Not being a Christian pop music fan, I had to look this guy up to discover he's sort of the white Kanye West of Christian music, a former member of DC Talk, solo artist and founder of Gotee Records. His fans already are aware that the album title is a play on his previous solo album Welcome To Diverse City, which means that, like the earlier disc, TobyMac brings in other artists to perform songs without him on the Diverse City part of this 2011 album. Toby's six songs kick off with "Christmas This Year," a strong hip-pop original that keeps the preaching to a miniumum and features Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer. The hip-hop touches continue on versions of "First Noel," "Little Drummer Boy," "Mary's Boy Child" and "O Come All Ye Faithful," the latter with a rap section. "This Christmas (Father of the Fatherless)" is an all-rap story about adopting an orphan with plenty of gospel talk and a pastiche of familiar carols in between verses. Crossing over to Diverse City, we get "Carol of the Kings" from Maj, Gabe Real and Liquid, a rap number mashed into "Carol of the Bells" and "We Three Kings." Superherose offer "Birth of Love," an uptempo R'nB number dedicated to Mother Mary, Arch Nemesiz does an almost straight soul ballad reading of "What Child Is This," and Nirva Ready does the same with "Angels We Have Heard On High." Tim Rosenau breaks form with a straight-up holiday rocker, "It Snowed," a nice piece of work. Toddiefunk gives up the funk with "Santa'scomin'baka'round!" and Byron "Mr. Talkbox" Chambers wraps things up with the slow jam "Christmas Time," which is seductive enough that you may not notice you're being preached to. This is a strong collection of hip-hop holiday tunes with at least a few entries that could break out to a wider market.
Christmas in Diverse City, TobyMac (Forefront)
Not being a Christian pop music fan, I had to look this guy up to discover he's sort of the white Kanye West of Christian music, a former member of DC Talk, solo artist and founder of Gotee Records. His fans already are aware that the album title is a play on his previous solo album Welcome To Diverse City, which means that, like the earlier disc, TobyMac brings in other artists to perform songs without him on the Diverse City part of this 2011 album. Toby's six songs kick off with "Christmas This Year," a strong hip-pop original that keeps the preaching to a miniumum and features Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer. The hip-hop touches continue on versions of "First Noel," "Little Drummer Boy," "Mary's Boy Child" and "O Come All Ye Faithful," the latter with a rap section. "This Christmas (Father of the Fatherless)" is an all-rap story about adopting an orphan with plenty of gospel talk and a pastiche of familiar carols in between verses. Crossing over to Diverse City, we get "Carol of the Kings" from Maj, Gabe Real and Liquid, a rap number mashed into "Carol of the Bells" and "We Three Kings." Superherose offer "Birth of Love," an uptempo R'nB number dedicated to Mother Mary, Arch Nemesiz does an almost straight soul ballad reading of "What Child Is This," and Nirva Ready does the same with "Angels We Have Heard On High." Tim Rosenau breaks form with a straight-up holiday rocker, "It Snowed," a nice piece of work. Toddiefunk gives up the funk with "Santa'scomin'baka'round!" and Byron "Mr. Talkbox" Chambers wraps things up with the slow jam "Christmas Time," which is seductive enough that you may not notice you're being preached to. This is a strong collection of hip-hop holiday tunes with at least a few entries that could break out to a wider market.
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