over his tattooed chest; he might know that he did her wrong, that he'll need to beg, that he'll do it right there in the street, in plain view of his boys, in plain view of just anyone passing by. Like Brando in that old black-and-white movie, he'll know he's in trouble, he'll know he can't lose her, he'll scream her name until she takes him back. Or til the police come and arrest him for disorderly conduct. Whichever comes first.
And if it's up to her, well, she'll probably let him rot. She may not take any special pleasure in seeing him humiliated like the stray dog he is, but she's not gon' feel guilty about it either. She might glance down at him from her window up high, but she's not gonna fool with that mess anymore. She's no Stella, folks. No second chances here, or third, or fourth for that matter. She'll leave him there, out in the street, howling for her like a lost child in a supermarket; and then she'll call the police on him herself.
- - - - -
"You don't even try no more," she charges on the first track of her debut disc The Way It Is, and with her clarity of purpose, her strength of self, and the sincere disgust she registers for a guy she knows she really cares about on some level, it's apparent that Keyshia Cole isn't the kind of ingenue to score one glorious blockbuster scene for the ages before the pictures chew her up and spit her out in favor of the next R&B starlet.
Like Fantasia, of American Idol fame, Keyshia's debut is a portrait of the artist as a young woman who's seen a lot more of the world than most of us might like to, and has come out a stronger woman for her troubles. Confident and sexy, she doesn't suffer dogs lightly; and she makes clean, quick work of the would-bes and has-beens and never-had-a-chances she dispatches. In "I Changed My Mind", a song about a guy who expects his girl to do everything he demands of her just because every other girl he ever had did, there's something almost Donald Trump-like in the simple, mahogany boardroom savagery with which she butchers his pig expectations and sends him to the slaughterhouse: "Don't. Waste. My. Time."
In "Should Have Cheated", Keyshia addresses allegations that she's been messing around; but rather than meet her man on his turf, pleading her case and insisting on her innocence, she instead turns it around and calls him on his pathetic, chauvinistic insecurity: "I might as well have cheated on you." (Ya big jerk!)
Similarly, in "Guess What?" (probably the bitterest, most uncompomising kiss-off I've heard since Alanis's "You Oughta Know" ten years ago), a defensive guest rap by Jadakiss only strengthens his prosecutor's case, removing any shadow of doubt that the dude needs to get dumped. Bad.
Songwise, The Way It Is is pretty standard radio ready R&B fare, and the (almost) no-two-tracks-by-one-producer approach keeps the record from unifying fully; what makes the disc memorable is Cole's focus, her I-mean-business attitude. She doesn't spend too much time on fluttery melismatics, or Whitney-esque money notes. Rather, she's cold and mercenary in the defense of her own breakable heart.
Though Keyshia clearly stands to benefit from high profile collaborations with songwriter John Legend and producer Kanye West (on "I Changed My Mind"), the fact that she carries a co-writing credit on nearly all of the album's tracks, and the sinewy purposefulness of her phrasing demand that we take her seriously on her own merits. The Way It Is may not prove the revolutionary hit debut Alicia Keys's Songs in A Minor was a couple years back; and it would be hard to make a case that Keyshia stands in the same league as Keys (or even Mary J. Blige, as some have already suggested) in terms of sheer, raw talent. (Maybe Aaliyah.)
But this girl's not gonna go down quietly either. Fellas, gird your loins.
- - - - -
BECAUSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:
"The Way It Is" by Keyshia Cole
Confidential / A&M Records
Released 6/21/05
Producers: Kerry "Krucial" Brothers; Kanye West; Ron Fair & Toxic; Daron Jones; Sean Garrett; Gregory G. Curtis; Rich Shelton, Loren Hill and Kevin Veney; Errol "E-Poppa" McCalla, Jr.; Chink Santana; Mix, Polow Da Don
49 min.
SONGS: (I Just Want It) To Be Over - I Changed My Mind - Love, I Thought You Had My Back - I Should Have Cheated - Guess What? - Love - You've Changed - We Could Be - Situations - Down and Dirty - Superstar - Never
Keyshia Cole is the real deal. Like many young people raised in tough neighborhoods, the 21-year-old songstress endured a tumultuous childhood in Oakl...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![The Way It Is [PA] by Keyshia Cole](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/c1/2c/c0/2004391955-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.