“And Then There Was Me…”
I remember back when Mario was a bubbly faced braided up teenager who sampled Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend” for his own version in 2002. The subsequent album was pretty good, “Braid My Hair” followed in the same vein of “Friend” and Mario had a hit album on his hands. Two albums later, a multitude of hit singles, no more braids and a more bulked up physique later and here we are at album #4, D.N.A.
Here’s what’s scary about the current climate of R&B right now, there is no true top dog. In the 90s, it was Robert Kelly and everybody else. In the new millennium, there seems to be a top man every single year from Ne-Yo to The-Dream to Usher to Chris Brown and to a lesser extent, Trey Songz. It’s broken down from the ballads and dance tracks of yesteryear to dumb lyricism and pleas to be loverman lothario’s who could probably not even measure up to such lofty aspirations. In other words, we’ve been dealing with R. Kelly clones since TP-2.com.
Equipping a lot of top heavy producers such as Jim Jonsin (“Lollipop”, “Whatever You Like”) and R&B’s go-to guy in The-Dream, Mario sets out from jump street with the summer hit “Break Up” and probably the most quotable Gucci Mane verse ever applied in a span of four minutes and nine seconds. People wanted to question Gucci’s status on MTV’s Hottest MC’s in the Game list need look no further at how many people listen to this female logic, “On to the next one/More fish in the sea/Girls are like buses/One leave next fifteen one comin’/”.
The album bobs and weaves through various emotions from the singer from puppy love and companionship with “Thinkin’ About You” to Jonsin’s anthem to follow up in the thesis of “Break Up” with “Get Out” which sees Mario literally wonder “what the fuck” in the final days of previous relationship. It’s somewhat fitting that such anger exhibited there gets flipped into retrospection and somberness just a track later with “Soundtrack to My Broken Heart”.
Trying to channel Jennifer Hudson’s feel good uptempo “Spotlight” with “Starlight”, Mario does both and delivers one of the few R&B songs made these days that you could play at a family barbecue. Here, Mario actually employs the use of his range of vocal chops. Don’t be confused when you hear the early 90s break beat and think you’ve been thrown for a loop and purchased an Amerie album on “Before She Said Hi” as the ever popular R&B/Hip-Hop collaboration somehow fails to impress, most notably Big Sean in his first high-profile guest spot in which he doesn’t even sound like himself, instead more like a more amplified J. Cole.
While there might not be a huge strictly R&B record on the album like “Let Me Love You” was for Turning Point, the closest thing we get on this album is “I Choose You”, which in bits and pieces sounds a little close to “Irreplaceable” in composition (not in subject matter). Remember how Ne-Yo wrote “Let Me Love You” and it sounded more like a Mario song? Complete opposite here as it’s a Ne-Yo song through and through, even though Mario has justifiably grown in being himself as opposed to following that same tired vein of “best everything” R&B singers. Vulnerability is a lot more believable than just knocking it out of the park in the bedroom these days. I’ll ask you this question: do you believe Jeremih is going to keep on past “Birthday Sex”?
Mario serviceably has moved upwards from the depths of being a typical R&B singer and has now landed on the perch of being a pretty good singer all-around. His growth from album to album has shown, from the kid who originally wanted to just dance and have fun to a man who has had his fair share of ups and downs in relationships and life in general.
Standouts: Break Up, Get Out, Soundtrack to My Broken Heart, Starlight, The Hardest Moment
Duds: Ooh Baby,
Final Score: 7.2
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