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Although a new generation of blue-eyed soulsters has joined the ranks, Jon B remains somewhat of an anomaly within the bubblegum R&B crowd. He may be Caucasian but he practices chocolate love. Ignoring the jackhammer rhythms and pure-pop refrains favored by teen dreams like the Backstreet Boys, the more serious Jon B chooses to keep his music nice and smooth. His latest release harkens back to the slow-jam era of 1996, a time when Kenny Lattimore and Babyface ruled the airwaves. Here's a comforting fact: If you pop this CD in your player you won't have to think any deep thoughts for the 74 minutes it takes to run the album through.

As expected, guest stars are of the high-profile variety. Nas reprises his "If I Ruled the World" rhyme, and Cuban Link pushes "All I Want Is You" to a beat that's eerily reminiscent of his man Big Pun's "Ain't a Player" remix. But the album's pièce de résistance has got to be "Layaway," which features the long-overdue return of AZ. --Rebecca Levine