Review Summary: Empire is going public. This time, it is for real.
Empire is about to take it to the next level. With the success of their music material, which is produced by multi-platinum producer Timbaland, from the digital sales in which it is taking, Empire is about to take it up a notch. Fans have lauded actor Jussie Smollett, who plays Lucious' son Jamal, for his stunning vocals in the six songs in which he has been in during the course of the season. He does it again here in the "Out, Damned Spot" EP, which for the most part is another success but yet one with glaring problems such as in the "Dangerous Bonds" release.
So let's get the obvious out of the way, Jussie nails it again in his sole appearance in the three-track mini-album. His song, another R&B one with "I Wanna Love You", is one with obvious Usher influence, reminiscent of the early material that he did in his career. Jussie's vocals earlier in the year reminded me of an early Jason Derulo, where he pushed himself to the limit with very strong vocals. In this one, he doesn't push the gas on full-throttle here but still brings it with his croony vocals, and even channels in his inner Usher in the hook with his elegance and confidence. This sets up for an much-anticipated single that will feature solely Jussie, one that will be Empire's debut into the mainstream in terms of getting onto the radio and potentially reaching more listeners on a more grand scale. Just like in the show, with Empire Records going public with their IPO, this will be Empire's coming out-party with that Jussie-featured single and it could prove successful if the single is done right.
As for the rest of this EP, it isn't bad but issues still arise here. Actor/rapper Yazz pulls off a comeback performance in the boom-bap oriented "Can't Truss 'Em", spitting his most powerful rap yet touching on how he can't trust his "girlfriend" in Tianya. Courtney Love makes an appearance here in the contemporary pop-oriented "Cry In The River", in which is easily the track with serious problems. The vocals are terrible, the instrumental is as well, just overall really bad: trumping "Drip Drop" from the last release easily in terms of being the worst track to come out yet. While "Out, Damned Spot" is another solid release, their is much to be concerned about with yet another track which was really terrible. Hopefully this issue gets resolved soon, otherwise this won't end up being one track: it could stack up potentially in future releases. Considering the immense success so far with the show and a major step musically the material is being taken, this doesn't need to cloud that.
