Artist: Bobby Valentino

I’m accustomed to the “grow-on-me” effect of a Bobby Valentino album, which is why I took my time with this project, and it’s a good thing for him that I did. Initially, I would have completely trashed this album; on first listen I wasn’t feelin’ it at all and I still feel like it sounds a lot like his earlier content. After a few listens, my views have changed, but only slightly. The Rebirth is decent, but does nothing to surpass his sophomore release, Special Occasion.

The main problem with this album is that despite its name, there isn’t really a rebirth in Bobby’s sound. Tim & Bob contributed almost half of the tracks to the album, as they did with his previous albums and the style they use for Bobby V. has become stale. In fact, most of the highlights of the album are the songs they’re not on, like Butterfly Tattoo, and the lead single Beep featuring Yung Joc; both tracks keep a nice uptempo pace and work some sexual metaphors, ideal for the club scene. Vocally, he shines the most on the slower jams like Stay With Me, and my personal favorite Be My Love. I’m especially feeling the play-on-words with 3 Is The New 2, freaky and imaginative with a scenario set to cater to the carnal fantasies of his lady… and her lady. One thing Bobby does quite well is covers (heard Soon As I Get Home?). On this album, he teams up with Raphael Saadiq for a cover of the Tony! Toni! Toné! classic Just Me and You with Bobby on vocals and Saadiq offering a soulful rift from the guitar.

Out of 16 tracks, only about 6 are really worth the listen, everything else sounds like something that’s been done already and nothing stands out. It’s an album of soft grooves but nothing memorable. Overall, I’m just not feeling the creative energy on here. I think Bobby could really use a total re-vamping of his style and sound; he’s on a new label now, his own Blue Kolla Dreams imprint but it seems he’s scared to deviate and try new things. Nothin’ beats a failure but a try; for me this is a failure, so next time, TRY!!

Sound-Savvy officially rates The Rebirth with 2 out of 5 platinum headphones.