Twenty-one year old New York City native Fabolous more than lives up to his name on one of hip-hop’s most anticipated releases of the year. The album, “Ghetto Fabolous,” was produced by New York’s own DJ Clue, with help from Timbaland, The Neptunes, Justblaze and Rockwilder, to name just a few. “Ghetto Fabolous” is the first release for both Fabolous and Clue’s Desert Storm Recordings label.

“Can’t Deny It,” featuring Nate Dogg, has all ready been making its mark across the airwaves nationwide. Fabolous rhymes to producer Rick Rock’s head-bobbing beat, and Nate Dogg chimes in periodically with his renowned half-rapping, half-singing melodic style.

`The kid pull the fo’ out a little quicka/ You might end up the reason/ Your homies will have to pour out a little liquor/ Every stack that I draw out’s a little thicker,’ raps Fab on “Can’t Deny It.”

“Get right,” is the album’s play off the Junior Mafia’s previously recorded “Player’s Anthem,” and is destined to be a club hit everywhere.

The rest of the album features all-star performances from Ja Rule on “Ride For This,” Jagged Edge on “Trade It All,” and Lil’ Mo on “Take You Home,” an adaptation of Lisa Lisa’s 16-year-old hit “I Wonder If I Take You Home.”

Take some of hip-hop’s biggest names, have them lay down a few tracks, and let the best producers in the business do what they do. Then mix it with Fabolous’ captivating voice, and you get an album that is both ghetto and `fabolous.’

– Jordan Gizzarelli

Ben Folds has proven that he can write the great radio crossover pop song; see “Brick” from Ben Folds Five’s 1997 release “Whatever and Ever Amen.”

The trio, fronted by Folds, never managed to achieve the same success with their follow-up, 1999’s “The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner.” It seemed the band’s indie sensibility and piano-driven geek rock approach was not as widely appealing as the heartfelt pop of “Brick.”

Now, after the breakup of his band, Folds has proven that not only can he write one genius pop song, he can write, play and produce 12 of them on a deeply appetizing meal of an album that feels good in your stomach and even leaves room for dessert.

The title track – and first single – of “Rockin’ the Suburbs” is that dessert. Although “Suburbs” is catchy and bitingly sarcastic, it sounds radically different from the rest of the album. Folds mocks rap-rock in a way that is almost as cheesy as most of Fred Durst’s rhymes.

It is good that the song falls near the end of the album; dessert would not be quite the same if it came earlier in the meal.

“Annie Waits” and “Zak and Sara” are the perfect opening courses for Folds’ solo album. The short, fast songs with hand claps feature something that has been lacking in pop music as of late: stories.

Folds is a great storyteller on “Suburbs,” whether he’s lamenting over Annie, the girl who is always waiting for someone other than him, or serving up the oddball couple of Zak and Sara.

Nothing tastes bad on Folds’ nearly perfect pop album. The production is gourmet; the main course (middle of the album) is well balanced and filling. Folds even closes the album with “The Luckiest,” musical coffee that makes you feel good about what you’ve just experienced and gives you time to think and reflect.

“Still Fighting It” is a delectable dish; it’s the kind of song that makes you want to rush off to your friends and say, “I’ve felt this, have you felt this, how did he reach into my head?”

The flavor is familiar yet not an average burger and fries combo. Folds mixes simple, powerful lyrics and music that shines.

If Folds was your grandma, “Rockin’ the Suburbs” would be your favorite home-cooked meal that you could eat every day, not just holidays and the occasional Sunday, so eat up.

-Jon Dahlager

It’s safe to say Sense Field has been around the block. In fact, the band has risen from indie to major and back again faster than you can say “emo.” Along the way, they have snatched up a pretty decent college following and a nice evolution of their sound. Surprisingly, the “new” Sense Field isn’t much different from the last full-length, “Building” released in 1996 by Warner Bros.

It has been four years since we’ve heard anything new from the band, not counting a few EPs here and there. Maybe it isn’t so much that Sense Field has changed but that the genre has become more accepting of its sound.

With bands like Jimmy Eat World gaining popularity in a style commonly referred to as “emo” it seems that Sense Field could now be viewed as a rip-off. But this is hardly the case. Even though songs like “Fun Never Ends” will remind us of “Bleed American” with raunchy but rhythmic power chords played over fancy riffs, Sense Field carries its own blend of Indie rock in a face we’ve seen many times before.

It’s the acoustic guitars and harmony in “Here Right Here” that are reminiscent of JEW’s own “Clarity.” And while the rhythmic sound of feedback from another guitar dissipates over the chorus, it could also be something out of Juliana Theory’s songbook. The beauty of this, however, is that Sense Field was doing these things far before the aforementioned bands were created.

In fact, these veterans from Orange County have been cranking this stuff out for almost a decade, but that doesn’t mean they’ve warmed their welcome. While “Tonight and Forever” isn’t a leap from the Sense Field of before, it is a bound into uncharted waters for the band.

-Dewayne Hankins