City High: City High

As a young coed trio executive-produced by Wyclef Jean, City High will inevitably receive its share of Fugees comparisons. Though the group shares Jean's ambition, pop savvy, and showmanship, its self-titled debut reveals a surprisingly mature act with a distinctive knack for drama. As befits an outfit whose name sounds like a soap opera, City High has issues, particularly romantic ones, and for much of its duration, City High plays like the R&B equivalent of The Jerry Springer Show, with the trio exploring a broad cross section of dysfunctional relationships. The path of love seldom runs smoothly in the melodramatic world of popular music, but it endures a particularly brutal run here. The disc revels in the messiness of sex, love, and relationships, whether dealing with a woman torn between her criminally minded lover and her future ("The Only One I Trust") or addressing the hazards of infidelity ("Three Way"). Elsewhere, Jean joins the trio for a bouncy cautionary tale about statutory rape ("15 Will Get You 20"), and produces an homage to the band's forefathers with a cover of Donny Hathaway's "Song For You." The characters in City High's story-songs invariably face harsh choices, and, to its credit, the group avoids easy answers. This becomes most striking on the breakthrough single "What Would You Do," surely the catchiest song ever written about a suicidal stripper and single mother. Of course, the strip club is a common setting for hip-hop fantasies of guilt-free hedonism and Luke-style lechery, but City High implores listeners to consider the wounded, vulnerable human beings behind the scenes. Like many young acts, City High stumbles occasionally. "Cats And Dogs" finds Jean performing a none-too-impressive Timbaland impression behind the boards, while the syrupy "So Many Things" dives headfirst into the saccharine sentimentality the rest of the album carefully avoids. On "City High Anthem," City High sings of the need for substance in soul music. The group's impressive debut seems intent on leading by example.