Usher's back at ya with a consistent third album that has a good chance of staying afloat in a marketplace overflowing with crooning R&B clones. [Sep 2001, p.235]

Though So Amazin' is ripe with sexuality, it's also a surface-dwelling effort devoid of any profound insights. [May 2006, p.137]

Makes a fair case that few hip hop beat men can match the prolific musical canon of the RZA. [Dec 2003, p.214]

Subpar sonically... Red Light doesn't push toward something greater. [Feb 2005, p.138]

While a few of these efforts fail in the funk department, the album never sounds derivative. [Sep 2005, p.230]

More solid than spectacular. [Jan 2005, p.83]

Despite its trippy promise, the album sometimes falters because of Quaye's quirky, self-indulgent lyrics. [Apr 2001, p. 170]

Beyoncé's always been a capable singer, and she's grown even more so on Survivor. [June 2001, p.151]

Eardrum lacks cohesiveness. [August 2007, p.75]

Though T3 and Baatin's verbal syncopations punctuate Trinity's big-bottomed sound, their words are consistently trite. [Sep 2002, p.248]

With his latest long player, The Last Kiss, the Yonkers heat spitter’s exquisite rhymes again get lost in an overabundance of boilerplate attempts at hits.

The album falters when it ventures out of party mode. [Apr 2003, p.177]

Ciara is most comfortable in the nook of choreography-driven tracks....What Fantasy Ride lacks are the career-defining highs of songs like 'Promise' and 'Like a Boy,' songs that were romantic and indelible and altogether original.

The album is plagued by too many predictable bass lines and uninspired samples. [May 2004, p.163]

At times... Dangerously In Love sounds desperate to reach every demographic. [Aug 2003, p.150]

It's reminiscent of a time when bumpin' L'Trimm's candy-coated "Cars With the Boom" was the definition of fresh. [Aug 2003, p.154]

His most stoner-friendly album to date. [Apr 2003, p.179]

Shockingly, Paris the vocalist is actually listenable; no Gwen Stefani, but better than, say, K-Fed. [Oct 2006, p.151]

Crackles with anger, energy, and defiance. [Aug 2002, p.156]

There is no doubt that Gwen Stefani is currently the most hyped up singer in the world; nevertheless, that doesn't change the fact that she possesses one of the worst singing voices in pop-rock history.

KRS-One sounds as hungry and passionate as ever.... Unfortunately, a barrage of rigid, same-sounding beats and canned choruses detracts from Attack's effectiveness. [June 2001, p.154]

David's pasteurized pop may not be pleasing to all musical palates, but for many, he remains one of the United Kingdom's tastiest exports. [Jan 2003, p.130]

All pounding drums and rolling keyboards, this is the Three 6 sound at its most dumbed down. The same could be said for the majority of Walk, which avoids the experimental sounds the group dabbled in on 2005’s "Most Known Unknown" and treads more familiar ground.

While she loses herself in Gwen Stefani-like posturing... Furtado masterfully combines Spanish and pop influences in her own unique way. [Jun 2006, p.164]

Though she doesn't add any real depth to her artistic sack, she captivates by revealing another stage in her development--as a woman. [Aug 2003, p.148]

Ultimately, Hilson’s debut is simply okay, not quite the sum of its parts. She has the right juice. Now it’s just a matter of how to keep it flowing.

Ultimately, the moments of bare beauty on such tracks as "Your Cloud" and "Crazy" set Amos apart as a true original. [Dec 2002]

What is missing from Intuition is a balance between the party records and the slow jams. The division displays a lack of cohesiveness that separates the effort from being a great album into just a collection of potential singles.