Posted on 02/05/2009
There’s a healthy mix of confidence and tenderness with a voice to back up each emotion on The Beauty Created. On his debut full-length, Boykins isn’t priding himself on treading new lyrical ground, but his familiar path sounds better than anybody doing it right now. It’s classic without the worn vintage edges, contemporary without trying to keep pace with teenyboppers singing grown man love songs. Boykins subtly, and convincingly, channels the Christopher Williams and Al B. Sure era using his simplicity as a weapon to remind listeners of the power of good R&B.

“Amorous” evoked a strong reaction for two very different reasons. Boykins’ voice is a perfect blend of charm and longing and the touch of humility is a welcome change (“She was way too fly for me, but of course I did approach…”), but the mispronunciation of the titular word for the sake of rhyme is a little unforgivable. Not like this nitpicky detail lessens the overall appeal of the track, but any fans of the Queen’s English may find it more than a little distracting.

Elsewhere, The Beauty Created pulsates with a sultry energy that makes all of Boykins’ declarations sound fresh and new on songs like “Itis” and “Pantyhose.” Boykins uses a trippy, choppy effect on the seductive “Connected” featuring Brooklyn underground scenester Theophilus London. Right around “Chanel,” the album gets too silky smooth for its own good, but by then there’s only one song left and you’re rewarded with two dope remixes of “Tabloids” (my preference is the Machine Drum mix, but the Melo X Remix gets all house-y on you, so you gotta love that). Instead of a bunch of over-conceived, undercooked pulp, Boykins stays true to the roots of soul and exceeds expectation with a genre-defying, reinvigorating album.

- Candace L.