Ciara rose to the scene with those great R&B tunes heavily influenced by hip hop from 'Goodies' and hasn't really reached those same heights since, at least as good singles goes. This album is similar to her previous projects as it lacks consistency. The best run of tracks come toward the end of this album. 'G Is for Girl' has a good uptempo beat produced by The Y's who also handle the main single from this, 'Love Sex Magic', and Ciara is also nice on the track. From there though, we get three worthwhile slower jamz. After that, the two tracks limited to the bonus track edition, 'Echo' and 'I'm On', bring it back to the R&B dance tracks and are both okay... The best of the dance R&B tunes I think is the collaboration with Chris Brown titled 'Turntables'. Check it out if you're a fan, as overall there is some stuff to enjoy here, but for me, there are too many throwaways for a higher rating. Best Tracks: Turntables, Never Ever, G Is for Girl (A-Z), Keep Dancin' on Me, Tell Me What Your Name Is, I Don't Remember

Another presidential election, another Paris album. 'Sleeping with the Enemy' and 'Guerrilla Funk' are two of my favourite hip hop albums of all time, so I always look forward to new content from Paris. It isn't surprising that, again, the subject matter is Paris preaching about equality for blacks-by any means necessary. The production is also, again, hard with funk themes, but it's rawer than most of his music has been. As with some of Cube's bars on 'Arrest the President', and other rappers over the past few years, it staggers me that the best hook Paris could come up with on 'Baby Man Hands' is "baby man hands" on repeat. For all of Trump's supposed flaws and policy for four years the best these song-writers can do is attack god-given features... There are other moments of hypocrisy and I don't agree with everything he says. For example, one song has the line, "Oink, oink. Bang, bang." Nevertheless, it's a worthwhile addition to his great discography. The beats aren't close to the best he has created, but enough bang and he is still an attention-grabbing, entertaining rapper. It would be great to hear more from him and his Guerilla Funk label mates. 3.5-3 / 5. Best Tracks: Bang Bang, Nobody Move, Turned the Key, Walk Like a Panther, Somethin’ ‘Bout the West Coast

The bookends (that have somewhat of a similar sound) and 'Nobody' are strong, but the rest isn't memorable R&B. A decent listen but there are only a few I'll be saving for later. Best Tracks: Twisted, Freak with Me, Nobody, Chocolate Girl

I finally checked this out after hearing of Lighthouse Family's 2019 comeback. I think these guys got better and better, and hopefully, that continues with this year's release. I get little out of 'Ocean Drive'. 'Lifted' aside, a lot of it is too one-paced and boring. 'Postcards from Heaven' stepped it up with some higher tempo songs and more interesting music, while still at times suffering from Ocean Drive's issues. This though has none of those problems and is easily their most consistent album. I haven't been able to turn it off since trying it out. I've listened to it about 20 times. Best Tracks: Happy, (I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be) Free/One, It's a Beautiful Day, Whatever Gets You Through the Day

Rakim's first solo album starts off awesomely, with his flow, voice, rhymes and nice beats all mixing together for some great tunes. Particularly 'The 18th Letter (Always and Forever)' which I can never get enough of and would cite as one of my favourite songs of all time! Up until 'Guess Who's Back' at track eight, most of the songs are all quality also, but then the remaining five tracks are all nice but lack something extra in the beats. They take a few listens to grow on you. And then you have the two remixes of two of the better songs on the album that fail to add much to the better originals. Overall, the album feels a lil' inconsistent and uneven but if you love Rakim you should get something out of all the songs and a lot out of a few. And there are no features! Such a rarity. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★★★ Hooks: ★★★☆ Best Tracks: The 18th Letter (Always and Forever), It's Been a Long Time, Remember That, The Saga Begins & Guess Who's Back.