Let's go back to the video for Bossy, specifically the "Diamonds on my neck, Diamonds on my grill" scene. In that maybe ten seconds of video footage we get a clear cut image of who Kelis is on "Kelis Was Here".
We have homegirl dead center in front of the camera in a black hoody with a white button up on. Multicolored grill in mouth, diamond encrusted necklace and charm pieces dangling. Hair did, make up made and she's looking fresh as hell. The make up and hair push Kelis' raw sex appeal, she's an incredibly hot woman.
We knew that when she brought all them boys to the yard. The hoody thrown up with the grill, they in part tell us homegirl is not above cutting a bitch. She's a lil tough, a lil street, but not in that weird "i think she wears underwear with dickholes in it" way. And the charm piece necklace with the diamond encrusted joint tells us that Kelis is getting her grown woman on but at the same time is not above rocking some cutesy throwback joints too [you might even catch her on a Sunday with a lil' Chanel bobo or some ish like that]. We get the idea that if you caught her in the club you'd be as likely to catch her grinding Mr. Jones in the middle of the dancefloor to "Sexyback" as getting buck with the dudes when "Bia, Bia" came on as doing the wop when the DJ rocked some Debbie Deb. And as you listen to this album you catch songs that fall into those categories pretty easily.
We all know the aforementioned "Bossy", huge 808 beat with the dainty harpsichord/xylophone(?) melody riding it. Big beat where Kelis comes hard on the chorus and still gives you a lil futuresex on the verse. This is getting buck and co-opting crunk and southern rap into pop/RnB without going the obvious route and making an entire song about candy paint or sittin' on 23's (i'm lookin at you Danity Kane). We get a less aggressive but no less cocky version of this formula later on in the album with "Aww Shit!" which has your girl talking big over a Timbaland-esque big beat with a weird alien sounding synth line and some big trunk rattling drums. Straight up hoody and grill material here [no fall BBQ].
When we get into the sexy Kelis we have "What's That Right There" produced by Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Pea. The Black Eyed Peas are essentially the most generic pop-rap imaginable short of Nick Cannon. They sound like Gap khakis, if Khakis rapped about "lady lumps" but, they don't really have bad beats. And on this song we get a very vapid pop songstress approach on the chorus/intro and the song sounds like BEP but, as soon as that synth drops out we get alot of attitude from Kelis and the song is redeemed. Homegirl starts talkin about "girlies wanna fight me but you just wanna bite me" in a sexy snarl but then in a couple bars tells us she "put the shimmy on your coco puff".And right there we know that we do not have "lovely lady humps part 2". We've got something a little more esoteric here [maybe an h&m gaucho].
And while were on the topic of sexy Kelis we have to talk about "Like You". The chorus takes you back to whatever little junior high school jumpoff you had. On some Kevin Arnold/Winnie Cooper Wonder Years type of shit, with Kelis cooing "i dont just like you. i like you like you" on the chorus. Take in the exceedingly cutesy beat and we have a song thats sexy in a way thats innocent, and we rarely get that these days. That is until Kelis drops this line "first date is going real well, he's making me hot. or is it his cock?" followed by a coy laugh and a pause. Bam! Look! Look at your face! Just like that she let's you know she's a seductress and she knows exactly what she's doing with the cutesy shit. This is not a goddamn game. She in that one moment does Britney's schoolgirl bit 10x better than Britney. Britney is gross now anyway.
When we have the throwback Kelis on tracks like "Living Proof", "Weekend", "Handful" and "Trilogy" where she does an excellent job of channeling mid eighties electro girl groups like Klymaxx or any of the female Prince proteges (think the likes of vanity six here) and manages to update that sound for the 06. Sassy ass shit but still fun. Girls getting ready to hit the club type shit. Stiletto pumps in the club.
Admittedly while there's the occasional off track here and there this album is pretty damn consistent quality wise while jumping around a fair amount in the specific style employed. Overall we're left with an output that has alot of personality to it and the mark of "Kelis Was Here" all over them.
