Blackstreet: Finally : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The forty-year progression of Top Forty R&B, from the squeaky-clean doo-woppers of the Fifties to the harmonizing Lotharios of the Nineties, has come to rest at a hip-hop-soul hybrid that delivers huge sales, lofty chart positions and sold-out concerts best described as Chippendales shows for preteens. Debuting in 1994, Blackstreet -- the brainchild of New Jack Swing mastermind Teddy Riley -- bushwhacked the trail for harmonious hard bodies like 112 and Dru Hill; in the process, they created some of contemporary R&B's most visionary music. "No Diggity," their 1996 collaboration with Dr. Dre, broke new ground between hip-hop and soul, with Blackstreet's "hey-o, hey-o, hey-o, hey-o" chorus creating a groove so heavy, it rivaled Dre at his most chronic. Finally has moments that funky -- on tracks like "Girlfriend/Boyfriend" and "What U On," Riley holds the syrup, turns up the bass and cracks wise about the pompatus of love. Unfortunately, the house party is interrupted by several ponderous slow jams, which corner you like a boring guest who won't stop kvetching about his love life. (RS 809)

NATASHA STOVALL