Ian White2010's Best R&B Album: Doo-wops and Hooligans Review
December 2nd 2010 21:43
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Doo-wops and Hooligans
I was sitting in a friend’s car with the radio on, which in my experience can be a cringe worthy experience, when something caught my attention. In a good way, not in a ‘change the station now or I’ll commit a felony’ way. Accompanied by a simple but heavenly piano solo was a voice crooning:
“Beautiful Girls, all over the world.
I could be chasin’
But my time would be wasted
They got nothin’ on you baby.
Nothing on you baby.”
I immediately asked, “Who is this?”
My friend replied: “Its B.O.B.’s new song. He’s a dope rapper.”
Me: “Screw the rapper who is on the chorus?”
Him: “That’s Bruno Mars.”
Me: “He’s going to be a star.”
Don’t build an altar to my prophetic prowess yet, even though my assertion proved factual. Bruno Mars has become a certified sensation. Born Peter Gene Hernandez in Honolulu, the future chart topper seemed destined for the music biz. His father was a talented Latin percussionist, and his mother was a gifted vocalist. Together the whole family would locally perform Motown and impersonations of crowd favorites, much to the delight of the inhabitants of Wakiki Beach. Mars would later travel to LA hoping like many naïve optimists to make it big as a solo star. That would take a backseat however as Bruno and his songwriting/production team The Smeezingtons would kick in the door by being the pen and the instrumental behind the World cup theme “Waving Flags” by K’naan, Travie Mccoy from Gym Class Heroes’ Billionaire (where he performs the chorus), and the recent Cee-Lo hit “F**k You” just to name a few. Well finally it’s his turn to shine with the debut album “Doo-wops and Hooligans.”
The album was designed to be a genre leaping, chart topping monster with songs engendered for women (Doo-whops) and the guys (Hooligans). He even reunites with B.O.B. and Cee-lo on “The Other Side,” arguably the best track on the project. I’m sure they were eager to pay Mars back for the generous contributions he has made to their careers. The album begins with “Grenade” where Bruno Mars immediately sold me. Great artists have the ability to draw you in with not necessarily their lyrics, but with the emotion dripping from the tips of every syllable.
Tupac’s appeal was largely based on this talent where he could make you feel his righteous anger at the establishment or suffer with him through his arduous accounts of life in the hood. Mars achieves the same with this passionate ode to those who’ve loved in vain. Bellowing over drums from the motherland, he pours out his soul with the catchy but unsettling chorus:
“I’d catch a grenade for ya/throw my hand on a blade for ya/I’d jump in front of a train for ya/” and reveals the object of his intense desire’s nature with the rapier lines: “Black, black, black and blue/beat me till I’m numb/tell the devil I said hey when you get back to where you’re from.”
He follows with the number 1 smash and your girl’s favorite song “Just the way you are.” A fantastic and refreshingly uplifting tune for women that doesn’t lazily glorify the now cliché 36-24-36 measurements but rather encourages and makes women feel good about what they see in the mirror before the 10 hours of preparation.
When he says “I know/I know/when I compliment her she won’t believe me/and it’s so/it’s so sad to think she don’t see what I see,” it reminds me of a neo-soul artist like Musiq who seeks to leave women walking away with higher self esteem rather than body image issues.
One of my favorite songs on the record was “Liquor Store Blues” where Bruno Mars makes the leap to reggae with this haunting track about addiction featuring Damian Marley. He paints a desolate picture in the opening with:
“Standing at this liquor store/Whisky coming through my pores/Feeling like I run this whole block/Lotto tickets and cheap beer/That's why you can catch me here/Tryna scratch my way up to the top.” Mars then completes the canvas of melancholy, singing: “I'll take one shot for my pain/ One drag for my sorrow/Get messed up today/I'll be ok tomorrow.”
Bruno Mars even hops in a time machine and takes us back to Motown with the energetic romp where he plays the role of the insatiable playboy and warns girls to “runaway” from charms that would surely lead to heartbreak which he sums up with:
“But little does she know/That I'm a wolf in sheep’s clothing/'Cause at the end of the night/It is her I'll be holding/I love you so/That's what you'll say/You'll tell me Baby baby please don't go away/But when I play/ I never stay/To every girl that I meet here this is what I say/Run run runaway/runaway baby.”
Thus is the power of Mr. Mars. Even when portraying a bit of a scumbag he retains his likability through quaint honesty.
Doo-wops and Hooligans may very well go down as the album of 2010. With childlike innocence, tortured poetics, and shrewd observation, it’s a collage of sounds and insight with a bit of something for everybody whether it be soul, funk, rock, or his native Hawaiian, but at the same time it preserves the ability to stay in the rotation of the often depthless pop charts. Furthermore, the album is only 10 tracks, bolstering its already considerable replay value. At 25, Bruno Mars still has plenty of room to grow, but you couldn’t tell by listening to this gem which has the execution and poise of a master craftsman.
Final score: 10
Purchase Doo-wops and Hooligans here
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