Album Review: Keri Hilson

Here’s a word of advice to any up-and-coming R&B divas (who just so happen to be reading a blog about penises). If you’re going to make an album about female empowerment, you probably shouldn’t have Chris Brown on the tracklist. That’s the first of many sins on Keri Hilson‘s latest effort No Boys Allowed.

From the beginning of Hilson’s career, she’s lacked an essential element for any musical artist–a sense of self or personality. Thankfully, she’s a pretty person who knows the right people in the industry, and she lucked out with hits such as “The Way I Are”, “Turnin’ Me On” and “Knock You Down”. However, her luck may have run out on this album…

Although it may sound vaguely sexist, Hilson’s most successful songs have all benefited from the presence of a high-profile male guest star. She tries to recreate this equation with featured spots by J. Cole, Nelly Rick Ross and an impressive list of hip-hop’s elite, but the results fall flat when she lets one of them rap about “shaking your anus”.

For an album called No Boys Allowed, the boys seem to be pulling a lot of the strings, both behind the scenes and within the lyrical content of each song. Noticeably, there are no other female vocalists. Because apparently it’s really difficult to get Nicki Minaj to do a guest verse on your track.

Granted, these aren’t even the biggest issues with Hilson’s sophomore project! The songs themselves are mostly lackluster, aside from guilty pleasure “Pretty Girl Rock” and the fun-for-a-few-minutes bounce of “Beautiful Mistake”. Long story short? You might want to take the advice of the caution tape on the album’s front cover.

- Dewitt

To listen to select tracks from this album, follow the JUMP: