It hurts me to say this being the big fan I am, but this is fairly comfortably his worst album. Few redeeming qualities with few memorable songs. Robert said that he recorded 462 songs for this album. I'd say some of those probably came from the sessions for his previous albums, as songs like 'All My Fault', 'Wake Up Everybody' and 'Keep Searchin'' would sound right at home on 'Love Letter' or 'Write Me Back'. The first half of the album is its weakest with many songs feeling boring. It's more hip hop influenced and lacks high moments. Why do artists keep getting Lil Wayne for verses? That's for 'Switch Up'. From 'All My Fault', that I mentioned earlier, it gets better. 'Backyard Party' is one of the album's best, particularly for the "I feel like yeaah/I feel like wooah/I feel like yeaah/I feel like wooah" section that shows off R. Kelly's vocals. The bluesy 'Sufferin' is the album's highest moment in my opinion-it's worth getting the deluxe edition for it. Again it feels like somewhat of a throwback tune but from a different genre than what he created on the aforementioned albums. There's hip hop, blues, dancehall ('I Just Want to Thank You'), country ('Barely Breathin''), throwback R&B and contemporary R&B, hence the name 'The Buffet', but there just aren't enough great moments and too many forgettable ones. Best Songs: All My Fault, Backyard Party, Sextime, Sufferin

After the well-received 'Love Letter' album, R. Kelly has continued with that throw-back feel onto this album, after changing his plans to release 'Black Panties' and go back to his sexually themed lyrics. The album begins with a fast tempo track with Kells giving off a strong Barry White vibe. While 'Love Letter' was paying homage to the '60s for the most part, this album perhaps goes to the following decade with '70s R&B themes. Apart from a song or two like 'Clipped Wings', overall the production is more upbeat than Love Letter. Once again the vocals are brilliant, as we expect from R. Kelly album after album. 'When a Man Lies' is one such song, with the lyrics feeling a bit more like some of Kell's best ballads. As Love Letter had, this album contains a song that was written for Michael Jackson. 'You Are My World' is that song with R doing his best MJ impersonation and it comes off well, even pulling off the famous ad-libs - the two should have hooked up for a whole album together. Overall, there isn't a bad song here, and the consistency is what you want from an album. However, I think that it lacks the brilliant tunes that R has created in the past to take it to the next level. After this and Love Letter, I hope that Kells switches it up again and gives us some of those unique R. Kelly joints such as the Ignitions and Trapped in the Closest type of tracks on his next album. Best Tracks: Love Is, Feelin' Single, When a Man Lies, Believe in Me, Share My Love, You Are My World

Kelly is back with another release after 'Epic' only dropped a few months ago. While that compilation reminded me of the 'U Saved Me' disc, with its uplifting strong spiritual ballads, some of this reminds me of the other disc of that album, 'Happy People'. It's not sexually explicit, has mostly positive production and keeps a constant consistent theme throughout the whole disc. Track for track I don't know if there is a top ten Kells song here, but where it stands out is its consistency in the quality of tracks and that unlike his previous releases where he has played with conversation/operatic songs ('Three-Way Phone Call', 'Best Friend', 'Trapped in the Closet'), hip-hop and even a bit of dance-pop on 'Untitled', he goes back to what he does best, with some originality. Tracks that stand out are 'Not Feelin' the Love' that was written for Michael Jackson, which is very easy to feel, with Kells vocally adding to that feeling. Similarly later on in the album 'Just Like That' while less prominent also feels like an MJ track. Due to this being released the same time as Jackson's posthumous album there are times I've actually shortly thought I was listening to MJ. The middle of the album shines where Robert sings about making spontaneous love to a stranger in a Taxi in 'Taxi Cab', to darker production with electric guitars backing him up - this feels a lil' like 'Dirty Diana' in the way it varies the intensity from the verses to the chorus. 'Radio Message' is great from the word go with the chorus kicking the song off with Kells singing to his baby over the radio, and the Grammy-nominated (deserved to win) ''When a Woman Loves'' following on, is a great vocal performance and feels like something from a past era in rhythm and blues. The only real track I'm not feeling much is ''Music Must Be a Lady' which feels very much like 'The Greatest Show on Earth' from Happy People but without any build-up musically. I think if I wasn't such a fan and had not heard everything else he had done extensively then maybe I'd give this an even higher rating. Kells isn't reinventing the wheel in R&B but once again, after almost twenty years, he is still one of, if not the best mainstream R&B artist out there. And with this album and the change in direction, there is no reason he cannot continue to be. It will be interesting what type of album he produces with his next album. Best Tracks: Not Feelin' the Love, Radio Message, Taxi Cab, When a Woman Loves

Kells is back with his long-awaited ninth solo album in the space of sixteen years, and some could even almost call this his tenth after the leak mid-last year. Only two songs survived that leak ('Go Low' & 'Whole Lotta Kisses') that are both solo produced by Kells, with the remaining thirteen being co-produced. When I realised those two were the only songs that survived I was surprised as in my opinion 'Hair Braider', 'Skin', 'Screamer' & 'Playas Get Lonely' were comfortably the best tracks from that leaked album, particularly 'Playas Get Lonely' which was very solid. Anyway, the tracklist is what is it. My first impressions were not excellent and I was thinking this was his worst album by far. However, as with favourite artists you give the album more time and with each listen (over ten of the album) the songs that were disappointing have grown on me and I enjoy most of this. Some tracks of interest - Where his last two albums have been fairly hip hop influenced this only features a couple that are. 'Supaman High' is one of these which has a dirty south/snap type of beat, is a grower and adds something different to the album but isn't anything brilliant. The other is the opener where Kells raps his verses using autotune over a similarly influenced beat but not as intense, and then the chorus is switched to Robert singing normally. 'Exit' features a piano loop identical to 'Best Friend' from 'Double Up' and Kells saves the average production with a good vocal performance singing about exiting a club with a girl. After that, in 'Echo' Kells yodels during the chorus and sings about noises during sex and it's one of the better tracks. Track seven and eight, 'Like I Do' and 'Number One' are comfortably up there as best tracks which both feature contagious choruses (particulary 'Like I Do') and good build-up. As do the other highlights that come toward the end of the album with the single 'Religious' and 'Elsewhere'. 'I Love the DJ' is an odd one and sees Robert singing over a club/dance beat which is something he hasn't done before. It starts off with him singing "This may sound strange, this may sound strange to you...." It takes getting used to but it isn't horrible. 'Be My #2' is also in the same mould with what reminds me of an English pop-dance beat behind the vocals, but this doesn't work as well and is one of the weaker tracks. Finally, I'm also not feeling the final six-minute long track 'Pregnant'. It lacks any vocal or musical build-up, and there is nothing memorable on offer. Lyrically, it is very much an R. Kelly album. Sex, chicks and more sex. It is though probably less extreme than some of his past work and there is nothing on the sexual simile level of songs like 'Sex Planet' 'and 'The Zoo' that were on 'Double Up'. Many fans may have thought that when U Saved Me/Happy People came in '04 that Kells had matured lyrically and was going to change it up a touch more but that album seems like an outlier as far as his discography is concerned. As far as the beats go, as mentioned he gets more help from other producers than his other albums with only two tracks being solo R. Kelly jobs. Apart from the couple of dance influenced tracks that I mentioned earlier it does still have that R. Kelly feel though to most tracks. As mentioned, it did take a couple of listens that I may not have given the time too had this been another artist and I wasn't a fan of the guy or I was younger and this was the first I'd heard of R. Kelly, so you have to take that into account, but overall this album in many ways while lacking consistency ain't bad from the King of R&B and fans should get something out of it. He is still a brilliant vocalist and while there aren't as many great tracks as there should and has been on most previous Kells releases it is fairly solid. Best Tracks: Echo, Like I Do, Number One, Religious, Elsewhere.

This is a fairly solid album all the way through and probably the best thing KRS has been involved in for ages - although I still have much to check out - and apart from his sensational debut, not much else has grabbed me. I always enjoy his in your face vocals and lyrics but often the beats he raps over leave room for improvement. To the other half of this team, and Buckshot is someone I haven't heard much from in the past. His group albums such as Blackmoon's Enta da Stage have been in my to listen to list for a while but I haven't got around to it yet, but I like what I hear on this album from him. Track for track, as mentioned every track is fairly solid. The production is handled by a total of ten producers on this album but it still maintains the same sort of theme throughout the whole disc. I feel it does lose some steam though in the middle of the album. From 'Runnin' Away' to 'Hear No Evil' nothing is too great. But then it does finish well with some of the best tracks featuring late. Nothing though reaches the heights of 'ROBOT' which is a great track (where they talk about the autotune movement in hip hop) and puts Jay-Z's 'D.O.A.' to shame. Like Raekwon's recent album and some other three outta fives, if some of the middle range tracks were up a level this would probably be a 3.5/5 but there are still too many just okay tracks. Also, I wouldn't have minded one or two tracks that changed the production up a tad more. A bit like Slaughterhouse did toward the end of their album for anyone who has listened to that. However, it's a pretty good feast of boom bap/hardcore hip hop beats with two hungry rappers and some good featuring verses. Worth a look. Best Tracks: Survival Skills, ROBOT, Oh Really, Connection, Murder 1, We Made It