Nikka Costa’s always been hit-or-miss for me. She arrived on the American scene a decade ago with Everybody’s Got Their Something, an album I still bump to this day. However, two subsequent albums just haven’t hit their sweet spot. Actually, her second album, Can’tneverdidnothin’ provoked such a negative reaction out of me and my circle of music-lovin’ friends that my buddy P. Dizzle wrote a scathing passage in response to a review I wrote that was entitled “Nikka Ain’t My Nucca”.

At any rate, Nikka’s still kickin’ around. She’s gotten some mileage out of her songs being used for various TV ad campaigns, particularly the title track to her aforementioned American debut. She’s preparing to release her fourth album on these shores, the imaginatively titled PRO*WHOA. Our first taste of Nikka’s latest effort comes via “Nylons in a Rip”. It’s an agreeable funk/soul jam with lots of Nikka’s signature feline rasp. I’m not in love with it, but I dig it enough to check out more (and also think that repeated listens might warm me up to it a little more.)

I also didn’t know that women still called pantyhose “nylons”. You learn something new every day!