Many musician over the years have often gone on long break from music and made it back in a grand style but I must say Jeffery Bruce Atkins a.k.a Ja rule got this one all wrong; He just got it all wrong. Music is an evolving art that you can’t just fail to acknowledge the trend. Ja Rule who was a good pop star in early 2000s has always been a maker of good music but something went wrong with this song. I believe he did not consult present day producers with his lyrics and ideas. I could not lay my hands on the name of the producer but Ja Rule should have known better. He just got the sound all wrong. I appreciate his loyalty to his style of rap but he should have gone for a more trendy production from good producers. The world is not in the 80s and even if you want to make a 1980s funk sound, you consult people who have been making hits with it in present times like Bruno Mars and not make a real mess of a long awaited appearance. I was on my own working on some other article when this song popped up and the first impression was that it was not good at all. In music these day, your first impression lasts forever. When Eminem got hold of the mic in 2010 through “revival” after some ups and down in his carrier, he worked hard and brought the world good songs in his rap style but in trendy beats. Ja Rule got encore production done in a bad way. It lacked depth and really scanty in terms of direction. Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas made a music with him that the chorus sounded like an uncompleted tune because of the way the word “encore” sounds at the end. This song will only be played in radios on old songs show because it is old and meant for old people. Sorry cillacritic is doing this to this song but a good song and sound speaks for its’ self.
THE MESSAGE
The song talks of a guy hooking with a girl he meets at a club and after having a fun time together wanted more of the feeling. Ashanti takes the character the female. She say to the guy that she wants to go wild and have fun because the time they had the last time needed a repeat (encore).
THE BEAT
This is where I have lots of issues with this song. I believe the selection of instruments was really wrong. Modern day funk beat is made with live drums just like it was done in the 80s. Watching the making of Finesse and other funk beat related song made by Bruno mars; he used live drums. Any producer will understand from the patterning of the drum line of this song that it was done with a sampler by a person who does not understand how important the listeners of this age love good beats. This is not an RnB beat or a gang star beat that you can get the detailed sound using a sampler machine. Even if you are going to use it, the producer must settle down to do a good job in creating a rich and well-coordinated patterns so as to achieve the live drum feel. Another big problem with this beat is the lack of proper equalizing making this song sound empty. There was no use of any form of harmonious strings or octave hence there should have been a good mastering section so as to tune the instruments used to give a nice base feel. This in my opinion would have allowed the song have more depth and this kind of groovy feel to it.
THE VIDEO
They should shoot this video with the 1980s settings with the characters wearing vintage cloths. They have to put in some real brains in the concept because they have to make up for where they fall short in the sound they made. This song will have little or no impact in the present music consumption market because the song and its production is too obsolete.
