Original Review
This is probably LL's most pop rap influenced album. There are a couple of genuine harder tracks here like, 'It's LL and Santana' and 'What You Want', and 'Control Myself' and 'We're Gonna Make It' are kind of in between pop rap and being harder tunes, but as you can probably infer by looking at the list of featuring artists, the rest is quite poppy. Some of it works though. 112 kill the chorus of 'Down the Aisle' making it a good song, 'Preserve the Sexy' has a weak chorus, but I like the verses, 'I've Changed' has a bangin' beat, and again the chorus is good from an artist who I've never of before, and then a remix of Ne-Yo's hit 'So Sick' is attached to the end of this album.
The second half is definitely stronger than the beginning, and if you like some R&B/pop rap this isn't quite as poor as the consensus suggests in my opinion.
*Written in 2013
Best Tracks: What You Want, I've Changed, Down the Aisle, So Sick Remix
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2022 Revisit Review
The opener goes for a hard hip hop feel, but it falls pretty flat. This hasn't grown on me at all. They should've kicked the album off with 'Control Myself'. I can't believe I didn't have it listed amongst the best tracks previously. Jermaine Dupri creates a contagious danceable track with LL and the writers making a catchy hook and bars. 'Favorite Flavor' is a decent pop rap song. I've written that sentence a lot the past week as I've been revisiting all of LL's albums. 'Freeze' was surprisingly the third single. It's quite slow and for me a skip. 'Best Dress' is a little better but again, nothing to keep for later.
'Preserve the Sexy' is a step up. It's got some more bounce, the chorus stands out from the verses and the trading bars that LL does with Teairra Mari, and did on a number of his songs, and that doesn't happen enough in hip hop, works well. LL also rhymes with some great bars. Speaking of trading bars, 'What You Want', also does this with Freeway and LL rapping over the hardest and best pure hip hop song here. I still love 'I've Changed' for the reason in the original review. Scott Storch, one of the legends of the '00s, provides the production for 'Ooh Wee'. It's not his best and this is more like the weaker pop rap songs at the start of the album than the better ones. I remember liking '#1 Fan' and 'Down the Aisle' more. I agree with what I wrote above about 112 doing a good job on the chorus, but I don't think I'd list it with the best tracks. 'We're Gonna Make It' has that epic final track to an album vibe. The production reminds me of a Saigon song from 'The Greatest Story Never Told'.
Overall, I remembered this fairly well. There wasn't anything that surprised me upon revisiting it. My original 2.5/5 is probably fair for this. I get an urge to hit skip a few times, but there isn't anything I truly dislike, and there are a handful of good songs that I've been happy to go back to.
Beats: ★★★
Rapping/Bars: ★★★☆
Hooks: ★★★☆
Best Tracks: Control Myself, Preserve the Sexy, What You Want, I've Changed, So Sick Remix
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