By Deborah Diak
New music always excites me. I crack open the CD or watch the bar move as the download is delivered from my wireless. Today, I’m breaking down a new track from Anwar Robinson, called “Night’s Hot”.
The song is a perfect romantic ballad-like tune that draws you into the night. It has an earthy aphrodisiac quality that wafts around you like a fine perfume. Before you know it, you’re knee deep in the mood of the song. Even after the song ends, you’ll notice a lasting romantic state of mind.
Anwar blows out some great riffs…urban and earthy. The background vocals are smooth, sweet and sexy. Impressive from the first note, “Night’s Hot” is mixed to perfection. The instrumentals are flawless and you get an old school soul vibe juxtaposed with Anwar’s trademark style – polished and steamy. It’s no accident that Robinson was a Top Ten finalist on Idol.
I need to comment on the production quality of this track. “Night’s Hot” starts off with a catchy drum beat that anchors it’s earthy ambiance. The background instrumental arrangements have heat, so put your headphones on and listen for all the little little nuggets weaving in and out.
After some checking, I found out that “Night’s Hot” was produced by Bo-Ty Productions. The studio has been cranking out hits for a few years and recently decided to embrace the power of the internet. Tyrone Corbett and Robert Donzella have a catalog that would make any major label drool with envy. Just goes to show how much of an impact Indie Music labels are having on the music industry. Indie labels and music are putting major labels on notice when they produce quality music like “Night’s Hot.
Purchase Anwar Robinson’s new single "Night’s Hot" at iTunes.
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Review courtesy of: Generation Free
Popularity: 17% [?]
Anwar Farid Robinson (born April 21, 1979) is an American singer/songwriter/musician who was the 7th place finalist on the fourth season of American Idol.
Robinson grew up in Newark, New Jersey. He first started to sing when he was eight and was accepted to the Newark Boys’ Chorus School. He performed as a church musician and choir director throughout high school and college. As a student at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey, he trained classically as a tenor in college for four years under Dr. Scott J. McCoy. He graduated in 2001 earning his BA in Music Education.
During his senior year in college, he had an internship at New York City’s High School of the Performing Arts (known as LaGuardia High School), and Robinson landed a gig as the keyboardist/musical director for Patti’s Kitchen, a pilot for Patti LaBelle’s cooking show with the Food Network. The same year, he joined an R&B group called the A.R.T. of SOUL under the direction of world renowned songwriter/producer, Joshua Thompson. A.R.T. is an acronym that stands for Anwar, Randy (Beasley), and Terry (Carpenter), the members of the trio. The group signed a production deal with Thompson, who later took the group to sing live for Clive Davis in February 2001. Davis signed the group on the spot to his then-new label, J Records. After two years, the group disseminated and was subsequently dropped from the label due to creative differences between the production company and the label.
During the term of the A.R.T. of SOUL, Robinson, who is also an accomplished pianist, became a junior high school music teacher, settling in Elizabeth, New Jersey and West Orange, New Jersey. Robinson was also a member of a local group called The Perfect Combination that regularly performed at banquets and special events in the greater New Jersey area. He also continued to play for churches in the greater Essex County area and even in New York City. One of these churches was Zoe Ministries, where Bishop E. Bernard Jordan is the Chief Prelate. During Robinson’s tenure there, he was one of several vocalists and musicians that contributed to Resurrection, an album that was made for Easter 2003. Anwar is a featured soloist on the song “Saved” and sings the hook/refrain with Reverend Run of Run-D.M.C. (Joseph Simmons, Sr.) and Layzie Bone (of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony) on the track, “His Love Will Never Die”. This song also features two of Reverend Run’s sons, Joseph, Jr. and Daniel Simmons.
Anwar also had the opportunity to be featured as a member of a Christmas Choir for a holiday episode of Emeril Live during Christmas 2003. He would later return to the show as a guest when Aretha Franklin made an appearance on the show during April 2006, almost a year after his run on American Idol.