Words By K1NG

It’s a shame when albums go slept on by the masses and only gets its shine on the blog circuit and other internet outlets, but what’s even worse is when an amazing artist gets left out of critical mentions by both blogs and mainstream media alike. I don’t know why it took so long to speak on this album, however I figure that it’s better to be late speaking on it rather than never speaking on it.

Raphael Saadiq has been around the music business for twenty years, starting off with his work as a member of Tony! Toni! Toné! and has been making quality music ever since. His newest addition to his catalogue, The Way I See It, doesn’t break that trend of substantial musical output, providing water for the dry well of male R&B with a splash of creative energy that hopefully will continue to flow in the coming years.

The production on the album, which is completely composed by Saadiq himself, varies to fit the themes that he speaks on. “Sure Hope You Mean It” starts off the album with the crooner melodically singing about the fear of his love telling him something she doesn’t really mean over a backdrop that is reminiscent of early rock and roll. On “Big Easy” he sings from the perspective of a father who lost his child in Katrina over the fittingly jazzy sounds of piano, tubas, and trumpets with some help from the Rebirth Brass Band.

Love continues to be the theme of the album as he explains the emotions that can be conjured up from “Just One Kiss” alongside Joss Stone and explains his love to his woman on the amazing single “Oh Girl,” which also has a remix with Jay giving 16 bars to the beginning of the song as a bonus track. The high point of the album however, comes near the end of the album with a wonderful collaboration between Saadiq, Stevie Wonder, and CJ Hilton that gives you the same feeling that you get when you hear classic R&B songs of the past on “Never Give You Up.”

The rest of the album is scattered with other gems that remind the listener what R&B is supposed to sound like. So if you’ve decided to pass up listening to the album when it first dropped, take yourself to the store and pick up your copy before you sleep any longer. It will be worth your money.