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There’s a reason why some people have discovered, then grown to prefer, the beverage known as green tea: the flavors, the health benefit and fat-burning properties, the differing strengths and brewing methods. For every mood and meal, there’s a variety that works. And that's also the way that the third release from singer Green Tea, Dosage III: the Time to B.E., should be approached and enjoyed.
There’s a reason why some people have discovered, then grown to prefer, the beverage known as green tea: the flavors, the health benefit and fat-burning properties, the differing strengths and brewing methods. For every mood and meal, there’s a variety that works. And that's also the way that the third release from singer Green Tea, Dosage III: the Time to B.E., should be approached and enjoyed.
An independent artist and D.C. native who’s honed her craft for nearly a decade and opened for established acts such as Anthony David, Dead Prez, Kindred The Family Soul and the late Chuck Brown, Green Tea is aptly named because her sound and her style is as bubbly, refreshing and flavorful as a swig of….well, you know. Her way of painting a lyrical picture and the self-assured sass applied in conveying those images to the listener can flip common subject matter into an intriguing tales of whimsy like “Who Dreams-Beautiful Dreamer,” a hip-hop-infused bravado in the resilient “Never Be The Blame” (with a Andre-300-esque cameo by Gods’illa), or even a conflicted woman getting caught up in the game on the head-nodding “Should I Stay Or Should I Go.”
As if Green Tea’s exuberance isn’t enough, she’s also capable of expressing her range in more than one genre: “After The Laughter” melds a vintage chorus with a go-go type beat as she acknowledges being the fool, but learning the lesson in the end: “After the laughter, after your laughter, I’m standing here.” There’s even a contemporary nod to the concept of “Backstabbers,” here filtered through a lens trained on the dangers of transient friends and the duplicitous backdrop they use for covert takedowns and gossip-mongering via the platform of today’s social media in the honest, yet humor-filled “People Be Watchin”: “People be watchin’, clockin’ all our moves, wondering where you’re going and even who you’re talking to/All up in MySpace, Facebook and Twitter too, so they can get some information and act like they know you.” The way the ending skit relays how simple posts can spin out of control and turn into dramatic, relationship-risking diversions (“Can you please stop commenting on all of my statuses like you’re my girl? You are not.my.girl.” “Please stop calling her Marques, the name is Mar-que-sha, honeeeeeeeey!”) is probably a reality that most listeners can recall or relate to, even via third person.
From her cool-breeze confidence in dropping an impromptu rap verse (“Green Tea Freestyle”), the unabashed emotion she pours into self-embracing mantras (“I Love Being Me,” “Moment Devine” and “See You In My Dreams”) and the saucy style she infuses into every track, it’s all but guaranteed that, like the drink she’s named herself for, Green Tea will please a lot of palettes and quench the thirsts for originality around the way. And since summer’s just started, when would be a better time than now to douse your ears with this delectable Dosage? Highly Recommended.
By Melody Charles