Dre Marshall – Room 819
4 Simple words. GO GET THAT ALBUM!!. I mean there’s not too much more I can say. Dre Marshall dropped one of the top albums of 2008 and was totally under the radar. This album is a very well produced and lyrically a very well rounded album. The content is appealing to both the saved and the unsaved and the delivery is Christ centered and relevant to the issues of today’s common man.
All the features were hitting. Dre teamed up with Canton Jones, D-Lo, St. Matthew, Mahogany Jones and nothing but A games were brought. Dre deals with issues from Street Life (Whoa ft. D-Lo), Forgiveness (Deadbeat Dad), Molestation and Prostitution (Gloria), Christian Living (Call Em Out) and brings it home with worship (More). I mean the album is just dope..lol..I just pray that everybody gives this album a chance because it’s definitely coming out of left field in a year that saw Lecrae and Shai Linne drop propjects that made major noise just to name a few, Flame getting a Grammy nod and the upcoming Stellar Awards.
What Worked: Dre is a beast on the mic, and I say this in the most positive Christian sense..wait, can a Christian be a beast..lol..anyway yeah, so dude brings the heat on pretty much every track. It was hard for me to pick out any official standout tracks, cuz they were pretty much all good tracks. The album had a nice flow from beginning to end, it was good mix of upbeat tracks with mellow joints thrown in to get you hype, calm you down and then hype again, something that is fairly hard to do. Most artists like to group all the worship type tracks or introspective tracks in one area which tends to slow down the tempo of the album, which winds up being the areas on repeat play where most fans tend to hit the skip buttons, even if the tracks are hot. But when you have a good mix it keep the listener focused and they don’t even notice transitions and it winds up being an album you can listen to from start to finish, even on repeat play..That is unless you just don’t like the songs…lol..Lastly the production was banging, definitely hot beats that fit Dre’s voice and rap style and complimented his featured artists as well. Good beat selection.
Stand out Tracks:
Whoa ft Dlo, Pastor Kelvin Brooks (Introspective track bout Dre’s life on the streets BC (before Christ)
Quotable Lyrics: (Actually the quote is from the sampled Sermon by Pastor Kelvin Brooks..Dude dropped some knowledge.)
It is impossible for you to fail. Read the bible, read all the case studies and the history in this book. The bible says its written for our instruction and our equipping, read this book and see time after time how people who followed the direction of God prospered. You will never see a man in this book fail because of following the direction of God- Pastor Kelvin Brooks
(Anyone else need a praise break..lol..)
More ft. Breyan Isaac, LaVie (Worship track talking about just desiring more of God’s Love)
Quotable Lyric: You’ve chased me for so many years/so many tears defining this very man that would face fears/ I live because you breathed in me/cuz you believed in me/and I’m praying I’m pleasing to you/you complete me
(Probably my favorite song on this album..Just straight raw worship)
Call Em Out (Really talking about living what we talk as Christians)
Quotable Lyric: If you see me in the streets call me out/especially if I aint living what I’m talking bout/what good is the word if you can’t walk it out/if it can’t change you homeboy shut your mouth.
What Didn’t Work: Maybe it was just me, but I was still confused after hearing the album why it was called Room 8-1-9..Maybe a small verbal explanation would have been better for dummies like me..lol..
2nd-The production was great but the overall volume of the beats seemed low. When compared to about 5-6 other albums I noticed that beats didn’t knock in the system as hard from jump, which was a shame b/c the production was top notch. After some alteration in the whip I was able to get the desired results but hopefully that is something to be looked into for the next album.
3rd – Lastly for most of the songs I found myself missing the presence of a strong kick in the tracks. A strong kick in your beat is the building block of a track, it makes the difference between a beat that truly knocks and one that still knocks but could knock more..lol..I know it’s minor, but what can I say I’m an artist.
Overall I was highly impressed by this project and Dre Marshall is definitely on my radar..Maybe I’ll be on his for a remix..lol..nah but this is a must have for everyone. Cop this joint and support good music.
