Hailing from Liverpool, Marsha Ambrosius’ three decades in the music industry have seen her emerge as the ‘Songwriter In The Room’ with some of the best to ever do it. She has penned hits for the likes of Alicia Keys. H.E.R., and Solange – and she had co-written for none other than Michael Jackson (on his 2001 single ‘Butterflies’).
It is sometimes forgotten, then, that Marsha Ambrosius is herself a supremely inventive R&B artist, with a voice that’s not a million miles away from Erykah Badu. Prior to the release of 2024’s Casablanco (her first album in six years) she had released three studio albums. Alongside this, her early work as part of the UK-based neo-soul/hip-hop duo Floetry, was the stuff of critical acclaim in the early 2000s.
Despite her track record, the creation of Marsha’s latest album was far from a sure thing. Ahead of its release, she told media outlets, including the Independent newspaper, that she’d “checked off [her] buckelist, everything I’ve wanted to do”, and that she was content simply to write for others rather than making music herself.
But after being approached by Dr. Dre – who she’d worked with on his 2015 collaborative album Compton – the pair began, tentatively, to talk about making new music. In her words, “Dre said, ‘I just want to keep you inspired. Let’s just create and see where this goes.’”
The album itself was made during a period of flux. Coming right after Dr. Dre suffered from a life-threatening aneurysm in 2021, it was recorded later that year while Covid lockdowns were still a major stumbling block.
Across a span of two weeks, the album’s 11 songs were laid down. Marsha was backed by a 27-piece live orchestra, some of the best producers in the world – Erik “Blu2th” Griggs, Focus… and Dem Jointz – and she was armed with a take-your-pick suite of hip-hop, soul, and R&B samples to choose from, including artists like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Duke Ellington, Wu-Tang Clan, and Nas. (Indeed, the three-year delay in the album’s release was reportedly due to needing clearance for several samples).
The result is a positive one. Casablanco is an exquisite album. The 11 songs on this LP are rich, textured, and varied, in a way that very few hip–hop/R&B albums these days are. The album steers clear of lazy trap beats and derivative lyrics, with both Dre and Marsha seeming to challenge either other as creative partners.
You experience this right away on the first song. ‘Smoke’ is cinematic in the way that many of Dr. Dre’s best songs are; its sound is polished, orchestral, and melodic – while never straying far from old-school hip-hop. Marsha, for her own part, uses this song to offer up a statement of intent, singing self-empowered lines like: “I want all the smoke/Set this on fire.”
Marsha’s voice is, of course, her secret weapon – so much so that you wonder why she ever considered hiding it away. On ‘Tunisia Nights’, she offers listeners a sumptuous ode to what it means to desire something, without needing to get it. Dre’s style is clearly adaptive to her voice; he uses hard-edged boom-bap beats to contrast her floating vocals – it feels like the sacred and the profane coming together. Additionally, the heavy sample of Nas’ N.Y. State of Mind’ might not work for any other artist, but it absolutely works here.
There’s a theme linking many of the songs on this album. It feels like this is the work of artists who are testing whether there’s still life in old-school hip-hop – whether it can be made original and fresh in the modern-day. Dr. Dre seems adamant that it can, and his incorporation of ornate strings and even woodwind elements on several of these songs is both mesmerizing and modernizing.
Marsha’s lyrics are old-school R&B lyrics in the best way possible. Casablanco might seem like a record about love – but it’s really a record about longing (which is far more interesting). Some of her bars can be genuinely devastating. A prime example is ‘Cloudy With A Chance Of…Real’, which contains the lines: “Feels like this is somebody else/ Living this pain right through me.” Longing is also at the heart of songs like ‘Greedy’ and ‘Self Care/Wrong Right.’
If Casablanco has a downside, it’s that it occasionally indulges too heavily in homage to other artists. There are a lot of references going on in every song – you’ll find ‘70s funk, MJ pop, and endless ‘90s Golden Age Hip-Hop on this album – and it sometimes feels like you’re being asked to find music history Easter Eggs, rather than being asked to appreciate a song for its originality. ‘Thrill Her’ is a good example. The song gets in the way of itself, with too many nods and winks to other artists. There’s a linguistic nod to the Thriller album, a heavy nod to ‘Smooth Criminal’, and an overture nod to Wu Tang’s ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ As a hip-hop aficionado, samples are typically enjoyable – but in this case, you’re left wondering where the substance of the song is.
It’s a small criticism for a highly ambitious body of work. Casablanco is the type of record you long to hear these days, especially when modern R&B can sometimes sound too same-y. This is an album geared towards those who believe that the indisputable glory days of music were in the hubs of LA and New York in the ‘90s, and those who are craving a new iteration of that Alicia Keys/Lauryn Hill sound. Sure it might occasionally go sample-heavy to compensate for a lack of fresh ideas, but overall it’s an excellent LP.
