Album Review--- Disturbing The Peace Presents Bobby Valentino

Now, I know what your thinking... I know. Another young'n on the scene... probably reminds you of Usher a little bit, huh? Well, I can't believe I'm actually about to say this...

I haven't listed to an Usher song in 8 days.

Why? Because of this CD. His name is Bobby Valentino. He's a 23 year old man born and raised in Atlanta, GA. After graduating from Clark Atlanta University in 2003, he signed to the Ludacris imprint Disturbing Tha Peace/Island Def Jam. He writes and produces. His name is on all songs on the disc. This is his solo effort, though it's not his first taste of the music biz..

Check me out...



Yeah, that was Bobby on the far left, singing with the rest of the group Mista about "Blackberry Molasses" back in 1996 at 14 years old. I love this CD also, but I'm not here to talk about this one...

Back to the lecture at hand...

I know some of you are probably thinking "That's that boy talking about Slow Down, I want to get to know you, but don't turn around cause that pretty round thing looks good to me," and you'd be right. I'll admit, at first, I didn't like that song either. I thought it was a little silly. But a friend of mine bought the CD and let me borrow it... and it's a very, VERY good CD... so i bought it. Don't let the first single keep you from experiencing this young man's talent. I almost did.

The CD is possibly telling you a story. Starting with the first single "Slow Down", the album progresses showing you that Bobby may have the name of an Italian gangster, but is still a hopeless romantic with a big heart... and that heart has been broken.

On "Never Lonely", he talks about meeting a young lady who has been put through hardship and heartbreak, and he wants to take the pain away. On "I'll Forgive You", he speaks of the girl he loves, and recognizing that she hurt him and he wants to try it again, because it's worth it. He sings "...I'll forgive you/ But you really hurt me/ My heart wants to try us again/ I know you're only human/ But you almost destroyed me/ Our love was worth it/ Still I need a little more time"...

My favorite song on the CD (at the moment anyway) is a song called "Love Dream"... not to many people can get away with a falsetto, but he made the transition flawlessly... he's speaking about needing the perfect love in his life... beautiful. And on "One Girl To Love", he says something that I hope the fellas listening take heed to.. "If we keep doing these girls wrong/ Somebody's gonna do us wrong/ It's reality/ If we keep breaking these girls hearts/ Somebody's gonna break our hearts/It's reality"... I hope ya'll hear that, cause it's true...

We of course have the uptempo joints, like "Give Me A Chance" which features Luda himself, "Tell Me", and "Come Touch Me". Those are hot, but the ballads get me.

I give this a A-. Cause it's gotta be something, I haven't listened to Usher in a full week. Holla.