all show up, but their cameos feel tacked on, rather than office of the fabric. Ludacris, the Black Eyed Peas` Will.I.Am and T.I. The album`s other guest spots are less than astonishing, however. With whirling strings, Missy Elliott-style beats and throbbing bass it offers Raymond v Raymond`s highest point.īut despite its big chorus and powerful vocal performance from Usher, the female rapper Nicki Minaj steals the present with a verse reminiscent of vintage Lil` Kim. The album`s salvation arrives in the sort of the club hit Lil Freak. Usher`s devotional murmurings sound empty and stilted and the pace is so dense that the song practically hibernates its way out of the speakers. Likewise Hey Daddy (Daddy`s Home) manages to obviate the downright slushiness of his similarly paced love songs.īut so the cloying ballad There Goes My Baby arrives and the singer uses up nearly all of the goodwill gained from the album`s opening tracks. The opener Monstar borrows from Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder to make something soulful and remarkably catchy. It`s no surprise, then, that the 31-year-old performer has returned to plumbing the depths of failed relationships in the desire of recapturing some of that success.īut despite the somewhat cynical approach, the bizarre focus on legal documentation (more on that later) and a propensity to mix self-pity with vulgarity in an effort to appear boyish and alluring, Raymond v Raymond is really rather listenable. The LP didn`t just cement the singer`s reputation as R&B`s number-one heartbreak kid – it sold 20 million albums worldwide.īy contrast, the final time we heard from usher (2008`s Here I Stand) he was in uncharacteristically high spirits, but the album shifted a meager 1.5 million copies. If you`re getting a notion of deja vu, that`s because back in 2004 he released Confessions – also a break-up album, that sentence from TLC`s Chilli. It sees the R&B lothario (real name usher Raymond IV) pondering his break from wife Tameka Foster and few stones are left unturned: it`s a narration of love, loss and legal issues.
RAYMOND VS RAYMOND ALBUM MOVIE
You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.With a title inspired by the 1970s divorce movie Kramer vs Kramer, Usher`s sixth album is perhaps unsurprisingly a break-up record. Ludacris (04.03)Īudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. The album is a solid R&B offering and demonstrates that Usher knows where his strengths lie and those who have always liked him will certainly not be disappointed.Ġ4. This album is a decent offering but because it is the sixth one Usher has given the world, I guess I expected some boundaries to be pushed or some new musical paths to be tread but maybe this is my fault not his. “Moreâ€, the album’s final track, is also more upbeat and shows that Usher can still get people on dance floors. “Lil Freak†is the album’s official second single and whilst initial sales aren’t great I think these may pick up the more this song is heard because it is a decent club track. This being said, there were some exceptions to this rule. It is an album of maturity but unfortunately it looks like he has sacrificed his youthful energy as this albums lack a sense of vigor and the droning nature of songs blend them together, rather than distinguishing them. It had greater success on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and this may just indicate that Usher’s newest offerings are not going to cross genres like previous hits, “Yeah†and “U Remind Me.†Initial sales seem to reflect that this album is not aimed at the mainstream, with “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)â€, the album’s first released single only reaching #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Papers†is an insight to his world rocked by divorce proceedings and “Foolin’ Around†is the star at his apologetic best, a track that highlights his amazing voice whilst demonstrating his rapping skills.
Long-standing Usher fans are likely to relate more to some of the tracks.
RAYMOND VS RAYMOND ALBUM FULL
Usher Raymond IV, to give the lad his full name, tried to hype up the album by saying that it would be “racy, risky and edgy, and sometimes about personal experiences.†Maybe these two things go hand in hand because I know very little about the man himself and found this album relatively flat. are backed up with production work by Jermaine Dupri and The Neptunes amongst others.
Collaborations seem to be all the rage now-a-days and Usher brings in the big guns for his sixth studio album.
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