By shelz.

It has been years since the whirlwind rise and speedy fall of the teen heartthrob collective known as B2K.  In their heyday, they were selling out arenas, surfing through oceans of groupies, and smiling for pictures next to gold and platinum plaques. However, public spats put a crack in the foundation that ultimately led to the crew disbanding.  The aftermath was a sordid tale of seedy allegations, retractions, missing person cases, and just generally odd behavior from all parties involved.  Through all of that nastiness though, Omarion (the first to run for the hills) escaped with a bankable image and about 90% of the talent.  

Since then he has managed to brush that dirt off his shoulders and to release two really solid solo albums despite his label hopping. His third, Ollusion, dropped on Tuesday, but is it worth your pennies? Read on.

It’s obvious that Omarion, as a graduate of tweeny bopper stardom, is attempting to put his grown man front and center on Ollusion. However, even with his parental advisory sticker proudly displayed, it’s obvious this album is a bit green; not only in thought process but in construction. The beats are thin and watery, some of the lyrics are silly and Omarion tends to meander out of his vocal range at times making some songs difficult to listen to. There is no “Touch” here and with some of the slow, skeletal production, O’s vocal shortcomings have nowhere to hide.

The album begins with the lead single, “I Get It In.” Weezy F. Baby is replaced with Gucci! and the track is courtesy of your favorite self-deprecating adulterer, Tank. The track is thump-thump, whistle, clap, horn and repeat. Imagine a stock Swizz beat played in slow mo. O has a rap/sing thing going on, drawing his voice out for maximum sexy man effect.  It’s one of the better songs on the album so if you’ve heard this, understand with a few exceptions, its downhill from here.

“Last Night (Kinkos)” follows as an ode to banging the Kinkos girl in the back room while her manager is on break.  They did it on the copier while it was running too. Don’t tell anyone though. He said she was too fly to work but didn’t offer to save her from the late night shift, so I guess she needs that job.  The track isn’t bad but the lyrics are monotonous. “Bitch stuck to me like a bag of Fritos.” Sigh.

Omarion then enlists the help of Jay Rock and some other people whose voices I failed to recognize on “Hoodie.”  It’s a slow, plodding track that again finds Omarion not being able to figure out if he is going to rap or sing.  The adlibs are a bit irritating and Jay Rock says he’s “smoking weed with no seeds aka no ovaries.” Double sigh.

But alas, things do get better. “What Do You Say” is a cute melody about asking that lovely lady for her time.  The bassline is a bit odd, but O sounds good on the song and the music box-like accents add an almost whimsical feel to the song. When “Speedin” gets started, it really sounds like it’s going to be THE ballad on the album.  The stabbing synth and the speed bike accents add some drama.  O decides he is actually going to sing the song, but then the adlibs get in the way and O tries a little too hard on the bottom end of his range when he gets into his runs at the end.  It’s a great attempt, but not quite there. “Sweet Hangover” is a more verdant track with some obvious voice manipulation. It’s T-Pain’s contribution, so that’s to be expected. It’s probably the best song on the album. The good times end here though.

Marques Houston lends a hand on “The Interlude.” It starts alright enough with some atmospheric synth spread over a slow thump. However, the vocals don’t sound like they fit. There is no variation from the high-pitched delivery of the pair and then it just ends.  Weird. “Wet” is the extra sexy song, minus the contrived situational construct found on “Last Night.”  This song might have sounded better to me if placed higher in the track list, but at this point these songs are all starting to sound alike. The track for “I Think My Girl is Bi” is okay but there is this noise that sounds like tap shoes that comes in and out and it doesn’t need to.  Then the bottom is pulled out from under the song at the end and it just pounds.  Again, some really odd construction. “Code Red” sounds like the rest of the songs so need to go any further.

In conclusion, this album is generally uninspired and confusing.  The swizz cheese production hampers the general sound of the songs and Omarion doesn’t have a strong enough presence to save them.  His overt sexuality seems contrived at times and the crew he brought in to help him out didn’t. He may have been better off with some Young Money features, but getting your grown man on involves a decision making process that I guess he still doesn’t have the hang of, in or out of the studio.

out of 5

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