Bobby Valentino
Bobby Valentino, the first artist signed toLudacris'Disturbing Tha Peace label, aims to inhabit the smooth-daddy lothario vacancy left in R&B; by the long-absent R. Kelly (who, in his day, filled it for Luther Vandross, who filled it for Barry White). Though he lacks the vocal heat and instant magnetism of all those artists, there's a lot to like on this debut, the over-the-top attempts to insinuate himself into the fantasies of the opposite sex especially. The song titles—shameless to a one —say it all: "Lights Down Low," "Come Touch Me," "One Girl To Love." Subject matter aside, Valentino busts out a swoony vocal gift that, if not the stuff of legends, should serve him well on the R&B; charts: shades of Stevie Wonder swim through "I'll Forgive You," a Winans influence wanders in on "Love Dream," and an old-schoolCoolio-style rap raises an edge around "Give Me A Chance." "Gangsta Love," with its "coke-bottle body/likes to get naughty" lyric, is a slimly veiled ode to freakiness, and it flicks up the fun factor.--Tammy La Gorce