The Clarence Greenwood Recordings
Anyone whose CD collection is expansive enough to contain both Mos Def and Jack Johnson will easily find room somewhere between for the sophomore album from Clarence Greenwood, aka Citizen Cope. The singer-songwriter, who got his start playing DJ in the exquisitely laidback Washington D.C. hip-hop outfit Basehead, works hard to smudge the lines that separate genres, throwing together blues, beats and books in socially-conscious jams like "Bullet and a Target" and "D'Artagan's Theme." Meshell Ndegeocello helps out on the low-lit love song "Sideways," while Carlos Santana brings his usual fretboard fireworks to "Son's Gonna Rise."-- Aidin Vaziri