The pop world abhors a vacuum, So when Jodeci went on an extended furlough, their doppelgänger – Dru Hill – was born. The latter's 1996 debut album earned platinum status by slavishly adhering to the blueprint: hip-hop-columned R&B grooves, boudoir-inspired lyrics, ghetto-fabulous attitude and chief vocalist Sisqo's impassioned vocals. Enter the Dru will only disappoint those who expect artists to challenge themselves, to raise the bar with each new project. For everyone else, Enter provides the warmth of the (overly) familiar, sticking largely to ballads and midtempo grooves that center-stage lust as their main thematic concern. The single "How Deep Is Your Love" is the best thing on the album, though Method Man's guest spot on "This Is What We Do" lifts that track from a mono- to a multi-chromed level. It's state-of-the-millennium R&B, with all the bad and whatever good that suggests. (RS 801)

ERNEST HARDY