Keri Hilson ft. Lil Wayne – Turnin’ Me On
Well, if we didn’t have at least one Lil Wayne guest spot in the opening week, people might start thinking we were impostors…
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[6.80]
Hillary Brown: Not even Weezy can lend a hint of sex appeal to this dry, simplistic, off-key song.
[2]
Rodney J. Greene: Keri shows and proves her songwriting chops while slowly transforming from a cheeky space-Rihanna into something more human and coyer yet. Lil Wayne takes a full minute to “Keri, if you pitch it at me/ I’m ‘a swing away at it,” and “I’ll go underwater and I hope your piranha bite,” and just be Wayne in general, tropes, inspired madness and all. He actually raps, too. Thank god.
[9]
Martin Skidmore: She wrote some of my favourite singles of the last few years (“Ice Box”, “Like A Boy”), but this seemed a fairly mediocre number at first listen, though it is growing on me. I like the strength and liveliness in her voice (though I guess it is low on character), the production clicks along nicely, but it does take a while to grab me. I’d like this week’s Wayne guest spot better without the vocal processing, but this is one that might score better with me at the end of the year than on a couple of listens right now – or, more likely, she will do better.
[7]
Al Shipley: What really makes this song is the subtle contrast between groove and bombast, the way that little ticking percussion motif is still being established when Polow Da Don starts ad-libbing and throwing sirens all over the track to build up the energy. Keri’s melody is slight and her voice has never sounded thinner, but it works for the bitchy theme of the song. And Wayne, who built his empire in part on R&B cameos, turns in his first decent one in a while, clearly having fun dancing around the rhythm instead of merely slurring his way through it, although he does a bit of that too.
[7]
Martin Kavka: Proving that Polow Da Don is the next great hip-hop producer, this track is miles above anything he’s done recently, and should make people forget that he produced Fergie’s “Glamorous.” If this doesn’t go #1 in the US charts – if not only so that tweeners can hear Lil’ Wayne say “I hope your vagina’s tight; I go underwater and I hope your piranha bite” and receive some quality sex education in this abstinence-obsessed land – there is no justice…and mark my words, there will be no peace. Bonus points for the sampled (synthesized?) tuba.
[9]
“Keri’s melody is slight ”
The melody starts out really pinched, but the way it opens up through variation as the verses progress is great.
Very disappointed no one mentioned how unfortunate the phrase “Miss Keri, baby” is.
Lil Wayne is on good form and Keri seems to have found some bite (after the flat indifference of The Way I Are) but ultimately it’s the tuba wot clinches it for me.
the first reviewer got it right. as for “next great hip-hop producer” — naaah…am i the only one who only likes maybe three Polow beats tops, and thinks Ciara’s “Promise” is the only classic beat he’s done? i realize The Neptunes and Timbaland (especially the latter with that awful Chris Cornell album) haven’t exactly been operating at full capacity lately, but their more inspired moments even in the last couple years blow him out of the water. his drums are flat and his synths just tend to be, i dunno, lifeless.