Album Review: Usher - Here I Stand

This is what it sounds like when R&B wants to grow up. Or maybe this is what it sounds like when an entertainer desires to attain to higher artistry. Either way, Usher's Here I Stand was up for much scrutiny following the record-breaking success of his last album, the 8 times platinum Confessions, and the recent melodrama surrounding him and his family. However, all of that is autobiographically brought to the table on Here I Stand, with mixed results, but overall the point is clear: Usher is striving hard to do right by his new wife and son. Fans, say goodbye to the ab-bearing, pant-dropping bed-hopper... he is no more (at least, according to the B. Cox-produced "Before I Met You", that is).

Standouts here include...

• the lead single "Love In This Club" - Don't care if Polow took it from Garage Band. It's still a banger, if not an unsanitary one.
• "Trading Places" - Usher (with help from The-Dream and Trickey Stewart) gets his Prince on. That's all I'm saying.
• second single "Moving Mountains" - one of Ush's best vocal performances on this album
  
• "What's Your Name" feat. Will.I.Am - Will spitting an entire rhyme with almost no real words... impressive. Usher's vocal arrangements on this track... also impressive. Combination = impressive song, good collabo.
  
• "Lifetime"- Produced by Usher's lil bro J-Lack, this is one of the better "I love Tameka" tracks.

Unfortunately, fall-flats include...

• "Best Thing" feat. Jay-Z - a misnomer indeed. Jay opens up with his usual tight flow, then Ush drops the ball with a sappy verse and a hook with no... well, hook. Niiice beat, though.
  
• "Appetite" - Maaan, I really wanted to like this one. It combines one of my favorite producers, Danjahandz, with one of my favorite writing teams, The Clutch. Result? A less-than-stellar "I love Tameka, but it's really hard to stay faithful" track.