Stephanie McKay: Stephanie McKay EP
Words by Chris “Preach” Smith
Stephanie McKay has been waiting to tell it like it is for quite some time now. The Bronx native has been a voice on the rise, putting in work with Brooklyn Funk Essentials, a well known acid jazz collective from 1994 to 2001 after being part of Promise, a girl group that never saw the light on Arista Records. Bolstered by backup singing appearances on albums by Tricky and Talib Kweli, she went on to live in the U.K., releasing her debut album, McKay, in 2003 which was produced by Geoff Barrow of Portishead. Now back stateside, she’s ready to release her American debut but not before giving us an appetizer with her self-titled EP.
What jumps out at you about Stephanie McKay is her vocal style. Her voice is strong and soulful, and it suits the subject matter of her songs. “Tell It Like It Is” (coincidentally the title of her upcoming album) makes you feel like you’re listening to a Motown track from the 1970′s with its hard driving funky bassline and her emotional depictions of street life. McKay is highly adept at making her sound work within the confines of the track, which is a drawback when the production is not up to par, as seen with “Rising Tide”. Her soaring alto seems badly married to a clunking hip-hop beat, and the supporting vocal doesn’t help. Thankfully she rebounds with the reggae-tinged “Take Me Over”.
The EP does leave you wanting more, closing out with DJ Spinna doing his own mix of “Tell It Like It Is”. All in all, Stephanie McKay’s got the experience and the style that sets her apart from your run-of-the-mill female singer who’s all fluff and little substance. She’s telling us she’s got soul and it’s worth it to listen to her.
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You guys are late on alot of music compared to other blogs. Not trying to dis but do more recon and bring more new music who gives a fuck about the regular list of characters.
Point taken but to be honest, we don\’t try to be \”first\” and never have. People are often too quick to judge w/o giving the music a chance to digest.
Instead of being first, we just try to tell you some of the stuff that we find worthy of listening to.
well numb nuts who should they be covering? and if you think this site is doing a poor job why don’t you try doing it better? i mean it may not be new to you but maybe that’s because some people have actual lives outside of checking the internet every 5 seconds just so they can say they are up on something so it is probably new to somebody out there what’s it matter to you? so you can just say you knew about the artist before everyone else? just because you knew about it doesn’t mean we all knew about it and it is about giving fair coverage and exposure and opinions? i mean it isn’t enough for you that free music is posted and people who probably have other jobs and lives and probably don’t get paid (because none of us are paying I’m sure) and do this on the strength of love and gain nothing else from this? I ask you is that not enough for some respect to the entire crew? I mean I swear if you need to suggest someone why don’t you drop a line to the crew otherwise count your blessings and be thankful for what you got
i agree gotty u bring stuff that i would not have seen on other blogs until it was mainstream. plus you can get goodies you have been searching the crates for ages. who else would have put up the whole dunegon family history.
all world keep going to the other blogs for new music… we will stay right here for the real goodies
yo don’t get offended you guys are sensitive around here. They should cover some black rock groups as a suggestion, and new forms of music. We have every single weezy mixatpe, diplomats and all that other bullshit! Make a section on producers with some break beat cd’s or something! Step ya game up folks!
hey opinions are like assholes everybody’s got one. Gotty I see dickriders and yes men! You are doing ya thing man no doubt just being an asshole I guess.
LOL…I just replied to your comment. Outside of that, I don’t have any say.
But I did think about on my drive home…I don’t think any of us on this side are going for “Blogger Of The Year” or anything of that nature. We do this in fun, because we like music and we like sharing it. Plain and simple.
And in this age of the innernuts, you can’t always be first. We don’t really cover gossip, or update all day w/news. My dude I got a daughter, a girl, a professional job, & other activities offline. I couldn’t really keep up if I wanted to.
If we see, hear or find something, we share it. It’s that simple. & like I said, I can only speak for myself when I say if being last means actually taking in the music & allowing it to see if it’s worthy of suggesting to someone else’s rotation, I’ll be last.
no doubt! do your thing!
No offense meant or taken from me. But nobody’s collecting checks off this piece, so while I take in the comments & we adjust, it’s water off the back of a duck.
If you’ve got suggestions or want to contribute on a CONSISTENT basis, email me.
Lemme guess allworld, you’re 12 and you just got home from school. In your 5 hours of nothingness (when you SHOULD be doing your homework) you browse blogs to eventually become cool when you’re a sophomore or junior in high school. Because you have a bunch of music in the stash (acquired in the last year) you feel as if you’re now the expert on music past and present.
Just a guess there.
DrewRicketts TSS for LIFE!
drew let me guess you’re a dick rider that jumped on gotty’s jock because you always wanted to be apart of a driving force, but you never wanted to drive. I’m glad you made it
TSS for LIfe!
“…a driving force”
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Nice :) lol
Cats getting excited over nothing.