//Neon Reports: Lyfe Jennings Listening Session//

Hey everyone, it’s your girl Chelly K, with the rundown of what happened at Lyfe Jennings‘ V-Sessions event for his new album, Lyfe Change.  Now, yes, this happened awhile ago, but trust me, I needed time to recover.  It was, to say the least, hot.  Lyfe’s fans will NOT be disappointed by this new joint, and I suspect he’ll gain some new fans along the way as well.

So if you’re not already addicted to the man’s work, all you probably know is that he went to jail, he went on Showtime at the Apollo, he got signed to Sony, and he focuses on making positive music.  Well…yeah.  Pretty much.  Lyfe seems to prefer that the music speaks for him, so we’ll jump right into it.

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Lyfe started off the session with a live performance of “Never Never Land“, and tore it up.  I should probably note here that one of his backup singers is signed to Lyfe’s imprint, Jesus Swings.  The imprint is through a deal he signed with Universal, and his backup singer’s name is — well, her name is Aunt Netta.  Please don’t let the name put you off, kids.  She can definitely sing.  And while I know her name gives you visions of old women in housecoats and curlers wielding a frying pan and cooking with bacon grease out the old Crisco can on top of your refrigerator…no.  Just, no.  Trust me.  She doesn’t have that flavor to her at all.  She’s a little older, she’s not a Tiffany Evans type pop tartlet, so I guess they wanted to separate her from all that.  But I’m hoping they rethink the name.  Um, anyway!  After the performance Lyfe sat down and played some of the new tracks off the album.  I took copious but sloppy notes, so I’m gonna do my best to decipher the hysterical scribbles and give you a run down:

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(By the way, ABSOLUTELY NO MENTION WAS MADE BY ANYONE IN REGARDS TO “COPS UP“.  I don’t think it made the album, and judging from a majority of fan responses to the track, that’s probably a good thing.  Okay, on to the tracks he DID discuss.)

• “Dreamin‘” — So this fits in with Lyfe’s “positive” music vibe.  The hook is “Keep on dreaming/Keep on shining/Keep on grinding/Don’t stop trying…” mid-tempo inspirational track.

• “Brand New” featuring T.I. and Lil’ Wayne — This track got one of the strongest responses from fans at the session, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be one of the next singles.  If you couldn’t tell from the title, it features an interpolation of the Stylistics’ track “You Make Me Feel Brand New” on the hook — Lyfe sings “God bless you/You never got brand new/This money ain’t change you…” Weezy and T.I.’s parts are solid…one line that cracked me up was when Lil’ Wayne goes “Young Weezy the 80’s baby/We could get together, make 80 babies…” God I hope not.

• “It’s Real” — This is a track Lyfe wrote in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  He said he attended a conference where people were asked what they could do to help the cause, and some people volunteered time, some pledged money.  Lyfe’s idea was to write a song as a way to bring awareness through music.  The track itself has a hypnotic beat and Lyfe’s lyrics are straightforward.  He sings a lot of it in the first person which helps to keep it from getting too preachy: “I gotta wrap it up/I gotta protect us.”

• “You Think You’ve Got It Bad” featuring Wyclef Jean — this one is gonna be a little iffy for some folks.  I happen to love Wyclef, but sometimes his style can be a little polarizing.  But to me, this track was dope.  It had a reggae beat to it, and basically, it’s talking to all those people out there that always complain and cry about how tough they have it in life, reminding them that there are always folks out there that have it a little worse.  I couldn’t get the entire hook down, but some of the lines are “Everything happens for a reason…you think the world owes you something, but it don’t owe you nothing…some people have never had a chance at life.”

• “Wild Wild Wild” — written by Wyclef Jean and produced by Wyclef and Jerry Wonder — this is another track that got a huge response from the fans at the session, so look out for it.  Not much to say about it, except that I agree with the other folks at the session.  Definitely single material.  The hook begins “Men done lost their minds, they’re going wild…”

• “Midnight Train” — Lyfe called this one a “crossover” track, and, well, yeah.  It’s definitely not straight R&B/Soul, it’s got almost a folk vibe to it.  Beautifully done, and if Lyfe wants love from Top 40 radio, this will probably be the track to get him there.

• “Warriors” — apparently I had nothing to say about this track because I only wrote down the title.  But it’s there, on the album.  Hope y’all like it. lol

• “Will I Ever Fall In Love” — SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.  Lyfe is soooooo dreamy, you guys!!!!  Woo, sorry.  Okay, I’m back.  See, this track combines two of my favorite things about Lyfe: his live performances and him singing about love.  So when they played this track, I melted into a puddle of eargasmic happiness.  My handwriting reflects this…ummm ::squinting:: okay, here’s what I had to say, I think: There’s an announcer at the beginning of the track, which sets off a live concert feel.  There’s also live instrumentation which puts the song over the top and adds a raw, unrehearsed flavor that is so effective.  Lyfe sings “How do you find the one you dream about?/If I knew, I’d tell you how…” and the hook is — good Lord, I must have been trembling — okay, wait, here. “Will I ever fall in love?/Will I be alone forever?” I’m sure there’s more but between all the exclamation points and little hearts I sketched in the margin of my notebook, who the hell knows?  Do I need to mention this is my favorite track?  Again, SIGH…

• “She’s the Shit” featuring Michael Jackson — Hold up.  I know what you’re thinking, and it’s okay.  My jaw dropped when he said “featuring Michael Jackson” too.  But then Lyfe explained.  He says “featuring Michael Jackson” but your boy the Thrilla in Vanilla didn’t actually DO anything new on the track.  He just happened to charge Lyfe out the ass for the sample so Lyfe decided to milk it for all it was worth.  That’s my boy.  I bet Lyfe loves double coupon day at Pathmark.  We could do some damage — me, him and a shopping cart.  Um, what was I saying?  Oh, yeah.  Okay, back to “She’s the Shit”.  So we didn’t actually get to hear what track Michael drained Lyfe’s wallet to sample.  They had some technical difficulties with the CD, so Lyfe busted out a verse and the hook live acapella for us instead.  From the taste he gave us, the track is hot.  Part of the hook is “She’s the shit and she knows it…” which, yeah, I do.  Thanks for recognizing, baby.

• “Old School” featuring Snoop Dogg — another track Lyfe gave us a piece of live and acapella.  From what we got, I would say it’s a solid track and definitely has single potential.  HOWEVER, if Kelly Rowland had just busted out a piece of “Ghetto” live and acapella, without Snoop and without that terrible “Soldier”-lite track cha-cha-cha-ing in the background making me want to vomit up my skrawburriez and shampayne, I probably would have been excited over THAT track as well.  So I hesitantly look forward to this song.

Lyfe then took questions from the audience.  He didn’t really reveal anything scandalous, he talked about the Jesus Swings imprint and how excited he is to be able to bring out new artists that share his love for positivity in music.  He also mentioned something kind of cool about the way they’re handling interludes on this album.  For anyone that owns either of Lyfe’s previous albums, you know that they’re chock full of interludes.  He moves his “story” along with spoken narration as well as through song, and he said he had gotten a mixed response as to how effective people felt the interludes were on the albums.  People either really loved them or really hated them.  So, when you go buy Lyfe Change (and you WILL buy it), when you put the CD in your computer, you will have the option to download interludes off his website.  He said the interludes would only be up for a limited time, and eventually he wants Sony to repackage all his albums in a box set, telling his entire story, and when that happens, the interludes won’t be a part of it, so the only way to get the interludes will be during this limited time at the beginning of the album’s release.  Something to remember for all you Lyfe stans out there.

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And that’s about it.  He performed some of “Stick Up Kid” live by request and then hung out and talked with the fans for a while.  He’s real down to earth, has a sweet disposition, is not at all intimidating or snotty, and I hope he stays that way.  Lyfe Change is a more mainstream-friendly album than his previous works, and I think this may be the one to get him to that next level in the R&B world.  He’s got the critical acclaim, he’s got the dedicated fans, now all he needs is solid promo and the right singles.

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Lyfe Change is scheduled to drop on April 29th.

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Jesus Swings: www.jesusswings.com
Lyfe’s Official Site: www.2lyfe.com and www.lyfejennings.com
Lyfe’s MySpace: www.myspace.com/lyfejennings

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