ThisisBigBrother.com - UK TV Forums - Cassie - RockaByeBaby mixtape

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CASSIE - ROCKABYEBABY 7.8

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Late in 2012 an unexpected release made a splash amidst the deluge of year-end lists coming out at the time. It was a set of three album-length-plus mixtapes of music by pop-R&B singer Cassie, whose self-titled 2006 Bad Boy debut underperformed commercially but inspired a cultish following among R&B obsessives, and who had yet to release its proper follow-up.
Curated by a person or persons calling themselves the Cassie Collective, The Cassie Trilogy collects the various singles and guest appearances that she’d released sporadically over the past few years, sorted under the categories “minimalist R&B,” “dark electro,” and “pure pop.” This rubrick not only lent some much-needed organization to what could have been a sprawling mess of a project and helped show off the singer’s range, but also underlined how far she’s consistently been ahead of trends like the wave of atmospheric R&B that followed the Weeknd’s appearance on the scene and the avant garde-leaning artists like Grimes who’ve come to embrace bubblegum synth pop.

The trilogy also served as a reminder that we’re still waiting on that second LP. It’s supposedly still in the works, which is what Cassie and her team have been saying since last decade. But even if it never comes, RockaByeBaby, the mixtape she’s released to hold us over until then, would more than suffice.

It’s clear from the first song, “Paradise”, that the Cassie of 2013 is a whole different creature from the singer we were introduced to in 2006. For one, those different facets that were highlighted on The Cassie Trilogy have been unified into a whole that’s much more than the sum of its parts. There’s no gap between her pop star side and her nocturnal-minimalist-R&B sex kitten side anymore--now they slink up against each other salaciously on tracks like “Addiction” that deliver hooks and bedroom atmospherics in equal measure.

Cassie’s also begun blurring the line between her and the rappers she’s been collaborating with throughout her career. The snippet of dialogue from New Jack City that opens RockaByeBaby and the cover art of her posing with pistol in hand are the most obvious indicators of a more gangstafied image overhaul, but they’re just skin deep.

The more important thing is that the years of work she’s put in since her debut have given Cassie an on-mic presence that’s the equal to any of the rappers she’s recruited for features here. She’s not just a singer anymore; she’s actually got flow. It’s an impressive cast of mixtape heavyweights she’s working with, including Fabolous, French Montana, and Meek Mill, and none of them manage to run away with their respective tracks the way that rapper cameos on other R&B albums tend to. Sometimes she even gets the best of her guests, like “Take Care of Me Baby”, where her nimble, syncopated vocals exploit the best parts of the trap-inflected beat (produced by Mike Will Made It) so thoroughly that by the time Pusha T jumps on it his verse there’s not much left for him to do with the song, and his verse seems almost like a distraction.

Cassie’s willingness to tangle with hard, dark mixtape-rap beats (including one by Young Chop that’s as menacing as anything he’s produced for Chief Keef) gives RockaByeBaby a heft that most female-fronted R&B projects lack. Even the songs that lean more towards straight R&B, like “Numb” and the Jeremih-assisted standout cut “Sound of Love”--which boasts one of the nastiest synth leads in recent memory--have an aggressive edge that suits her newfound swagger.

What’s clear now is that Cassie’s no longer just competing in the R&B game anymore. While RockaByeBaby has aspects that invite comparisons to risk-taking singers like Jeremih and the Weeknd, its really deserves to be held up against the output of melody-intensive rappers like Drake and Future, and it stands up against either. There’s not only not a bad song on the record, but not even any that start becoming skippable after repeat back-to-back listens, a habit that its seamless transitions and remarkable consistency encourages. Cassie fans have spent a long, long time waiting for the rest of the world to start paying attention to her. After RockaByeBaby I can’t imagine they’ll be able to ignore her for much longer.

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