Still Standing 
by Monica
In the last couple weeks, I have been listening to a lot of mixtapes, a lot of rap music, and missing out on some of the mainstream or commercial music! LOL! "Missing Out"! Yeah right! But you know what I mean! Anyway, I decided to take my chances with a few new releases and ran across this latest offering from ATL's finest, Monica! It is entitled, Still Standing! Recently, she started a new reality TV show (of the same name) which I have also yet to watch, probably because I am so damn tired of EVERY star, has-been and in between getting a reality show! My LIFE is a reality show enough, with all the DRAMA I hear about or go through! But I digress!
Anyway, back to the music! So, Still Standing! I would like to say, IT'S FIRE! If you can say that about R&B! I love R&B so I was already excited to see one of R&B's most talented Princesses return to the game! At 15, in 1995, Ms. Monica was THE HOTTEST commodity in the game! And I would have to say, thought it is short with only 10 tracks, this latest offering definitely re-seals the deal that she is one of R&B's HOTTEST (and not just because at 30YO she is DA BOMB!).
So WHAT DOES STYLEZ THINK? I have to say I enjoyed 8 of the 10 tracks, and even the ones that weren't the best, they were tolerable! I commend her and her team for making great track selections that I felt maintained her youth, but without making her sound like she was trying to revert back to her style as a teenager! The tracks are lively, which is a direct contrast to Alicia Keys' latest, but still hold true to R&B without getting to much like Pop offerings! Nor does it stray to far into the Hip-Hop genre, even though the title track does feature ATL's adopted son Ludacris (please don't argue this point, he stated it hisself, he IS NOT originally from ATL, he's from Champaign, IL!).
Anyway, if you haven't already, get out and cop that STILL STANDING by Monica! I am sure you won't be disappointed!
Get your Monica fix:
Web: http://www.monica.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MonicaMyLife
For this week’s G.O.O.D. Friday MP3, Kanye reformed his ‘07-born trio with Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell Williams, Child Rebel Soldier. While CRS members have teamed up on a number of tracks over the years, this is their first release under the moniker since dropping their Thom Yorke-sampling debut, .jpeg)