Jaheim – The Makings Of A Man

No Doubt. No checkin’ the history.

Although after this latest – What he said about himself in his own inner pages of the liner notes summed it all up:

‘The Voice Of R&B.’

Playas & Playettes, This CD is cold strung & ready for your purchase. Its Blazin’!!

Jaheim came with his A-Game & may possibly put to rest the critics talk about his inability to rise & shine with the god-given vocal prowess or to say he tries to sound like the legendary R&B crooner Teddy Pendergrass. Forget about it! These tracks are deliciously served, coming just in time for the holidays. It also re-acclaimed the young cats’ ability to stay focused & pay attention to what real music is all about. What he did hea’ is real!!

Track Listing:
~ Voice of R&B
~ Hush
~ Have You Ever
~ Lonely
~ Life Of A Thug
~ Just Don’t Have A Clue
~ She Ain’t You
~ Never
~ I’ve Changed (feat. Keyshia Cole)
~ What You Think Of That
~ Make A Wish
~ Back Together Again

To start off the disc in rotation, it appears Ja wanted to make it clear: He’s the “Voice Of R&B”. Hopefully he is talking about todays music & not Back In The Day. Y’all know the answer to that one. You be the judge…

But, “Hush” brought out the songwriting & producing skills of R. Kelly. For this cut went right into the slow flow. And Jaheim came with it; Then came Naughty By Nature’s super producer Kaygee with “Have You Ever”, which carried the under current song sample of R&B group – The Force MD’s mega-slow jam & drops a serious urban flava reminiscent to Jaheim’s earlier recordings. The way Jaheim redid “Lonely” was refreshing because he changed the Bobby Womack classic & made it his. Great rendition!

Look out for the Babyface penned “Just Don’t Have Clue”. It’s growing on me as the disc rotates…”Never” brought out the vocal prowess in Jaheim & it should get immediate playback. The slow jams often do it for the cat!

The tracks that stuck with me were his duet with Keyshia Cole on “I’ve Changed” (putting those 2 vocal blessings together should be a no-brainer), “Have You Ever”, & “Make A Wish”. Especially “Make A Wish” of which Jaheim wrote & co-produced. That track was hittin’ hard!! And I am cold diggin’ the lyrics. In much need for todays urban R&B music, it sounded like a simple serenade to celebrate his ladys’ birthday & the groove carried every drop of it!

This is one of the Best Urban R&B projects for the year ending 2007. Just in time for the homestead. Some explicit content is on the disc, on some tracks, but in the way he presents himself, he’s comin’ straight from off the block. (Try Walmart for clean version) And he sounds more confident in his music. I’m proud to see the consistency in his style, since I do consider this album to be much better than his last effort. It will be a while before this one comes out of the car stereo, that’s fa sure ya’ll!

Right on Ja, Right On…