Mista

For some reason, this LP is underrated. With production credits from Organized Noize (the production team behind OutKast and Goodie Mob) and another track from a young Tricky Stewart, who would later go on to produce Rihanna, Beyoncé and a host of radio-friendly hits, you’d think fans of 90s RB and neo-soul would flock to this album. The group is mostly made up of teenagers, the youngest being Bobby V, member of the group BDB (Bobby Vans, Bigg dopp, and Black). Bobby V went on to have hits with ‘Slow Down’, ‘Anonymous’, and ‘Mrs Officer’. The album is more similar to Maxwell and D’ Angelo, with lush bedding of the 60s and 70s influences. The mixing of the album contributes to its fun and nostalgia-tinged futurism. If you like 90s RB, Maxwell or D’Angelo, then you have to check it out. The album is seamless for the most part. But I found one of the singers’ voice a bit too young. It was off-putting. And it was that singer’s voice that sometimes stopped the flow of whatever mood that song wanted to create. It’s the only thing preventing the album from being 100%. Even the hit ‘Blackberry Molasses’, with a snare pattern lifted from OutKast’s Pink and Blue, didn’t quite do it for me. It didn’t scream ‘wow!’. But besides that niggle, the album has been underappreciated. It should’ve been given more credit for its retro influences, production and demo performances by future stars. For fans of the genre at the time, and today, we should know better. Find it. Check it out. Enjoy!

MISTA - MISTA

RATING - 7.4/10

FAVORITE TRACKS - Things You Do, ? (Heart) Is, Blackberry Molasses

GENRE - Neo Soul, Contemporary Rnb