Philly rapper Lil Uzi Vert was never stylistically timid, experimenting with genre boundaries as early as their 2017 emo/rap-dabbling effort Luv Is Rage 2. Even with their adventurous background, Uzi has never taken things quite to the extremes found on third studio album The Pink Tape, which flits from sinister trap bangers like the Travis Scott-assisted "Aye" to pop-friendly moments like "Endless Fashion" featuring Nicki Minaj to chugging groove metal and rap synthesis on "Suicide Doors," and even on to straight-up metalcore with help from Bring Me the Horizon on "Werewolf." Plenty of rappers have expanded their sound by bringing in unexpected elements of metal and hardcore, but few have covered System of a Down as Uzi faithfully does on "CS" (shorthand for one of their biggest songs, "Chop Suey!"). Among the more extreme metal moments, The Pink Tape also gets into frantic and bubbly electronic beats on "x2" and moody, vaporous atmospheric trap on "Patience," which is bolstered by Don Toliver's contributions. At close to an hour-and-a-half running time and more than 25 songs, The Pink Tape sounds inspired as often as it drags. Some of Uzi's experiments are fun and exploratory while others flop, and the entire album is a lot to digest in one go. There are still plenty of solid tracks regardless of what style Lil Uzi Vert is trying on, but more fastidious editing might have delivered a more enjoyable, less meandering overall listening experience.© TiVo Staff /TiVo

The Black Eyed Peas make effective pop/crossover music, but with all the limitations of the form -- vapid lyrics, clumsy delivery, vocals smoothed over by Auto-Tune, and songwriting that constantly strains for (and reaches) the lowest common denominator. Worse yet, they aren't content to be disposable pop stars; they also want to write anthemic, vital songs that speak for a new generation. And so comes The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies). For every hyper-sexualized, by-the-numbers track like the hit single "Boom Boom Pow," there are message songs like "Now Generation," which begins, in cheerleader fashion, with the lines: "We are the now generation! We are the generation now!/This is the now generation! This is the generation now!" Led by will.i.am's production, which is continually the best thing about the album, the Black Eyed Peas move even farther away from hip-hop into the type of blandly inspirational dance-pop that has become ripe for advertising and marketing opportunities, including "I Gotta Feeling" ("I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night") and "Party All Night" ("If we could party all night and sleep all day, and throw all of our problems away, my life would be ea-say"). There's also a call for unity titled "One Tribe," which gradually descends into confusion -- and nearly self-parody -- with a line about the dangers of making enemies, rapped this way: "If I had an enemy, then my enemy's gonna try to come kill me 'cuz I'm his enemy -- one tribe y'all." Between tracks, there are also occasional cameos from a narrator, who sounds strangely like Star Trek's Worf, intoning nuggets like these: "There is no longer a physical record store, but we will continue to let the beat rock!" and "The most powerful force on the planet is the energy of the youth/But when this powerful youth becomes activated and stimulated and collectively decides not to buy things, what will happen to the economy?" Granted, there's nothing here as embarrassing as "My Humps," and the production is a shade better than previous material from the group or Fergie solo (although still not as good as will.i.am solo ventures), but The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) is a mess of pop/dance/rap crossover. It certainly won't change the minds of everyone who thinks that the group's pandering approach and clumsy execution make it the worst thing about pop music in the 2000s.© John Bush /TiVo

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Like a fine wine, some things just age with grace and impeccable class, and such is the case with Gino Vannelli. This time around, the Canadian offers up seven new compositions on These Are the Days that are natural extensions of where he left off on 1998's Slow Love. The new songs are focused but relaxed, his aim clearly being his die-hard fans who prefer his trademark adult contemporary/jazz hybrid. But it's the seven tracks that make up the second half of These Are the Days that are a real treat. Digitally remastered with amazing clarity, Vannelli personally oversaw the reconstruction of seven of his most well-known tunes, including the U.S. chart hits "I Just Wanna Stop" and "Living Inside Myself." The results are crisp and bright when compared to some of the greatest-hits compilations recently issued, and makes this a must-have for Vannelli enthusiasts, even if you've already purchased a best-of compilation already.© Rob Theakston /TiVo

Black Rock/Gotta Groove brings together the Bar-Kays' second and third albums on one compact disc. The material represents the first work the reformed outfit released after original members Jimmy Lee King (guitarist and leader) and Carl Cunningham (drums) died when their plane crashed in Lake Monona, WI (Otis Redding was also on board). 1969's Gotta Groove feels more like a series of independent recordings than a cohesive album. The best comes first with "Don't Stop Dancing (To This Music), Pt.1," which owes a debt to Sly and the Family Stone's classic "Dance to the Music" (a song they would cover on Black Rock). The song infuses the Stax funk with the drive of rock & roll. Midway through the album, they offer a fierce second take ("Pt.2"). Drummers (the duo of Roy Cunningham and Willie Hall) pound at their skins with incredible force. Distorting the tape, they sound like they could break through the recordings. "Street Walker" is another highlight of tough, lunging funk with wailing harmonica, screaming guitar, and organ stabs. Not every cut is as thrilling, however. At the opposite end, the Bar-Kays rework two Beatles' ballads, sounding like a mediocre covers act on stiff takes on "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" that hardly belong on the collection. Things had changed by 1971's Black Rock. The addition of a vocalist gives the records a more unified feel than its predecessor. While much of the material on Gotta Groove hung around the three-minute mark, the Bar-Kays' cover of "Baby I Love You" reaches nearly three times that length. They lock into a hard groove, sounding more like a rock band than ever before. It's followed by the album's best track. Curtis Mayfield's "I've Been Trying" is soaked in soul and delivered from the gut. For the most part, however, Black Rock seems like an apt title, the playfulness and laid-back grooves replaced by dark, heavy funk-rock and a growing political consciousness.© Nathan Bush /TiVo

In giving Shelby Lynne's Identity Crisis even a cursory listen one has to ask the question as to whether the titles of Love, Shelby and this one were reversed by accident. While Love, Shelby, produced by Glen Ballard, was a schizoid mess of R&B, rock, and whatever, Identity Crisis is a deeply focused yet wildly adventurous look at American roots and popular musics as processed by Lynne, who is in top songwriting, vocal, and production shape here. Acting as her own producer with help from mixing engineer Bruce Robb, Lynne has penned 12 tough songs that showcase her true gift for lyricism and melody and display the real reach of her vocal prowess on a series of rootsy, souled-out -- sometimes psychedelic -- rockers and pop tunes. The sheer rock & roll abandon of "Gotta Get Better" could have been recorded by Beck, whereas the shimmering, down-tempo folkiness of "I Don't Think So," with gorgeous Fender Rhodes touches by Billy Payne of Little Feat, is harrowing in its heartbroken candor and seductive with its sultry melody that crosses Dusty Springfield with Scott Walker. Elsewhere, such as on the loopy, funky B-3-drenched "I'm Alive," Sheryl Crow's dark side meets the razor-sharp lyric sensibilities of John Mellencamp's Scarecrow-era material. But then, on "Lonesome," the classic countrypolitan-style honky tonk of Owen Bradley with Patsy Cline, or Chet Atkins with Connie Smith comes flowing through like honey in a sieve. The easy bluesy swing -- à la Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith -- on "Buttons and Beaus" is a something Bonnie Raitt might have recorded in the early '70s, if she had a razor's-edge delivery and skewed sense of humor. The tough, acoustic Chicago blues colored by a B-3 makes a standout of "Evil Man." The Tin Pan Alley-meets-Donovan touch on "One With the Sun" makes it the perfect closer, a loopy love song with clever lyrics, pastoral, romantic strings, and a melody that comes from timeless American pop music. Suffice to say, that while Lynne's career has produced many fine recordings -- I Am Shelby Lynne from 2000 being a recent case in point -- Identity Crisis is easily the most consistent record she had released since Tough All Over in 1990, and is without a doubt the most moving, ambitious, and elegant album of her career thus far. She sets a new standard for singers and songwriters with this collection, making it a candidate for any serious Top Ten of 2003. There is no identity crisis here, just the indelible mark of a mature, intense, always engaging artist.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

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