R&B Disc - 4/5 - 'One', 'Come Back To Me Shawty', ' Lights On', 'Better to Know' and 'Better Than Sex' are great R&B tracks. The rest are okay.
Rap Disc - 2.5/5 - A few good songs such as 'I Salute', 'Get Low' and 'Alter Ego (Outro)' (which is an interesting one.) No songs are horrible but there are not enough good ones.
I like the idea of two discs with different genres, Tyrese/Black Ty just needs to be more consistent cause there is some good stuff on this. Maybe a solid 12-13 tracks of both genres on one CD would be a better idea. Just like when R. Kelly plays with hip hop, R&B seems to be his strongest genre and what he knows how to do with more success.
Bobby's second album, Special Occasion, is more consistent throughout, but this has some great R&B tunes. Tim & Bob have done a brilliant job with a lot of the production. Well worth checking out for R&B fans.
Best Tracks: Slow Down, Give Me a Chance. Tell Me, My Angel (Never Leave You), Want You to Know Me, Come Touch Me, Thank You Lord
It was going to be hard for Chrisette, who is one of my favourite R&B artists going around these days, to continue her run of three very good albums, and unfortunately, I think the run has partially ended here with this being her worst album yet. I don't like R&B that is one paced-like a Frank Ocean for example-too many of these songs are, and the ones that do build up like 'Snow' are scarce. The best part of the album is the title track to 'Supa', and it would be even better without 2 Chainz on 'Charades' who provides a forgettable verse. As was the case on her previous album, the skits are unnecessary. Lyrically, it's basically a continuation of old, with 'conscious/women power love songs'. A solid album, but I don't think it lives up to her previous projects, and except for maybe 'Snow' and maybe 'Visual Love' to a lesser extent, nothing touches her best songs from previous projects.
Best Tracks: Let Me Win, Snow, Visual Love, You Mean That Much to Me
This apparently had one of the worst, if not the worst, first week sales Def Jam has ever had. Knowing that, it is no surprise that a second album has not since eventuated. It isn't a horror to get through, but overall it is just really generic. You've got many autotune hooks, some autotune rapping, a lot of tracks about chicks, a rapper who sounds like many others and southern/snap inspired beats that aren't too special.
Best Tracks: The Nasty Song, Life, Ride, Give It Up
'Fly Like an Eagle', 'I Believe I Can Fly' and 'Hit 'Em High (The Monstars' Anthem)' are fantastic songs and offer variety from soul, R&B to boom bap. Aside from that, the Coolio track, 'The Winner' is decent. 'I Found My Smile Again' by D'Angelo is a nice 6 minutes, but I don't find that his music goes anywhere. The songs end as they begin. The title track and 'Givin' U All That I've Got' provide some decent breakbeat/dance music. Elsewhere, 'For You I Will', 'I Turn to You' and 'All of My Days' are worthy R&B tunes, with the latter being the better song of the three. The final song, 'Buggin'', is Bugs Bunny rapping... Would anyone listen to this more than once? 'Basketball Jones' is another almost novelty record with Chris Rock shouting out comedic lines between Barry White's singing. The instrumentation is quite nice, it could've been a better song. Like most soundtracks, this is a mixed bag and it doesn't feature enough supreme moments for a higher score.
Best Tracks: Fly Like an Eagle, I Believe I Can Fly and Hit 'Em High (The Monstars' Anthem)