Musiq (Soulchild) is one of "neo-soul's" first artists. With two solid albums to his name, his third and newest, Soulstar, solidifies his position as one of the genre's finest acts as well. The big draw to Musiq, besides his genuinely warm vocals (unlike many so-called modern R&B acts), is his spiritual yet down to earth attitude.
With strong influences ranging from Stevie Wonder to Sly and the Family Stone, the soul child's sound is far from the superficial borderline pornographic shouts of R. Kelly etc. In fact, the Def Soul artist's tone is far more akin to latter day soul heroes like Marvin Gaye than anything that's been released in the last two decades under the fa??ade of Rhythm and Blues.
With Soulstar, Musiq defines what his neo-soul compatriots have been searching for in the last five years.
All of the tracks on this LP are pretty decent, but the standouts are "Womanoply," a cover of the Rolling Stone's classic "Miss You," and "Moment in Life," which is reminiscent of another fine neo-soul album, Common's Electric Circus. "Womanopoly" uses a sweet bass/string arrangement that makes it easy fodder for club remixes, as well as clever lyrics relating a young woman's struggle to Monopoly (the board game).
For the cover of "Miss You," Musiq picks up a 4/4 house beat with a clap snare that immediately give the track an upbeat dance feel, and then he couples the beat with a minimal guitar part similar to the original; his beautiful pipes do the rest and put tons of a heart into a song that's hard to improve upon.
Cee-lo and Kindred the Family Soul join in on the following track "Moment in Life." The track is a pure neo-soul jam that sounds very similar to Common's "New Wave," although the comparisons in no way hurt this song. There's not too much more to say about the other tracks on the album, because truth be told, they're all pretty strong and show off a mature and complete side to Musiq.
