"City On Our Knees" CD single
Artist: TobyMac
Label: Forefront
 
In these days of downloads singles' dominance, the greatest reason for a label to release a CD single seems to give advance hype to what's sure to be a blockbuster album.

TobyMac's "City On Our Knees" is #1 on MediaBase 24/7's cCm radio play chart at the time of this review, and the album it previews, Tonight, should follow in the former dc Talk rapper's streak of gold-to-multiple platinum certifications. Advancing an assured hit?

Check.

The song itself checks current trends musically and textually, too. Even if he doesn't really use it, Mac's voice sounds to be slightly altered by AutoTune in places on "City." Especially when heard on the radio while your (at least my) attention's divided. there's a certain elongation and fuzziness of tone that might not be obvious as a T-Pain jam, but still seems a mite more than humanly possible.

And though not a strictly vertically-directed praise&worship number, the song follows Bluetree, Hillsong and likely others in its tableau of the Lord and His people in the/a city. Lyrically, Mac posits a kind of spiritual fantasy of both vertical and horizontal reconciliation. Given the parameters of poetic license, it makes sense enough to have become a hit.

Two remixes of songs from Mac's previous longplayer, Portable Sounds, add value to the disc. "Lose My Soul" and the album's de facto titular track. "Boomin'" benefit, respectively, from what sounds like the same Bob James tinkling LL Cool J sampled for "Rock The Bells" and a spirited cameo by up 'n' coming Word Records rapper Shonlock. It's funny how guest rapper Kirk Franklin gives a roundabout diss to American Idol on "Soul" when former AI contestant sings background vocals, too.

Lastly, in what's billed as an interview, Mac muses solo about his collaborators, inspirations and songwriting philosophy over and between snippets of other cuts from Tonight. It bodes to be at least as good as its predecessor.

Jamie Lee Rake