R3- Chrystal Rucker- You Deserve
In Stores 8/14/12
R3
Artist: Chrystal Rucker
Album: You Deserve
Label: EPM Music Group
Reviewer: Hasan James
Kansas City, MO native Chrystal Rucker’s debut, “You Deserve”, is highly anticipated and for great reason. Known throughout the C.O.G.I.C. circuit for covering classics like “Over the Rainbow” and “Safety”, Rucker is most recently known for the lead title track on Ricky Dillard and New G’s last release “Keep Living”. Rucker’s voice is one that we just don’t hear anymore and on her EPM Music Group debut, her first soprano soars on songs like her first single “You Deserve” , “I Live Your Word” and “The Hymn Medley: Grateful/Great Is Thy Faithfulness”. However, it is Rucker’s rendition of the Walter Hawkins classic “Changed” where she shines brightest. Most artists would not dare touch a Tramaine Hawkins classic, but Chrystal Rucker had the audacity and courage to do just that and I am sure she will make Miss Tramaine proud.
On “Nothing Less”, Rucker professes her love for Christ over the Clark Sisters “You Brought the Sunshine” sample and on the energetic “You Make Me Wanna” featuring Carla Williams, she boasts on the chorus, “You Make Me Wanna Clap My Hands, You Make Me Wanna Do My Dance, You Make Me Wanna Shout For Joy, You Make Me Wanna, You Make Me Wanna Sing My Song, You Give Me Strength to Carry On, You Make Me Praise All Day Long, You Make Me Wanna…
In a time where Praise and Worship and Contemporary Gospel rule the airwaves it seems like the only time you can get some “good ole” traditional gospel is when you hear a throwback Vanessa Bell song on your local gospel station from time to time. However, if you yearn for that traditional, yet current style of gospel music, Chrystal Rucker’s debut is the remedy.
