Hip-Hop/Praise and Worship artist Faithful releases new CD on Living Water Records
Amazing producer Quran Rankin (Christina Aguilera,
Donnie McClurkin) puts the magic touch on the sophomore project of Hip-Hop/Gospel artist Nicole "Faithful" Franklin
titled "Taking it Back. The CD is released on Living Water Records (distributed by Thank You Entertainment//Fontana/Universal).
It offers twelve hot Contemporary Gospel selections that are of a Praise and Worship nature.
"I wrote
all the lyrics," Faithful said. The rapper, spoken word artist and film director also pointed out that producer Quran
was "an amazing producer, he plays everything."
"Me and Quran is like a team...Lord inspired,"
Faithful stated.
Once you listen to the album you will see why Faithful and I refer to his skills as "amazing."
After you get over the shock of the music you are sucked into the talents of Faithful as she raps (a flow reminiscent to me
of a Mc Lyte/DaBrat combination), use spoken word and arrangement of the background vocals of Dennis Clark, Sherrie, Bryan
Clark and Sharon Youngblood.
In the entertainment business Faithful is known as Nicole Franklin the film
director and choreographer. She served under the tutelage of film director F. Gary Gray and Paul Hunter. As choreographer
Faithful worked on such programs as Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards, The David Letterman Show and The European MTV Awards.
She also worked on the projects of Whitney Houston, LL Cool J, Mary Mary, and Snoop Dogg. Her debut CD was released on the
Streetlife/Scotti Bros imprint.
I love the vocals of Dennis Clark on the "He's Coming" selection;
I am amazed at the violin driven track and the great harmony on "Without You;" Faithful's spoken word talents shine
through on the previously mentioned song and "The Greatest;" I love the hard Hip-Hop on the title track "Taking
it Back," and the Rock feel, with the piano driven intro on "You Are" is refreshing.
Stop by
and meet Nicole "Faithful" Franklin Sunday, October 18th at the Uplifting Minds II entertainment conference's national
talent competition showcase at the Los Angeles Convention Center (West Hall-Theater) from 5 - 7 p.m., admission is free. Log
onto
www.NicoleFaithfulFranklin.com or
www.myspace.com/nicolefaithfulfranklin to hear or learn more on Faithful.
Dancehall
group T.O.K. releases ‘Our World' on VP Records
"Our last CD was in 04-05," Flexx, one of four members of the Dancehall group T.O.K. said about their absence from
the record business. "Since then we had been working on our album...always making music. The hardest part was choosing
the songs."
Sixteen tracks are on the recently released T.O.K.
CD, "Our World," on VP Records. The Reggae band, Flexx, Craigy-T, Alex and Bay-C, first released an album in 2001
"My Crew, My Dawgs" which garnered them the hot single "Eagle's Cry" (a version of Prince's "When
Doves Cry") . In 2005 T.O.K. released "Unknown Language" which resulted in a Billboard Top 100 singles "Gal
You Lead" and "Footprints."
"We just came off
a tour in Europe," Flexx pointed out. "We have a (large) fan base...Japan, Span and the Caribbean's."
Member Craig-T added, "(We want to) show people how much we've grown. To prove
it's ‘Our World.'"
Beenie Man is featured on "Miss
World" one of my favorites because of its hard dancehall delivery. My other favorites include "Get Out (Don't Come
Back);" "Guardian Angel" which has a great message, and "Me and My Dawgs."
For more on T.O.K. log onto www.myspace.com/TOKMusic, www.facebook.com/T.O.K. and www.twitter.com/TOKCrew.
