Syleena Johnson - 'Chapter 4: Labor Pains'

There's plenty of strong, soulful female vocalists in the contemporary music world who never get the full acclaim and accolades they deserve, and Chicago native Syleena Johnson is definitely one of them. Throughout her career she's flirted with mainstream success, but to date, her biggest claim to fame is singing the hook on Kanye West's 2004 hit "All Fall Down." But despite not being a household name globally, Syleena hasn't given up; quite the opposite in fact. She keeps on doing her thing on her own terms, as evidenced by her latest album, Chapter 4: Labor Pains, released in U.S. stores on Jan. 13, 2009.

Chapter 4, which is as the title suggests, Syleena Johnson's fourth album, is a continuation of her series of songs exploring her personal feelings on love, life and relationships. The album kicks off with "Intro," a very powerful opening skit set in a delivery room. After a couple of songs ("Labor Pains," "Where's the Love?") the album really begins to deliver via "Freedom," a powerful vocal tour de force about wanting and deserving personal liberty, no matter your race, creed, color or sexual orientation: "It makes no difference who you are or what color you happen to be, as long as you're alive and breathing, this has got to be one of your needs."

The following song is also powerful, but in a much different way: on the Chicago bluesy "Is It Because I'm Black?," Syleena sings about wondering if all her failed hopes and dreams can be tied to one thing. "Lookin' back over my false dreams that I once knew, wonderin' why my dreams never came true, is it because I'm black? Somebody tell me, what can I do? Somethin' is holdin' me back; is it because I'm black?" And with those words, Syleena vocalizes thoughts and feelings millions of people in America have had but had but never had the courage to bring themselves to say to others, or even themselves. But despite the inner fears and doubts she expresses on "Is It Because I'm Black?," she bounces back emotionally on the next track, "Be Me."

On "Be Me," Syleena sings about her life experiences, such as starting her own record label, Aneelys Entertainment, which she did after parting ways with Jive Records after her third album."Be Me" is about inner strength and being a leader, not a follower. It's the perfect balance to the self-doubt and inner turmoil of "Is It Because I'm Black?" Other very well-written, excellently sung songs include "Shoo Fly," in which she tells her a woman trying to get her man to beat it ("you will never be me and he will never be yours"); and "Maury Povich," a sort-of parody of the daytime television show in which Syleena sings about the drama caused by women who are trying to get pregnant to hold on to a man and men who don't take the proper precautions ("bet you wear a condom with the next chick," she sings.)

If there's a drawback to the album, it's that there's actually too many songs. Including the intro and outro that open and close the album, there's a total of 17 tracks on Labor Pains, and the album clocks in at about 20 seconds short of a full hour. This would be all good if every track was excellent, but there's a couple of songs near the end of the album that sound half-hearted. The first 45 minutes are great, but things kind of lose steam toward the end. Despite that, Labor Pains as a whole sounds like a definite labor of love for Syleena Johnson and is a strong album worth hearing.