J. Holiday

J. Holiday's got plenty of booty ballads -- all smooth talking and slick, shiny beats -- on his debut album; he is an RnB singer, after all, and there are the Ushers, the Ne-Yos, the R. Kellys (only one of those, thank God) of the world to compete with. But J.'s smoothest soul-slinging happens on the tracks where he indulges his old-school proclivities: "Good for Each Other" is a falsetto-fortified, "Let's Get It On"-a-thon (plus this sort of creepy marijuana innuendo). And "Ghetto" is like an updated version of Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City," and dang, is it refreshing.

When it's on, the debut from D.C. native J. Holiday offers some sweet, passive pleasures.
For a handful of hot cuts, Holiday turns out brash, hook-centric R&B that complements silky
singing with some fine beats: The bumping "Ghetto" underpins Holiday's insistent sermon on
underclass misery with Santana guitar, congas and lite funk, and "Thug Commandments" is
an ultrawarm thing with an ace chorus and D'Angelo-worthy falsettos. Then ther... More >