Authenticity

The Foreign Exchange | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: October 12, 2010
• Label: The Foreign Exchange Music
• Copyright: 2010 The Foreign Exchange Music
• Total Length: 38:41
• Genres:
  • R&B > Soul
• ASIN: B0043XSZR0
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,634 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I love it but I hate it October 16, 2010

By Sinamen

Format:Audio CD

The album is good, it has great beats and melodies. However, the only thing that is driving me crazy is the loss of the strong hip-hop element they had with Connected, even in Leave it All Behind. This reads as an R&B album to me. I like it but as im listening I just want Phonte to spit a verse, or give me spoken lyrics. I fell in love with them because they werent just rap and not just r&b, they had the perfect combination over some really great beats.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Foreign Exchange October 13, 2010

By Helen

Format:MP3 Music

I saw Foreign Exchange in concert in Houston, Tx. They were great!!!!! Easy listening music, great beats, great vocal. I listen to sample of their new album (Authenticity) and I love every song. This is more than just music it's life.
Thanks FOREIGN EXCHANGE ;)

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Music October 14, 2010

By Ajaxxon910

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Excellent Album. Been following them since Connected, and they've shown tremendous growth. Keep making good music!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it good..... September 20, 2011

By Doc Holliday

Format:Audio CD

If you know anything about The Foreign Exchange, you know not to expect the same album twice. +FE is all about experimentation and true artistic freedom, and Nicolay and Phonte refuse to be held hostage by your expectations of what an +FE album should sound like. When 2008's Leave It All Behind dropped, there were some fans of the group from 2004's Connected who were upset that Phonte, arguably one of the top 5 MCs alive, only dropped about 32 bars on the whole album, which is best described as a soul album. Likewise, Authenticity may alienate some fans of the first two albums..but flow and grow with +FE and you won't be disappointed.

Authenticity is closer in tone to Leave It All Behind than Connected is to either of them. For instance, if you're hoping for a return of Phonte as an MC, you'll be disappointed; the only verse he drops is on the lead single "Maybe She'll Dream of Me." But subtle differences prevail. Whether it's Phonte's growing confidence as a singer or just staying with the album's theme, there aren't nearly as many guest appearances on this album as on previous efforts. Authenticity is an intensely personal album, one which could easily worked as a soundtrack for (500) Days of Summer. It is truly an album rather than a collection of songs, with both sonic cohesion and thematic cohesion. A term frequently used to describe LIAB was "lush tapestries." While I couldn't define that for you, when you listened to it, it seemed apt. The tapestries in Authenticity aren't quite as lush, but that's not a bad thing, just different. Nicolay continues to grow musically, channeling Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend" on the title track. Phonte's songwriting gets better and better...he has an it factor that manifests in being able to say exactly what you may be feeling.... Overall, the album goes from cynical and almost bitter about lost love with Phonte swearing off falling in love and moves on towards more hope. The sequencing (I'm a BIG fan of proper sequencing of an album) is the only way this album could possibly have a happy ending. If you play it in the chronological order fo the relationship (last track first, first track last), it would be a downer because it ends in disaster. By playing it in the album's order, you hear the end results first, and then get to hear how they got there, which for some reason softens the blow in my opinion. Here's my track by track review:

1-The Last Fall: this one begins with a sonic homage to the Grammy-nominated "Daykeeper" and sees Phonte regretfully mourning (or maybe reflecting) on a lost relationship and ruminating on falling in love, swearing it off over a foreboding Nicolay track.

2-Authenticity: Again with a foreboding, stripped down track, if I had to take a stab at this, I would think this would be the last ditch effort to save the relationship, and the realization that it can't be saved. "she wants me to fill her needs, she begs for authenticity, you don't want truth from me...you just want what you want" I can't wait to hear this one live

3-Eyes to the Sky: Lying in bed, in quiet and the dark has a way of clarifying things. This interlude tells the story of laying in bed thinking,crying, and coming to the conclusion that this relationship just isn't working.

4-All Roads: You know how you are in a relationship, and you get stuck in a rut, where you know it's not really good for you, but yet you can't leave. No matter what you do, all the roads lead back to that person. The track sounds like a rainy day, which for some reason makes me happy.

5-Fight For Love: At this point, the bloom is coming off the rose. Again, this song is all about becoming weary, with Phonte lamenting that he doesn't want to be a soldier any more in this fight for love...either it ain't or it is indeed

6-Maybe She'll Dream of Me: This begins the holy trilogy of the album. In listening to the whole album, this was the perfect choice for the lead single. It's light and airy and reflects someone very much in love, but also not feeling particularly secure in the relationship. In many ways, it was a perfect segue from the Leave It All Behind era.

7-Don't Wait (ft. Darien Brockington): After two days, this is the song I can't get out of my head, much like "All or Nothing/Coming Home To You" did for the first album. This song is the thematic cousin of "Take off The Blues," as it's all about the urge to hold back committing completely, eventually succumbing

8-Make Me a Fool (ft. Jesse Boykins III & Median): This one, featuring the next big thing Jesse Boykins III (that boy's bad!) and long time Justus League affilliate Median, is about the desire to completely submerge yourself in the relationship. The uptempo track is buoyant and plays well off the vocal stylings of JB3 and Phonte, and Median's bars fit in perfectly. If the first 5 songs made you feel completely cynical about love, these last three remind you of how intoxicating a relationship can be.

9-Everything Must Go: Over a hypnotizing track, Phonte ruminates about life in a bit of a departure from the rest of the album (from a certain point of view), waxing philosophically about the transience of everything. This one's a thematic cousin to "House of Cards"

10-Laughing at Your Plans (ft. Chantae Cann): Over a folksy (for lack of a better term) track, Phonte and Chantae Cann take you on a bit of a journey about the futility of trying to control everything in our lives.

11-The City Ain't The Same Without You (ft. YahZarah): The women who made me single-handedly reconsider my stance against short-haired women, the sexy and talented YahZarah's sweet soprano reveals the woman who took you through the full, AUTHENTIC *ding* range of emotions on the rest of the album. It's fitting that she closed out the album as her The Ballad of Purple St. James is now joined in the best album of 2010 discussion by Authenticity

Overall, Authenticity is a superlative effort. It's not an easy listen, as the first time I listened to it at work with distractions, it didn't really grab me. As I listened to it more intently and reflected more on it, the more I liked it, which is why I never give an opinion on an album after one listen. I told Phonte on Twitter that this was The Empire Strikes Back of the +FE trilogy of albums, due to its darkness and moodiness. I stand by that, but in terms of movies, this album keeps reminding me of (500) Days of Summer.

If you're looking for Connected Again or Leave It All Behind Too [(c) Tyler Perry], Authenticity may disappoint you. However, if you listen with an open mind, you'll hear two artists who are continuing to grow and reinvent themselves. I'm just happy to have been there for the whole ride and excited to see where they'll go.

ADDENDUM: (10/15/10) In listening again today, especially to The City Ain't The Same Without You, I've come to an alternate interpretation, that the album is indeed in chronological order. In the first three songs, he's getting out of a relationship and has all the recriminations that someone who feels like their world ended feels. Then in All Roads and Fight For Love, after playing break up he finally finds the resolve to leave. Then, he meets someone new in Maybe She'll Dream of Me, and the relationship develops in Don't Wait, and the fears of the previous relationship manifest in Make Me a Fool. As he gets to a point where he's comfortable in the new relationship, he enjoys the new perspectives he finds, and sort of makes fun of himself from earlier in the album in Everything Must Go and Laughing At Your Plans. Then in "The City Ain't The Same Without You", the original heartbreak from the beginning of the album comes back around, realizing what she lost and disappointed to find that he's moved on. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Same candy, just different flavors... April 28, 2011

By Meghan Thomas

Format:Audio CD

The album has been out for while now and has sure enough gathered review of its own for a number of will represented sources and fans. Fans of FE will agree that the first album "Connected" was a hit of colorful and created rap that we wish the entire hip-hop community was. Their second album, "Leave It All Behind" however turned out different anday have upset some people. If you were familiar with the group Little Brother and Nicolay you were at the very least expecting a Connected part 2. That's not to say LIAB was bad. On fact it was in my opinion, once you get over the initial disappointment of it not being Connected, you find it to be a very good Neo-Soul album of classics songs like Daykeeper, Valediction, Take of the Blues, and Something to Behold. Once agin we have come Authenticity and have once again found a totally different album.

This R&B album may deflect many who come to listen. But to those with an open mind or even a willingness to listen will find that it is a FE album that proves they don't just make rap songs but music. Like some review have mentioned this is an album that goes throughout the progression of life and love. It is for adults, or at the very least MATURE older teens and young adult who are in, was, or going to be in relationships. I admit it took a few listens for me to really come to love this album but so has Connected and LIAB. There are instant songs you will lI've like "Maybe She'll Dream of Me" and "Don't Wait". Those songs tend to grab people's attention and reminds me of popular club joints. But the real wonders come from tracks like "Fight For Love" and "Everything Must Go". After a listen or two you really get the hint that Phonte really knows how pain and love feels.

Then there are the songs that grow on you.... For me it was "All Roads" and "Authenticity". For the weeks I avoided those two tracks before I really enjoyed them, and now I've accepted them as reall FE songs. "Eyes to the Sky" is this alba "Valediction" and likewise is short but powerful. Many people complain it's too short, but my logic is the song was intended to be short to make you lust for that wanting more, thinking about how it could have been longer, thinking about to song, and then getting the real message: some relationships suck. It pulls so well on the heart that I'd rather have it short. FE also ventured a bit into country "Laughing at Your Plans" which is a nice drum and acoustic track about compromises one makes in life, love, as well as what one realizes they miss when they are just too busy or don't care.

All in all, this is another great FE production that seperates itself from the other two. FE has shown us that they are musicians that make music regardless of the gerne they venture into. Don't expect Connected and LIAB and be ready to listen at least three times before grasping the amount of work and passion these guys have put into the album. There will be songs more enjoyed than others but overall this album is worth it. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Smooth March 5, 2011

By DMC2

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great album to lay back and chill to. Phonte is not the worlds greatest singer but it works for FE. Wonderful album.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Hidden Gem, Indeed! February 5, 2011

By Skyller D. Walkes

Format:Audio CD

Amazing! Refreshing, pure neo-soul...not that it has to be categorized to be enjoyed by any and every listener. This album transcends genres. It remains on heavy rotation in my house and car. I highly recommend it!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Authenticity" marks yet another turn for The Foreign Exchange November 5, 2010

By Perverted Alchemist

Format:Audio CD

It's been a strange two years for Nicolay Rook and Phonte Coleman- collectively known as The Foreign Exchange. First, their sophomore album "Leave It All Behind" was a late bloomer- released in 2008, but the success came in 2009. In 2010, they were nominated for a Grammy for the single "Daykeeper". Then, Phonte's other group Little Brother returned with what came to be their final album, "Leftback". Their breakup wasn't nearly as shocking as the reason behind it. On the song "Tigallo For Dolo" Phonte basically aired out his love/hate relationship with hip hop. In the song, he clearly stated that he would rather be singing, being that he lost interest due to the corporate politics that he faced as a rapper. All of a sudden, the side project now became the primary focus of Phonte and Nicolay. So, they soldiered on with their third album "Authenticity".

Whereas the first album "Connected" was mellow hip hop and the sophomore "Leave It All Behind" was an unapologetic R&B album, "Authenticity" takes its cues from other genres- namely early 80's synth-pop and soft rock. They even make a foray into country music on the ballad "Laughing At Your Plans". Yahzarah, The Foreign Exchange's longtime collaborator, takes lead vocal duties for the song "The City Ain't The Same Without You". They reunite with Darien Brockington on the uptempo "Don't Wait", while the long absent Median appears on "Make Me A Fool". "Eyes To The Sky", like "Valediction" on the previous album, is a too brief interlude that could have benefitted from a being a full song. The track "Fight For Love" bears both a rhythm and melody arrangement that is noticeably similar to Coldplay's hit single "Clocks". Once again, Nicolay and Phonte have crafted a fantastic album and hopefully, they will win a Grammy this time around.