Pleasures U Like
Although a new generation of blue-eyed soulsters has joined the  ranks, Jon B remains somewhat of an anomaly within the bubblegum R&B;  crowd. He may be Caucasian but he practices chocolate love. Ignoring  the jackhammer rhythms and pure-pop refrains favored by teen dreams  like theBackstreet  Boys, the more serious Jon B chooses to keep his music nice and  smooth. His latest release harkens back to the slow-jam era of 1996, a  time whenKenny  LattimoreandBabyfaceruled the airwaves. Here's a comforting  fact: If you pop this CD in your player you won't have to think any  deep thoughts for the 74 minutes it takes to run the album through.As expected, guest stars are of the high-profile variety.Nasreprises his"If I Ruled the World"rhyme, and Cuban Link pushes "All I Want Is You" to a beat that's  eerily reminiscent of his manBig Pun's "Ain't a Player" remix. But the  album's pièce de résistance has got to be "Layaway,"  which features the long-overdue return ofAZ.--Rebecca Levine