Lyfe's New Single Discusses His Current Life's Issues

Speaking of laying everything on the table (read the blog on Tupac below for that), Lyfe Jennings releases his new single after his last album Phoenix from 2006. His new single, titled "If I Knew Then", is a song of Lyfe looking back on his life over the past few years since his debut classic album 268-192. With Lyfe, it's no secret that he was a convicted felon before he was a singer, and he started to use his talent that he learned in prison to get away from the street life he grew up in. However, and according to various news sites, he's been allowing fame to consume him just as hard by getting into fights at clubs and with his family. Oh, but "if he knew then what he knew now, he would be different and would slow down." That's the point if the song right? Of course.

Lyfe has done nothing but sing about his life all of his music career - life's/Lyfe's struggles, happiness, and lessons - and keeps his music connecting and relevant to all of his audience. From his debut single "Must Be Nice", he has sung to the world the lessons he learned and the mistakes he made. One thing I have learned from Lyfe is that with every mistake made is a lesson learned, so if Lyfe lived perfectly, there would be no Lyfe (which is indirectly tied to his purpose in the R&B world).

Lyfe stands out from the rest of the R&B superstars because he has never changed. From the beginning of his career when he sung about his lady staying with him while he was in jail, Lyfe puts out his life for the world to listen to and for everyone to learn from. He explains his struggles with his fame between the release of 268-192 and his next album on Phoenix, with a skit for just about every song. He established being the R&B voice that the hood needed, and he continues to carry that reputation in "If I Knew Then".

Although his confession of letting fame get to his head and foreseeing it may have prevented marital and personal problems, he became unconvincable when he tried to broaden it to his audience. Yeah, if people foresaw their consequences and thought things through before they acted then they wouldn't have made that mistake, but this song should've stayed a confession and a story about the consequences of a big, swelling head. People would've interpreted it and applied it to their own lives. Why do that? Because people do it already with other people's music.

And Lyfe is a singer who will tell you how to interpret his music, as he will boldly state the lessons learned throughout his songs, but he limits the imagination of his audience when he does that. So as he tells the audience how to listen to his music, he ruins the full fledge beauty of his music in the first place.

Star's Grade = B-