The Brothers: Music From the Motion Picture

When I picked up the soundtrack album to the new film "The Brothers," I admit I was excited yet apprehensive. I was excited because I generally enjoy soundtracks, and "The Brothers" album features "all new music" from a whole slew of rap and R&B artists. I was apprehensive because I had never heard of a majority of the artists listed. So I took a chance.\nThe first track starts the album well with a rhythmic R&B piece from Eric Benét, "Love Don't Love Me." The drums keep a steady beat with Benét sounding in the intro like a toned-down Whitney Houston in "I'm Your Baby Tonight." As his voice gains strength and volume, the chorus picks up the pace and carries the piece to the end.\n"Lay It Down" by Jermaine Dupri starts off with strange synthesized chords leading into hard vocals by a feisty Lil' Mo. When Dupri starts rapping, the song deteriorates into a repetitive yet energetic piece that gets better with each refrain of Lil' Mo's chorus.\nThe next track, "Good Love" by RL, is a standard R&B ballad with passionate vocals by Robert Lavelle Huggar; the piece fails to impress me, sounding like every Boyz II Men song. "Let It Go" by Jaheim featuring Castro has potential, combining elements of disco, rock and rap, creating a track with a lot of fun and spunk.\nOne truly standout track is "Two of a Kind" featuring the father and son duet Eddie Levert Sr. and Gerald Levert. The duo sounds like K-Ci & JoJo initially, but once the song gets going, the soul spills out of my speakers, creating a beautifully personal story about a father and son.\nOther tracks include a disappointing contribution from Snoop Dogg and tracks from Somethin' For The People, Maze, Lil' Johnny, Cassie, Dave Hollister, No Question, and some of the film's score by Marcus Miller.\nThe themes of the songs all revolve around love and relationships. The film shares similar themes. The film and album seem to go hand in hand.