The Senior

Album Review

During hip-hop's reign at the top of the charts, a clever turn of catch phrase has often translated into multi-platinum sales, from "It's All About the Benjamins" to "Get Ur Freak On" to "Hot in Herre." Ginuwine's fourth album finds the R&B jack-of-all-trades attempting to get in on the game with tracks that mine urban lingo for potential hit combinations, from the golddigger dis track "Chedda Brings" to the club-life jam "Hell Yeah" to the partly self-explanatory "In Those Jeans" (as in "Is there any more room for me?"). As before, Ginuwine rises above most of his dozens of imitators in the contemporary R&B realm, with a set of productions — from the returning Troy Oliver — that fit his voice perfectly and rate as slightly edgier than the norm. Also unsurprising compared to his work from the past is Ginuwine exploring all aspects of love, moving from the explicitly carnal ("Sex," with Solé) to a poignantly paternal song ("Our First Born") within just a few minutes. After a parade of sexed-up R&B, though, it's refreshing to hit a pair of straight-ahead rap tracks near the end; Method Man lends his usual thug drawl to the excellent "Big Plans," while R. Kelly and Clipse add some spark to a remix of "Hell Yeah."