Tuesday 18th April 2006
By Philip Ellwood
With Lil' Kim behind bars for perjury, Da Brat enjoying a bit of downtime and the death of Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes female rap hasn't been having a great deal of exposure recently. If you're missing your dose of female attitude then you should look up the new album by Trina, 'Glamorest Life'. Trina's rap style sits somewhere between Da Brat and Left Eye but she packs a punch similar to rap's fiestiest female Lil' Kim.
'Glamorest Life' is a confident, sassy, club record. 12 out of the 13 tracks are uptempo tracks. The only downtempo number is current single 'Here We Go' featuring Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland. It is easy to see why the track is the lead single from the album. It is by far the best track on the album and Rowland's vocal gives the track a radio-friendly feel. Elsewhere on the album Trina teams up with Snoop Dogg on the summery 'Sexy Gurl', Dre on the fiesty album opener 'Sum Mo' and Jazze Pha on the infectious 'It's Your B Day'.
Trina is a good rapper and her attitude and delivery is convincing. However, the weakness of 'Glamorest Life' lies in the reliance of guest artists on 12 of the albums tracks. At times it feels as if Trina is guesting on her own record and the guest artist takes over the track. The best example of this is 'Da Club' where Mannie Fresh makes more of an impression than Trina does. This is a shame as Trina is more than capable of carrying a track on her own.
'Glamorest Life' is a good rap record. It's a very enjoyable album but unfortunately it's not quite as great as it could have been. Record buyers who like the current single may be disappointed with the rest of the album. If you're a fan of fiesty rap however, Trina's album would make a good addition to your collection. Lil' Kim needn't worry about her crown yet, but maybe with her next album Trina may shine a bit brighter.
Click here to buy 'Trina - Glamorest Life'
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
