Will - Sextape

After two succesful albums and Que's departure last december, things became awfully quiet surrounding Day26. Luckily for us Will Taylor (aka Will) broke the silence and gave all the lovers and non-lovers a gift this valentines day: "Sextape".

When Making the Band-winners Rob, Que, Mike, Brian and Will dropped their debut "Day26" in 2007, they conquered the hearts and minds of many R&B-aficionados. The album itself was chock-full of hot R&B -and Popsongs and with that it earned itself a good spot on the charts.

Now on to "Sextape". This mixtape is filled with hot slowjams (a department where Day26 was lacking) based on some classic laidback R&B compositions instead of the hardhitting trance-induced synths that Day26-tracks are mostly known for. So it's all good in that department but the real question here: can Will carry this slice of music on his own without his colleagues?

You would say that someone who wrote tracks for artists like Avant, Ginuwine and Joe, should have no problems answering that question with a positive answer. And lucky for us that answer is as positive as can be. This album starts off good with 'Sextape'. The nice melody is carried by a few loud kicks and snares that keep the vibe going. The same is true for the track 'Get Ya Freak On'. When I heard this song for the first time I found it to be out of place between the rest of the tracks but after a few sessions I came to the conclusion that it's a great song that brings a little more variation to "Sextape".

One of the best songs on this tape is called 'Knock It Out the Park'. This pleasant track is produced by Blaze tha Champ, who we all know from Day26's 'Imma Put It On Her'. The addictive hook and well produced composition make this a track with some high hitpotential: "Imma knock it out the park, tonight I'm hittin' homers in the dark". The song contains a few references to baseball terms used creatively as a synonym for sex. This brings us to the first single off of "Sextape", 'Sex Conversations'. The choice for this track as Will's first single seems a bit odd as there are far better tracks on the mixtape that would do far better as singles but as a song it's not bad!

In 'Full Course Meal', we get treated to a heavy dose of talkbox. This older cousin to autotune was very common in the 90's R&B scene. Talkbox really adds a lot to 'Full Course Meal' so this certainly was a wise choice on Will behalf.

"Sextape" concludes with 'King of the Jungle', one of the better tracks on the mixtape. This song is so laidback that I can't think of any better tracks that have been released these past few months. The refrain goes: "You can call me Mufasa, cause I must be the Lion King" followed by some Tarzan-imitations. The intro of this track is filled with sounds of the jungle like a lion and waterfall. The percussion is deliver by way of a djembé. All in all a very nice conclusion for the CD!

"Sextape" consists largely out of slowjams, a choice of genre that really defines the theme for this CD and it's a choice well executed. If you were expecting uptempo song and clubbangers you'll be dissapointed and better off waiting for the new Day26-album (that is in production as we speak). The songs might sound a bit cliché en the lyrics sweet but those are the ingredients for a tape like this. The beautiful thing about "Sextape" is that it's free but of such a high quality that it could have easily grabbed a place on store shelves besides lesser albums from 2009. Will has created some high expectations for this writer with this caliber of a mixtape should he ever decide to go solo. Nicely done!

Will's "Sextape" is available for download here...

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