"Another Jennifer" by Levi

a Review by Amy Producer of Collected Sounds

What a breath of fresh air. Not that I haven't gotten into the music I've received lately, but this one hits it way out of the park.

I've never been a fan of rap music. It just seems so hateful and full of bravado, tough guy sh*t which I have no time or tolerance for. (But I did just watch "8 Mile" the other day and though I missed about 85% of the dialog I found it interesting). I don't know if I've ever heard a white girl rap before so I can't say I have a lot to compare Levi to, but I like what I hear.

She's not just a rapper. She also writes music (not just verse) and plays guitar. Her rap is interesting, intelligent, witty and fun.

The songs aren't all rap songs. In fact the first track, "You Belong" is just a great rock song. It's upbeat and shows that her voice can do more than just talk it is equally good for rock or rap.

Her given name is Jennifer Lee Wilcox but she has an arrangement with Levi Strauss whereby she can use the name Levi and even thanks them in the liner notes for their agreement.

The title track, "Another Jennifer" is a great song about her name and why she chose to not go by Jennifer. Partly because there are so many famous Jennifer's now ("Watch out! It's Jenny season").

"Hick" is hilarious:

"I'm a hick I grew up in the sticks
I come from places where pick up trucks turn the chicks"

…and it even has a "yee-haw!"

I'm not going to pick out "standout songs" because they are all standouts, especially in comparison to 90% of other pop music today. Do yourself a favor and give this one a chance, even if you think you don't like rap music. You might be surprised.

Note: As an added bonus, her website is darn near perfect. It's cute, it's informative, it's navigationally simple and it has options for those who don't like all the frills. Kudos to her designer…wish he/she were designing for every site I visit.

Posted on June 11, 2004

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Comments:

Rating: 5 Stars
Comment: Great album. Something quite different to any of my other music, but really addictive. You can just play it again and again without getting bored. Good mixture of rapping and singing - and what a singer!
name: Monkeyboy on Thursday, August 12, 2004

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