What’s up everyone!! It’s ya man DJ SOULJA with this installment of In Da Booth! This is a review of  music, full cd’s, and  video’s. Here is my official disclaimer…. ehem… These reviews are my opinion of what I hear and see. I am in no way here to bash or belittle anyone’s efforts here. However, I am a straight forward kinda guy so I’ll not be sugar coatin my thoughts. You, as the reader, are more than welcome to leave me your comments about the review and your thoughts of the submissions. I look forward to hearing from you all!!  With that being said, heeeeeere we go!

In finding a cd to review, I went through a lot of artists. National or local artists? Indie or major lable? Who do I start with? Quite honestly the answer fell in my lap thru a Facebook post. Rik Reed was letting the world know that he just released his new cd Done Deal on I-Tunes. Having heard him before, I was definitely curious to hear his new project. I was not disappointed!

Rik Reed is an artist from Jacksonville, FL, currently a student at Full Sail University, who is a triple threat. He can rap, sang (yes I said sang not sing), and produce a bomb track. He showcases his versatility on this project. Although this cd is a gopel cd, it is not an overly Jesus, Jesus, Jesus project. After partaking of a few tracks your ears will definitely sense the flavor of Jeezy mixed with J-Moss. The variety of this cd is also impressive. You have your rock, down south rap, CCM (Christian Contemporary Music), acoustic, and a taste of some techno/electronic music. My favorite tracks are “Baskin Robbinz” which is shout out to all the Proverb 31 women, “Choozi Beggar” which speaks about the right to be choosey about things we want or accept because we have relationship with the Son. I also like “Spill” because talks about the overflowing of blessings that we receive from  God but not in a braggadocios way.  

Quiet honestly I like the majority of this cd. Which brings me to the few parts of the cd that I think could be better. Even though I understand the use of the autotune and other effects, these things made it a little hard to understand some of the lyrics. I had to listen to some of the songs a few more time to decipher what was said.  If you are listening to this cd thru the filter of only wanting to hear “gospel music” then you will want more out of a few tracks like “Acapella” which the song and video I liked and “Much On My Mind”. “Accapella” just seemed a little much about Rik. There are a few instances where Jesus isn’t brought up till the end of a few songs. Which isn’t bad but, again, if you are looking you you’ll be left wondering why this is so.

With all this being said, I’ll give this a big DJ SOULJAH salute to Rik Reed on “Done Deal” project. I definitely think you should make this a part of your listening arsenal. You can go to ITunes to purchase this cd also hit Rik up at http://facebook.com/rikreed or on Twitter @rikreedmusic.

Until next time… @EASE