Music Reviews

Before signing a record deal with Virgin Records, Hope Partlow was an typical farm girl growing up north of Memphis, Tenn. Partlow went to a public school, and did chores around her 100-acre farm. She started singing gospel and country songs with her father at the age of 5. And she received her first record deal when she was 14 years old. Now at 18, she has traveled the country performing music from “Who We Are,” her finely-written pop album.

“The Massacre,” the latest CD by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, is good, but not as good as his debut album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin,’” which was released in 2003 and sold more than 11 million copies and is being investigated for copyright infringement. 50 Cent’s group, G-Unit, is back, but with more members: Spider Loc, Mobb Deep, M.O.P. and Olivia, the only female and also only R&B singer. The rapper The Game is on “The Massacre,” too, but he has since left G-Unit. The bigger band makes a bigger sound.

“I've been all around the world /I've been a new sensation /But it doesn't really matter /In this g-generation /The sophomore slump is an uphill battle.” – Jason Mraz When an artist has a successful debut album, it is sometimes difficult to follow up with music that is not only as good as the first album, but new and improved – music that people will enjoy just as much as before.