Customer Reviews

Concrete Jungle

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nneka is a soul singer and part time rapper from Nigeria that has been releasing albums and EP's since 2005. I first came across Nneka late last year (November or December) when she released the mixtape Onye-Ala (The Madness). I was quite impressed by the entire mixtape; the style, her voice, the subject matter and lyrics and the guest appearances that were mixed in via DJ. I immediately used the great invention of the internet to find out more about this artist. Apparently she has been releasing albums since 2005 and is somewhat of a star across the ocean. Are we Americans always late on real artists?


Anyway, Nneka's US debut album Concrete Jungle is definitely a great album. While drawing comparisons to Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill from the critics, she cites Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli) as well as Lauryn Hill as her main sources of inspiration. However it is clear right from the start that Nneka is her own artist and she is already polished and in her own lane. It's safe to say that you won't mistake Nneka for anyone else.


Her voice has a distinct sound and quality that perfectly displays soul and passion. She has a heightened political sense and consciousnes and her songs in general have meaning that will stick with you long after the cd is finished. However in the same vein as a Lauryn Hill or Erykah Badu the tone isn't preachy and the music itself is quite endearing and engaging. In my opinion the songs that separate themselves from the pack are The Uncomfortable Truth, Mind vs. Heart, Heartbeat, Suffri, Come With Me and Walking; however, the entire album is a good listen.


I highly recommend Nneka's Concrete Jungle as it is an early candidate for soul album of the year. That's quite an accomplishment, especially with a jam packed 1st quarter (with releases from Nneka, Corinne Bailey Rae, Sade, and Erykah Badu). Nneka will not disappoint soul fans, fans of Badu or Hill, or fans of good music. Highly recommended. 5 stars.

this is the best cd i have purchased in long, unlike whitney and sade, who i worship, i can make it through nneka cd without skipping songs. it's powerful. it makes me want to know about africa. it makes me want to get involved. it makes me nore conscious without being preachy. it's worth the money.

Nneka is a very talented artist with lots of interesting ideas. If she manages to stay out of the commercial grind I predict she will be hugely wonderful.

I own this as a companion piece to the Nas/Damien Marley collaboration since Nneka opened for them on their recent tour. It's interesting to read other listener's reviews to find comparisons to Sade or Corinne Bailey Rae. Don't think you're purchasing a Pop or Wave CD. If Nneka is Pop, it is World Pop like Zap Mama. She is tuneful, her words thoughtful. This is one of those CD's to pop in the car for a looooooong drive, to listen to several times around. When I first heard "Heartbeat" on BBC One via XM Radio, I wasn't quite sure what I was listening to but I was intrigued. "Africans" is fantastic. This is a very accessible CD for someone who wants to dabble into breaking out of Gaga/Beyonce/Peas into a more global sound.

Just heard of Nneka while in the UK. Sweet. The creativity is refreshing. The musical arrangements will attract those electic ears. Its kind of like a mixture between MIA and Jill Scott....Rolling Stone magazine rated them 2010 breaking artist. I see why.

I bought this CD out of curiosity and a desire to hear something different. The more I listen to this CD the more I like it. I like her voice which at time reminds me of Randy Crawford, Corinne Bailey Rae and India Arie. If you liked Corinne Bailey Rae's first CD definitely purchase this. Production is nice nice on throughout, I just wish she could get some radio play. My Favorite tracks are The Uncomfortable Truth, Mind Vs. Truth, Heartbeat and Kangpe.

I don't even buy albums, but after YouTubing & Googling I figured "Concrete Jungle" might be worth it. "Concrete Jungle" is well worth the money and so is watching Nneka perform live. I can't say that I had a favorite artist before listening to Nneka's music, but now I do! Nneka is what the game's been missing!! Her music is not only upbeat for the most part and uplifting, but she makes you think about issues going on in the world. Not to compare, but I find her music important when so many people of my generation only equate legends like Bob Marley or even 2pac for example, with smoking weed or being rebellious, overlooking the messages of the music: an appreciation for Africa, political awareness, pure LOVE, etc.

update:
So months later, I'm still listening to songs from this album on a daily basis. I also recommend checking out her European releases "Victim of Truth", "No Longer at Ease" & "To and Fro", which is her compilation album.

You get Nneke's passion and the cd is consistently good. Love the mix. Especially love the track "The uncomfortable truth".

Ever since I heart "Heartbeat," I had high expectations for Nneka and this album. What I love about that song is the unusual rhythm and the hard base that makes up the supporting melody, along with the piano that makes up the main melody. It's a style that I don't hear very often, and I had hoped that the rest of the album would have other similar experimental music styles like that one. I'd heart "Africans" and enjoyed that as well even though it has more of a traditional reggae melody, so I knew the entire album wasn't like "Heartbeat." I purposely avoided listening to other songs to avoid spoiling this album, and I've been greatly anticipating it for the past few weeks.

Now that I have it, I feel like it's a huge let down. It's definitely not a terrible album by any means, Nneka has a great voice and I love the overall message of the album (although I have a slight problem with that as well, which I'll address later). My problem is that no other song is like "Heartbeat" in terms of the sound, it's all more of the same typical hip-hop, R&B, reggae and rock sounds that I've heard a million times before. Again, this doesn't make it bad, just not what I hoped it would be. It's all very catchy and nice to listen to, it's just nothing new to me.

As for the lyrical content, it's great but, again, not what I expected. It's a lot of social commentary about how self-centered and complacent people around the world are (she only mentions Africa, but the same applies to America as well, and other countries I'm sure). That part I expected. What I didn't expect was the constant religious/spiritual references. I know this will piss some people off, but I'm an atheist, so anything religious or spiritual doesn't appeal to me at all. That doesn't mean I hate it however, in fact many of my favorite artists incorporate their faith into their music (Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, India Arie, etc), which I don't mind at all. The difference between them and Nneka is that they do it in small doses and it's not so pervasive. On this album about 2/3 of the songs make constant references to God: turning you life over to him, letting him handle all your problems, finding your purpose through him, etc. IMO that detracts from her message of peace and consideration for our fellow humans by insisting that it's impossible to do so if you don't believe in a deity, which somewhat bothers me. There's even a part in "Showin' Love" where she sort of condemns non-believers such as myself. Even though the artists I mentioned above make religious/spiritual references as well, they at least do it in a more creative and metaphoric way by referring to their deity by different names (Creator, Savior, Him, You, etc). On this album it's just "god god god god god god" over and over. Badu, Arie, etc also aren't hostile towards irreligious people the way Nneka seems to be. All of this makes it feel like a Christian rap album (she doesn't specifically mention Christianity, so I'm just assuming). Again, there's nothing wrong with that, it's just that there is nothing in all the descriptions I've read of her musical style that mentions the strong spiritual/religious overtones of many of her songs, and it would have been nice to have been aware of that before I bought it. Of course all of this is most likely a good thing to religious/spiritual people, whom this type of music mainly appeals to anyway (it is neo-SOUL after all).

Overall, it's a good album,it just doesn't live up to my expectations. I would recommend it to people who are interested in developing their spirituality and faith, since it seems like it could be a really inspirational album in that regard. I have one complaint about the product itself though: the booklet doesn't have the complete lyrics of all the songs, it just has half of the lyrics or even just two lines for some of the songs. I love the art style of the booklet and the case, so it would've been nice if they'd just put in more art if they weren't going to include the complete lyrics.

Not sure how to describe this CD, other than it is great music! It has a neo-soul flavor, as well as some reggae and jazz. Very well balanced. I love this CD! One of the few CD's I can listen to from beginning to end. My favorite two songs are #11 and #12.