Get Lifted by John Legend

Personnel: John Legend (vocals, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, organ, keyboards); Kanye West (rap vocals, programming); Snoop Dogg (rap vocals); Dave Tozer (guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, programming); Miri Ben-Ari (strings); Tim Izo (flute, saxophone); Printz Board (trumpet); Will.i.am (Moog synthesizer, programming). Recording information: Sony Music Studios, New York, NY; Westlake Audio, Hollywood, California; The Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA (2005). Six years after cutting his musical teeth as a teen, tickling the ivories on the classic Lauryn Hill single "Everything Is Everything," John Stephens popped up everywhere in 2004, going by the bold name of John Legend. His ubiquity was unsurprising, since he was taken under the wing of Kanye West, the year's breakout success, who tabbed Legend "the future of hip-hop." It's an interesting label for a man whose elegant voice and schooled songwriting conjures up Bill Withers and Al Green, but sometimes the future intersects with the past in a manner transcend... Minimize