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| Nikkole Rips It Up at B.B. King’s – Hollywood Nikkole received an overwhelming thumb's up response when she brought her "A Girl Like Me" show to B.B. King's in Hollywood. People were elated when Nikkole showed off her five octave range. The moment she hit the stage --- she owned it and no one doubted that fact for one second. When the show started, the band came out on "Gamble" from Nikkole's first album, "Appearances" and right when the audience was excited with anticipation, out come the dancers and "Drive You Crazy" starts; then Nikkole appears on stage in an Italian inspired White Mediterranean Mini-Dress and looking hot like FIRE! She gave us a taste of her funky hip-hop skills before sliding into "Baby, Baby" which is also featured in the motion picture, "Love and Action in Chicago." She then breaks the show down and sings the very beautiful neo-soul song, "Breathe" after which she let us have it with her first single from her album, "It's Too Late" which was blazin'. Before we knew it, "It's Too Late" turned into a party mix before jammin' with "Lollipop" which got the crowd pumped up and screaming, especially when Nikkole asked the dancers to bring up, "Mr. Japan" - Ken Yasuda and as Nikkole sang "Lollipop" taunting "Mr. Japan", the dancers out of nowhere just ripped the dudes shirt off exposing a marvel in itself! Allowing a moment for cooling off as Nikkole graciously accepted the love from the audience, she begins to belt out, "I Wish" a song about people and in this particular case "her man" not acting the way he is supposed to or expected to act and she sings it with such conviction that she lets you know that this cat is getting on her very last nerve. Then Nikkole touted that she couldn't come all the way to B.B. King's without giving them a little bit of what she calls the blues, which was her down-south cut called, "Nothing Without You." This song was a modern day blues song with the same spirit and heart-wrenching aspects of all the classics. Anytime a singer / songwriter can squeeze in a line that says..."I can't even go to Charmaine's to get my hair did" is one clever, artistic sister in my book. Onward, Nikkole keeps the driving force moving into her beautiful and spiritual song, "Amazing." Not only is the title of this song amazing, but Nikkole hit some notes at the end of that song which can only be attained by a very few select individuals, namely Mariah Carey and Minnie Ripperton. That girl nearly shattered every glass in the joint! Now don't you think for one minute that it all stopped there...within moments as the staff was still cleaning up the broken glass, Nikkole leaped into her current single, "Gon' Bounce" and she gave us one hell of a final number! She did a mix of "Gon' Bounce" that was off the richter. She took us on a nearly seven minute rollercoaster ride with soaring vocals and a guest appearance by rapper, J-Go. Nikkole told the ladies to "pop their collars" and she told the men "don't try to holla" as she sparred with J-Go on-stage. Like we said before she owned the stage and we all knew it! Nikkole and her band definitely know how to put on a show. The members of the ensemble included: Background Vocalists - Wallace (Nikkole's Brother) and Frankie, Drummer / Musical Director - Khalil, Guitar - E, Dancers - Jennifer and Sayaka, Rapper - J-Go, and on the One's & Two's all the way from Tokyo, Japan via Denmark - DJ Cash. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |