Get Lifted (CD)

Though it appears that he emerged fully-formed in 2004 from the mind of Kanye West, John Legend got his start on the East Coast in the mid 1990s as John Stephens, a promising neo-soul piano-player and songwriter. After he garnered the attention of Lauryn Hill--on whose 1998 classic Legend played--many high-profile studio gigs followed, including a pivotal one co-writing and playing on Kanye West's smash debut. West, impressed with Stephens's abilities, signed him (as "John Legend") to his production company and co-produced his debut album, GET LIFTED, a soul-hip-hop hybrid that wowed critics and listeners alike. Thus rechristened, a Legend was born.

• Category:  Music  »  R&B  »  Contemporary R&B
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: December 28, 2004
• Label: Columbia (USA)
• UPC: 827969277621
• WAPI (Tower ID): 105908747
• Average Customer Review:    (1 customer review)
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #4552 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #212 in R&B (See Top 100 R&B Bestsellers)
• #39 in Contemporary R&B (See Top 100 Contemporary R&B Bestsellers)

•  [Official John Legend Artist Sitethis link opens a new window] 
  
•  [John Legend - Official Myspacethis link opens a new window] 
  
•  [John Legend - Wikipedia Entrythis link opens a new window] 
  
•  [John Legend - Music at LAST.fmthis link opens a new window] 
  
•  [John Legend - Lyrics at Lyrics.comthis link opens a new window] 
  

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Rolling Stone (p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 - "His brand of soul is mannered, even elegant. And he's got range..."
Spin (p.88) - "[M]ashing up Sunday-service passion and request-line soul. His voice leans on subtlety more than melisma, and his sound has a crisp live-band jump, rather than canned neo-soul static." - Grade: A-
Entertainment Weekly (p.85) - "Like Ray Charles, Legend joins the spiritual and the secular in satisfying, sexy ways....Almost every tune seduces with catchy hooks and soulful singing..." - Grade: A-
Q (p.121) - "[He has] a gift for writing crowd-pleasing songs, whether upbeat and funky or spare and introspective..."
Uncut (p.132) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[H]e introduces some intriguing new variations on the retro R&B template....Jeff Buckely is surprisingly brought to mind in Legend's passionately fragile delivery."
Vibe (p.144) - 5 discs out of 5 - "It's refreshing to hear a male vocalist who has enough talent to be more than a legend in his own mind."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.63) - Ranked #43 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "[L]ayering choral gospel on hip hop's brag in a style bowing to Stevie and Curtis."

Personnel include: John Legend (vocals, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, organ, keyboards); Kanye West (rap vocals, programming); Snoop Dogg (rap vocals); Dave Tozer (guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, programming); Miri Ben-Ari (strings); Tim Izo (flute, saxophone); Printz Board (trumpet); Will.i.am (Moog synthesizer, programming).

Recording information: The Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA; Sony Music Studios, New York, NY; Westlake Audio, Hollywood, California.

Six years after cutting his musical teeth as a teen, tickling the ivories on the classic Lauryn Hill single "Everything Is Everything," John Stephens popped up everywhere in 2004, going by the bold name of John Legend. His ubiquity was unsurprising, since he was taken under the wing of Kanye West, the year's breakout success, who tabbed Legend "the future of hip-hop." It's an interesting label for a man whose elegant voice and schooled songwriting conjures up Bill Withers and Al Green, but sometimes the future intersects with the past in a manner transcending revival.

Legend drops his debut, GET LIFTED, into the center of the neo-soul universe, and it's a charming, earnest record. Sometimes he dives into a contemporary slow jam, as on "Let's Get Lifted;" other times he finds a groove the Delfonics would be proud of, as on the West-driven "Number One." On the gently gorgeous "Ordinary People, " however, it's just the man and his piano. Whether he's truly the future direction of any genre or not, Legend is an artist to watch, and GET LIFTED offers the first major taste of his talent.

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