ATL:
The ATL Project

Release Date: 31 May 2004

Reviewed By: Ashley Charles

1. Intro

2. Calling On All Girls

3. Make It Up With Love

4. Let Me

5. It's Us

6. Shawty

7. Holla At Ya Boy

8. You Are

9. I Wish

10. No More

Est'elle - The 18th Day
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A sceptical mind might have a few cynical reservations about ATL before listening to this album. Another Dru Hill or Jodeci knock off perhaps? This album successfully challenges those preconceptions and does a lot to prove the group’s potential longevity.

However, if you’re anything like me, you’ll immediately feel cheated by the fact that this album only has 10 tracks and offers a mere 40 minute duration. Thankfully it manages to achieve the sort of consistency that many others fail to and is not let down by one or two songs that you often find yourself skipping past. Instead, ‘The ATL Project’ allows for enjoyable, continuous play which is rare these days.

The beautifully constructed ‘Let Me’ assures that ATL effortlessly fulfil the slow jam criteria, with harmonies reminiscent of Boys II Men. However, on ‘It’s You’, referring to a match made in heaven being like “Ike and Tina, Bobby and Whitney”, the song shows how the boys may at times fall short on romantic content.

This album is indeed Jodeci-esque and is obviously influenced by ATL’s predecessors as well as its contention with the almost identical B2K, but is not defined by imitation. Although the album is at times in danger of falling into the ‘heard it all before’ category, it is equally innovative with potential hit releases like ‘You Are’ and ‘Shawty’ featuring Cassidy. The album is by no means dependant on guest appearances and although ‘The ATL Project’ boasts collaborations with the likes of R. Kelly, Mario Winans and Jazze Pha, it is not one which is significantly carried by other artists.

The album is somewhat let down by the very average lyricism of rapper Danger, but equally, his smooth delivery does add a dimension to the group on tracks like ‘I Wish’, ensuring that ATL are not bound stylistically by the generic limitations of R&B. ATL have also ensured that their male fans were not alienated, despite its primary demographic undeniably being female orientated.

Although the album has already dropped two big releases in ‘Calling All Girls’ and ‘Make It Up With Love’, it is not heavily reliant on either of the two, and ‘The ATL Project’ has much more to offer than the singles that many might purchase it on the back of. Track 10, ‘No More’, is quite possibly one of the best conclusive album tracks I have heard in a while, and features a carefully executed rendition of Aaliyah’s ‘I Miss You’, a sample which maybe shouldn’t work as well as it does.

Reference to ATL on the album intro as ‘the group of the millennium’ begins as somewhat of an overstatement and realistically raises expectations which the album fails to fulfil. It is however, a good debut effort which is far from a classic but indicative of big things to come, proving that right now, Atlanta can do no wrong.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Top 3 Tracks
3. Make It Up With Love
4. Let Me
10. No More

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