Frank Peters
50 Shades of Frank
(self-released)

After the opening of “Intro – A Shade of Britain,” we are into a bleeping, single-note and South Carolina’s Frank Peters’ rapping about who he is on “Mr Frank.” We get females talking a bit more about Frank along the way in each “intro” as the rest of 50 Shades Of Frank opens up. There’s a repeating horror synth noise to “Bang” about Frank’s love of women, the bouncy blops in “Passive-Aggressive” (I like his tone here; he keeps things real tight with his rap, daring you to come to him), and “Get It Right,” an old school R&B with low whispers and thumping bass drum and snapping high end drum machine cool. It’s more of a dance tune than Frank really saying much here. Frank has a chorus of help to open “Half Dollar” into a slow, slinking “shunk,” and we get distorted snippets from the movie Blow for “Cocaine Heart,” another slow rap relying on plucked synth bass sounds, the usual blips and burbs we have been hearing all along with Frank telling us all about what cocaine means to him. Frank reminds us we are in 50 shades of his cool as he runs a quick rap mocking his fellow rappers on “Numb.” He has a synth running behind his vocals keeping the song moving fast. It’s probably the best (at least it is the most desperate) tune here. The actual last song, “Mercy,” is another slow rap, organ and Frank’s rap moving us along in a statement about himself.