This is touching 4.5/5 and is Lloyd's best album so far. There are many upper-tier songs that I still play constantly a decade later. Lloyd doesn't need features either. My favs are when it's just him singing his ass off. The production, handled by a host of people, but predominantly Polow da Don (aka Awesome Jones!!!!), is great and varied. There are ballads and some high tempo club R&B tunes. Very much recommended. Best Tracks: Cupid, Naked, Jigsaw, Be the One, Lay It Down, This Is 4 My Baby, You II

The ballads/slow jamz work much better on this than his previous album with some amazing ones. Wayne is back and again combines with Lloyd for a good club R&B tune that heavily uses 'Paid in Full', sampling it and Lil Wayne lyrically reusing some of the lyrics. Some great standouts, with a bit of filler still from Lloyd, but this album isn't too inconsistent. Best Tracks: Year of the Lover, I Can Change Your Life, Touched By An Angel, Heart Attack

As with Akon's previous two albums, this isn't a start to finish venture but it's his best effort. The consistency is greater and the number of songs to keep in a playlist is higher. It begins with some contagious high tempo dance-pop tunes, gets a touch more hip-hoppy in the middle and finishes with some more straight-up uplifting R&B. I go back to a number of songs on this often and never tire of them. *Written in 2K19 Best Tracks: Right Now (Na Na), Right Now (Na Na), Right Now (Na Na), Troublemaker, Over the Edge, Freedom

A long album with long song titles. This is another that I can understand why people like it. The instrumentation is deep, varied and there are nice melodies. BUT, too much of it is too...ahh...happy sounding, for want of a better description. It's a similar problem I have with some of Jon Bellion's music. It sounds like some Disney BS. I feel too, being used to R&B, where the singing is often amazing, that the vocals aren't great. It's one I'm torn on. I don't think it's crap, like some other highly rated music on this site, but it isn't for me. 'The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!' is my pick.

At long last I venture into older Roots material, and this is more to my liking. The production on their latest couple of albums I've heard, have often left me disappointed and wondering where all the hype and love comes from with these guys. These beats though are nice boom bap/jazz rap beats which feel like they could have come a few years earlier in '94 and are more enjoyable. There still ain't anything I find amazing here, but there are plenty of good tunes, albeit maybe a few too many as the album stretches 80 minutes, and the beats ain't really different enough to do that with great success. Best Tracks: Respond/React, Clones, It Just Don't Stop, What They Do, Universe at War