November 19, 2008 @ 4:36 pm

Should Beyoncé Have Doubled Up?

Brad Wete

Four albums that will help her next time

Beyoncé releasing a double album should have meant more than having an abundance of tracks or that her duel personalities couldn’t share one room. I Am… Sasha Fierce (Columbia), in theory, had the opportunity to be a classic, competing with hip hop and R&B’s all time hit men. Think about it. Beyoncé is an extreme talent and has access to the top writers, producers, and engineers. So how did this veteran show girl miss the mark on her third go-round? Substance.

Knowles has beaten the “I need love/appreciation” and “I’m a strong independent woman” drums to a pulp and has yet to jump in other lanes (society’s ills, world issues, what people are doing when they’re crying about their exes or sweeping the floor with it in the club). Announcing that she’d need two discs to get some things off her chest was almost a subliminal declaration to all. “I’m ready to make a classic.” At least that’s what we hoped she was saying. Here are some double albums Beyoncé should sit down and study before she ever decides to double up again.

2Pac
All Eyez On Me (Death Row/ Interscope)
1995

With intimate and introspective cuts like “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” and thug gospel grooves like “Ambitionz Az a Ridah,” Tupac Shakur proved that he could produce the set his fans hoped for and that critics thought he couldn’t. As rap’s first double album, California’s rap representative set the bar so high, only one rhymer has joined him since.

The cover for 2Pac's All Eyez On Me

Prince
Sign o’ the Times (Warner Bros)
1987

Equal parts Jimmy Hendrix and Paul McCartney, the purple one has a knack for cold rocking a party and dropping much needed knowledge. Singing about rampant late 80’s drug use on the album’s title track and then sliding in a rock-funk celebration on “Housequake, only to move on with “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker,” a twisted tale of seduction. Prince’s ninth album is about 80 minutes of classic material.

The cover for Prince's Sign 'O' The Times

Stevie Wonder
Songs in the Key of Life (Motown)
1976

The then 26-year-old music titan takes trips through impoverished areas (“Village Ghetto Land”), nostalgic memories (“I Wish”), and even gives a cultural history lessen worth repeatedly listening to (“Black Man”). Arguably the best album ever made, cementing Wonder’s work as genius.

The cover for Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life"

The Notorious B.I.G.
Life After Death (Bad Boy)
1997

Released two weeks after being shot and killed, The Notorious B.I.G.’s second album was aptly titled. Pairing inspirational from-nothing-to-something stories (“Sky’s the Limit”) and flossy cuts (“Hypnotize”), Biggie’s rhymes quickly gave his short career another classic stamp. Clocking in at more than 100 minutes, Life After Death almost automatically pushed him to the top of everyone’s top MC list, a position he still resides in.

The cover for The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Life After Death"

Article tags: 2Pac, Beyonce, Notorious B.I.G., Prince, Stevie Wonder 

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