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About four-and-a-half years elapsed between the first and second album releases from the singing social activist Donnie. And during that time, Donnie must have had a lot on his mind, because on his second album, The Daily News, Donnie comes out swinging in regard to a variety of issues, including sexism, racism, homophobia, child molestation, suicide and even prescription drug abuse. But despite the deep, heavy subject matter, Donnie never gets too preachy.


In fact, he manages to accomplish the very difficult by making many of his 'message' songs uplifting and even danceable.

Gospel Meets Funk

Two of the songs with stronger messages on The Daily News also happen to be the most danceable; one is "Over-The-Counter Culture," in which Donnie (along with guest rapper Phonte of the hip-hop group Little Brother) assails the pharmaceutical industry for "selling the disease and the cure in the same aisle." Or as Donnie sings, "So you want me to say 'no' to drugs? (Then) keep your over-the-counter culture."

The other outstanding song is the uptempo, gospel-meets-funk "Robot," in which Donnie, using a vocal style reminiscent of Rick James, sings about being under someone else's control and feeling like a slave: "Can't seem to let you go, you're all that I've got," he sings. "I do just what I'm told, I'm just a robot." Whether he's singing about a personal relationship, a job, an addiction or something else is unclear, but despite that, many people will relate to the message of being helpless under the power of an outside force.

On these songs and others, Donnie's strong, clear, gospel-esque voice keeps things on point while his collection of veteran session musicians reach down and deliver some genuine, all-natural Funk, Soul and old-school R&B that might turn off the younger generation, but will likely to be appreciated by music lovers who grew up listening to music created by real-live musicians and not computers and/or the super-producer of the moment.

The one disconcerting thing about the album is that some songs are treated to the same mid-and-uptempo danceable Soul and Funk backing tracks despite warranting a more somber approach. The big examples of this are "China Doll," a song about child molestation; "Atlanta Child Murders," about a real-life string of murders of black boys in Georgia; and "Suicide," a song about contemplating ending one's own life.

Each song deals with very touchy subjects, subjects that most people take very seriously. But each song has a backing track that's so upbeat that if you heard it without listening to the lyrics, you'd probably want to dance to it.

It's understandable that Donnie and his producers would want to sugarcoat the messages being given out, so that the pill isn't too bitter to swallow. But a little somberness in the three above cases probably would have been more acceptable - and more appropriate - for the subject matter.

Like a daily newspaper, Donnie's The Daily News covers many of the issues taking place in our world today. And although activism and social commentary may be on life support in today's R&B world, Donnie does a great job of keeping it from completely dying out. If Donnie's cousin, the late Marvin Gaye, were still alive today, it's likely he'd be very proud of The Daily News.