August 22, 2007 5:08pm by Steve | 
Being 30-something, you can imagine how much I actively try to avoid most of the inner city type of music being played on the radio these days. Don’t get me wrong, occasionally something extraordinarily good will rise to the surface and make it onto my playlist.
Long ago there was 2Pac’s “California Love”, more recently there was Black Eyed Peas “Where is the Love”. And yesterday, for the first time, I heard Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls”.
It’s not something you’d want to listen to again and again, but it’s not bad at all. I know nothing about this guy other than my impressions from this song. And those are:
1) That he’s a smart guy in that he successfully merges three unique music forms: hip hop, reggae, and rockabilly. He evokes 50s era melodies while remaining firmly rooted in the here and now.
2) He’s probably a one-hit wonder.
3) But it’s a pretty good hit.
*** update ***
Looks like I’m giving him more credit than he deserves. I just listened to the song again more closely and realize now that he’s simply singing over “Stand By Me”. How cheap.
Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t… but it ALWAYS smacks of cheapness and flash-in-the-pan popularity. Too bad.
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