Lloyd, Street Love Full Album Zip

Lloyd Harlin Polite, Jr. is one of the latest in a long line of young, fashionable, and artistically faceless R&B vocalists peddling this precise trend. Not one to break the mould, Lloyd has spent his entire career (which is now surprisingly three albums deep) reheating worn-out street love truisms and simplified innuendo; naturally, this would also mean that he has made almost no discernible strides in the direction of trying to differentiate himself from his peers.

Occasionally guys like YG and Nipsey Hussle, both of the gangsta lineage, come along and drop a dope album, and The Game still releases quality product. But these days, the gangsta rapper has been all but replaced by the morose drug addict, more concerned with popping pills and being emo than making their audience witness the strength of street knowledge.

Havoc and Bright Lights marked a rebirth for Alanis Morissette, the first album she recorded as a newlywed mother. Delivered a full eight years later, Such Pretty Forks in the Road is the second act of the story, an album about learning how to find contentment at middle age. Morissette wrestles anxieties, origin stories, addictions, parenthood, and partnership throughout the record, searching for reasons and a diagnosis, achieving a sense of peace with having her sense of calm being disturbed on occasion. Appropriately for an album that's decidedly focused on an inward journey, Such Pretty Forks in the Road simmers, never boils. Hooks force themselves into the center stage on "Reasons I Drink" -- the rare tune here that could be called catchy -- but otherwise melody takes a back seat to mood. This doesn't necessarily mean Morissette's words are pushed into the spotlight. Such Pretty Forks in the Road is lacquered in immaculate gloss, a sound that accentuates the interior journey of the songs without quite inviting exploration. A close listen reveals all the troubles rolling around Morissette's mind, but the nice thing about Such Pretty Forks in the Road is how its smooth, placid surface makes the record feel like an album-length guided serenity meditation.Side A1. Smiling2. Ablaze3. Reasons I Drink4. Diagnosis5. Missing The Miracle6. Losing The Plot 2b1af7f3a8