This review was written in 2006 or so…..I haven’t really changed much in the review, I just felt like I had to put it out there, so if something is inaccurate, let me know. Also some of these views may have changed over the years. Check it out anyways. Thanks.
Although this was Joi’s fourth studio album, it was actually the second album of hers that I purchased after getting my hands on a tangible copy of her previous effort “Star Kitty’s Revenge,” which was her final album for Universal Records. Originally Joi was supposed to release this disc on Raphael Saadiq’s record label Pookie Entertainment (hence him being featured on most of the tracks) however, for some reason or another things didn’t go according to plan & Joi ended up going totally independent, opting to release the physical album on CDBaby.com & through selected record stores in the States. Being that I live on the other side of the world, I ended up buying it digitally on iTunes….but one of these days I’m gonna take my credit card out & cop it off CD Baby…cuz I need liner notes man!!! Here’s what I had to say about it after giving it a few listens:
Tennessee Slim is the Bomb: Joi is obviously one of those artists whose music gets categorised as “R&B/Soul” or “Hip Hop,” but this title track completely caught me off guard when I first heard a few seconds of it, because it just sounded so different to anything I’d ever heard before. I wouldn’t clasify this song as R&B, Soul, Hip Hop or any of those things, but I’m pretty sure if she handed this song up to the boss of a big named record company, he would’ve screwed his face up & told her to change this, that & the other until it ended up sounding nothing like the original song. Obviously now she’s an independent artist so she doesn’t need to put up with that sh*t anymore. Anyway, after I heard this song in its entirety I was addicted to it for days on end, it’s a great opener.
I’m So Famous: I recall somebody posting a link to this particular song on okayplayer.com which is where I hear a lot of new music I guess. I just remember double clicking on the MP3 file, hearing the laid back beat & the slapped basslines and really enjoying it. Then came the chorus, “I’m so famous, I made you drop it out on the one. I’m so famous, everybody needs a little light under the sun.” Ah!, A George Clinton reference…now the kid was cheezin! 
Definitely a great tune. Speaking of the man who once dubbed himself the “King of the Funk,” do you know how on certain albums they have little spoken word interludes in between each track? Well, there’s plenty of those things on this album, the only difference is that they’re all performed by George Clinton himself. Back in the day that might’ve been a pretty cool thing to hear, but unfortunately these days George gets on my nerves…that miserable stanky old codger is well past his used by date. At one point on this album, he even lights up a spliff and gets high. Sorry but he has to go, which is why I’m only concentrating on the songs in this review.
To My Lover’s House, I Go: This one’s most probably about the happier times she had with her ex-husband, or at least somebody she was in a relationship with at one point in her life. Throughout the song she claims that she’s her boyfriend’s “dirty debutante from the dirty South.” Don’t know why they call it that, but anyway it’s a pretty decent track….kinda funky but laid back at the same time.
Another Rocket: Hmmm…let’s see if I can work out what’s being said here. Sounds like she’s just had an argument with her ex, and he’s telling her they’re through, but she seems to want him back. Even though she knows he doesn’t want her back, she knows there’ll be somebody else to take his place eventually. She uses the rocket in the sky as a metaphor for those words, but it’s pretty clear what she means. This track starts off in a smooth but funky way, and then halfway through it turns into a rock tune before it goes back to how it began. When the rock guitar comes in, it’s almost as if she’s exploding emotionally: the screams that accompany the electric guitar in that particular part of the song definitely give me that impression. I’ve also gotta admit, as much as I may curse myself, Joi’s use of the term “motherf**ker” in this song shocked me a little at first, but I got over it pretty quickly. I guess that’s ’cause I’m used to hearing music with little or no profanity nowadays. What else can I say other than “this track is definitely another keeper”?
Co-Stars: When I first heard this song, I was basically just concentrating on the chorus, but I only ever really caught a few lines of it, such as: “You and I are only co-stars in this here production….the curtain’s rising, please enjoy the show.” So my initial reaction was “it would’ve been better if she put this song at the beginning of the album instead of where it ended up going,” but actually once I listened to the lyrics I noticed that it was placed in the appropriate spot. It was also at that point that I truly discovered exactly what it was that Joi was saying in this song, and once it dawned on me what this song was actually about, it pretty much freaked me out. By the same token, I was also very fascinated by the way the she pulled it off as a whole. Joi compares the scenes from everyday life, or rather – everyday life in general, to that of a stage show/musical/play (whatever you want to call these things), where the main guy in charge is God (whom she refers to as Yahweh), and only He knows the entire script off by heart. In other words, we’re all trying to fumble our way through life, but only the man up there knows what’s gonna happen next. And I tell ya, the way in which she delivered this song was unlike anything I’d ever heard before in my life. To me it sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack to a broadway musical or something, because it literally felt like I was in a theatre watching a musical when I first heard this track. No exaggeration! That also may have sounded like a nasty comment but I can assure you that that was not my intention, it was simply my overall opinion of the song. I guess another way I can describe this song is that it has a very heavy P-Funk vibe to it. Note to the uninitiated kiddies reading this review: please refer to the live rendition of Parliament’s “Children of Production” off the “Tear The Roof Off” anthology. Or better yet – check out the Bootsy Collins track “Munchies For Your Love,” which Joi actually covered with Sleepy Brown on her last album “Star Kitty’s Revenge.” Trust me, as soon as you hear either one of these songs, you’ll see exactly what I’m going on about.
Dance With Yesterday: This song right here has a very strong late eighties Prince vibe. It’s clear that Joi (or whoever was in charge) was using a Linn Drum machine which is obviously a sound that was very prominent in Prince’s music back in the day. My overall spin on the song is, if you took a few slices of Prince in ‘87 & ‘88, added the bassline from “Every Breath You Take” by the Police and perhaps a few sprinkles of the Stevie Nicks song “Stand Back,” which he apparently co-wrote back in ‘83 then you’d have a pretty accurate description of what the song sounds like. Now, I’m a huge Prince fan, so whaddayareckon I’m gonna say about this particular song? That it sucks? In the words of Balki from the early ’90s sitcom “Perfect Strangers”: “Well of course I won’t don’t be ridiculous!”
Lifetime of Nightime: This funky little ditty shows you Joi being, well…uh I guess horny would be the accurate word. She wants to “give it to ya with my shoes on.” That particular line reminds me of “Agony Of Defeet” by Parliament even though both of these songs are completely different. Does that mean that this another great one? Hell yeah.
Cloud Nine: Here’s one that features some rapper talking about how he took Joi to see Stevie Wonder in concert, and things got a little heated, then he took her to a Prince show where “things got intense.” Even though he makes a direct reference to two legendary performers (one of whom is of course my favourite artist of all time) this is unfortunately one of those tracks that makes me wanna press the skip button – quick smart. You wanna get high? Fine, just don’t do it around me.
Gravity: Now this is more like it. Smooth, funky R&B at its finest. It’s obviously all about her relationship with her ex-hubby Bigg Gipp of the Dungeon Family, and I say it’s obvious because she mentions how she made a promise to him, how she feels sad now that it’s over and that “the rap game stole my man.” Personal issues aside, this track is a winner – especially when Raphael Saadiq is all over it.
Maybe: I wish I had the liner notes to see what song she sampled on this track. It sounds like those are the drums from the beginning of “La La La Means I Love You” by the Delfonics. I guess I only know that so well cuz Prince covered it back in 1996, but whatever the actual sample is, I can’t seem to put my finger on it. Anyhow it’s a very nice soul ballad in which she’s telling us that she isn’t ashamed of telling everybody how she feels about her ex-husband, that she can’t stop thinking of him, and that she still wants to give it another shot. Sounds like this guy didn’t just break her heart, he shattered it.
Say, Say, Li’l Fine Ass N*ggah: Not sure if this song was done because she likes so-called “crunk music,” if it was because she was trying to get the mainstream’s attention, or even if it was because she’s known to be affiliated with Southern rappers. My overall stance on the song is that while the beat’s pretty good, the lyrics are totally unnecessary. They feature references to smoking marijuana, and the line, “want me to fuck you like a whore” totally puts me off. In fact it gives me the impression that it was done for mere shock value.
I Love You Forever, Right Now: If I were listening to this song in a place where I was surrounded by other people and their opinions, I’d be copping all kinds of comments like “What is this?! Sleep music?!” But since I have the pleasure of sitting here all alone in my room with my AKG301 headphones on my head, typing this review on my iMac G4, I can safely say that this is a very nice jazz tune.
That’s The Truth: One final song about her ex lover. It mostly has a very straight up hip hop/R&B type of feel to it, and at the end of the song, there’s some distorted Rhodes licks. Then it suddenly breaks out into this, kinda skittish drum pattern reminiscent of Timberland. Sounds like they used live drums as opposed to an actual drum machine. Whatever the case is it’s a very good song.
YHWH, Everlasting: I don’t know if I should even review this song because it just sounds so personal, so spiritual and so beautiful all at the same time. Actually it makes me feel like I’m in Church or something. If Prince did this kind of track praising Jehovah we’d never hear the end of it on those forums…then again a few people out there interpreted what he did on the title track to the “For You” album as having some kind of dedication to God. Since it’s Joi praising Yahweh I have no problems with this track…especially when I consider the fact that I was taught that Yahweh was actually Jesus’ name. I guess nobody can actually prove that but I definitely wouldn’t criticize anybody who claimed such a thing. While we’re on that same subject there’s one last interlude featuring George Clinton that was included just before this track, and it featured some woman reading a Bible passage in what appeared to be Latin. Correction: Joi is actually “a Hebrew Israilie woman”….she says so in the credits of this album, so I guess that must be Yiddish or Hebrew or something, not Latin.
Verdict: Well, this album definitely lives up to its name: Tennessee Slim certainly is the bomb…although if she got rid of the Clinton interludes & the annoying rappers then it would’ve been a much more solid album. Also I think Joi is a very brave woman for writing songs about God and being so open about not just her faith in God but also her relationship with her ex-husband which she of course addresses a few times on this record. As a whole it’s a very good album, and definitely one I’ll keep going back to every now and then.
