J Holiday has some pimp in him, no doubt, and the late-disc track "Pimp In Me" isn't the only reason to think so: When this suavest of 2007's break-out crop of smooth R&B crooners isn't causing the ladies to swoon (check out "Bed," the radio hit that rides a vibe similar to Rihanna's echo-y "Umbrella" all the way behind closed doors and under the covers), he's establishing himself as a tough guy with a tender streak. It's a stroke-of-brilliance approach for a new artist--instead of becoming a standard-issue sweetie who ladles on the charm but can't do battle with urban music's big boys, he deftly straddles two styles on this debut. Silky, classic-sounding slow jams ("Suffocate," "Without You") suit him, but so do street cred-raising reminiscences of his gritty Washington, D.C., youth ("Ghetto," "Thug Commandments"). Holiday goes for broke, circling the broad R&B landscape, but he doesn't dilly-dally: Back of My 'Lac delivers pimp-worthy yet pretty songs that get straight to the point, the point being that this is an artist worth raising your modern-music hopes over.
Condition:NEW. Slashed case
TRACK LISTINGS
1. Back Of My Lac
2. Ghetto
3. Thug Commandments
4. Bed
5. Betcha Never Had
6. Laa Laa
7. Come Here
8. Be With Me
9. Suffocate
10. Fatal
11. Without You
12. Pimp In Me
13. Thank You
14. Fallin'
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