Divinity Roxx

Beyonce's bassist and musical director delivers her own brand of tasty Jazz-Funk-RnB in a manifesto of positivity.

Coming out of Atlanta, Georgia, Divinity Roxx got a big leg up when she was taken under the wing of master bassist, Victor Wooten. With that rock solid foundation, Roxx landed her gig with Queen B, which gave her the opportunity to play around the world, on a plethora of major talk shows and oh yeah, for the President of the United States. ImPossible, her third solo album puts her own voice to the forefront over her low-end lines.

Prefacing the album with a sweet call from Mama, ImPossible gets underway with the mission statement to “Always expect a miracle”. Divinity lays out sweet rhymes over chilled out keys and fluttering jazz guitar. 'Break Down These Walls' ramps up the overcoming rhetoric. This stadium anthem takes the simple syncopation from arena rockers and melds it in to her own style. 'Can It B So Hard' features the steely, spine dancing bass of four-string god, Victor Wooten. A nimble solo from the master lifts the tune in to the stratosphere.
Roxx' rhymes take off on 'Stinger (So Real). Bass, drums and vocals wrap tightly around the beat. Disenchantment in the big city is at the centre of this tale about the irony of being unable to connect when you are packed in so tightly with six million other people.

The album's lead single 'We Are' along with its colourful rotoscoped video is a bright light of a song. A glowing anthem of self-actualization, empowerment and love. The message is simple and could easily be trivialized but in a year like this where the political atmosphere is so vehemently divisive, a hymn like this gives some much-needed clarity. It brings to mind Will.I.Am's anthem for president Obama some eight years ago.

'Question' is a fun, chilled out trip around the world. Floating through memories of Spain, India and everywhere in between with a thread of a love connection woven throughout. 'Hey U' features beat poetry from Daniel J Watts in the style of early Saul Williams. A definite stand out.

ImPossible is a steady assertion of positivity. Although the album is rife with tasty bass licks, Divinity refrains from showing off on her main instrument. If you want to see her go off, look up her performance of 'Rapper's Delight' where she riffs in lock step with her talented guitarist before delivering a brilliant version of the rap standard. I'd love to see her showing her bass chops off even more on the next album.