Angie Stone

Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone (J)

Angie Stone was present practically at the moment R&B split into two camps – one inhabited by singers, the other by talkers – that have become increasingly irreconcilable. The South Carolina-born vocalist was the singing third of the Sequence, the first female hip-hop group of note. The rapping-singing trio, which scored the hit "Funk You Up," on Sugar Hill Records in 1980, anticipated TLC by more than a decade. A quarter century later, Stone commands credibility in the hip-hop-dominated R&B world, defying prejudices that might get any other woman who is full figured and older than 40 kicked out of the club. This acceptance may stem from the fact that she's one of the few vocalists of her generation who understands the aesthetics of both soul and hip-hop. That she's fabulously talented doesn't hurt.

"Isn't it ironic? All you wanna do is smoke chronic," Stone sings on "Wish I Didn't Miss You," a track from 2004 that opens her greatest hits collection. The lyrics, by the brilliant songwriter-producer Andrea Martin (long one of Clive Davis's key behind-the-scenes players), could well come from a hip-hop rhyme. The buoyant groove, however, is decidedly old school, sampled directly from "Back Stabbers" by the O'Jays. Stone's vocal too is steeped in tradition. Her silvery, Baptist-hewn alto pipes slide with the grace of a Whitney Houston and spit an Aretha Franklin-like sass, yet avoid the pyrotechnical displays associated with those divas. Stone Hits compiles tracks from her three solo albums plus two new songs. It includes guest appearances by Anthony Hamilton, Alicia Keys, Eve, and Joe (who replaces Calvin Richardson from the original version of "More Than a Woman"). Snoop Dogg's rap is missing from a new mix of "I Wanna Thank Ya," and the vocal contributions of D'Angelo (Stone's ex-boyfriend) have been erased from "Everyday." "Little Boy," a brand-new ballad, finds Stone unconvincing in a jazz context, but the other new track, the Martin-penned "I Wasn't Kidding," presents Stone at her scorching soul best with a four-on-the-floor rumba beat straight outta Philly.

(Lee Hildebrand)