A rose grows out of concrete all the time right? Well Keyshia Cole did. Raised in Oakland, Keyshia Cole is the twenty something girl from the broken home with the voice of gold. Raised in foster homes growing up Cole met Tupac Shakur in the mid-1990's and he said she was going to do her thing in the future! With that type of the endorsement she motivated herself to stay away from the traps of the street and has made it to the national stage.  

This album deals with relationships, specifically: infidelity, moving on, standing strong and the games men and women play in different times in our lives. This woman has range high and low and can do the ballads and the Hip Hop/R&B blends also. Cole can sing and she can sang so I guess that's where many come in with the Mary J. Blige comparisions but lets hold up on those comparision and let her have her own space.   Cole is a young talented songwriter (as she wrote or co-wrote on 11 of 12 tracks) and he album uses more than just beats but actual instruments.

The songs that move me are "Love", one of the LP's   singles, "Guess What" featuring Jadakiss, a song where you hear the street in Keyshia, "I Should Have Cheated", written by 112's Daron Jones and Q., "Superstar" and "Never", which uses a Luther sample and has Eve on it! Fire!

Overall this is a solid debut and Cole brings plenty of talent to the table. She's seems to be that neighborhood girl that may be so bad but so worth it at the same time! Maybe Cole is just the fed up woman that's been in all the bad relationships? Whatever the case if she keeps doing this she will have a listener for life.

I'll give the debut LP 4 GeoGlobes. It's worth more   than a once or twice over!

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