Usher
“Let Me See” (f/ Rick Ross)
Looking for Myself (LaFace)
Usher is a lot of things, but an idiot is not one of them. To make it in pop music for as long as he has, you need to be unbelievably savvy, and Usher’s sixth album is perhaps his greatest example of this quality. A direct result of the current post-Weeknd/Frank Ocean R&B landscape, Looking for Myself is littered with inspiration from the indie scene. While I suppose it’s surprising that a genre heavyweight would take cues from a bunch of upstarts without major deals, this is the Internet era, and the rules have changed. Admittedly, I’ve never been a great fan of Usher’s past work, but thanks to this new stylistic switch (along some incredibly on-point production), I’ve been forced to stand up and take note. Whether the blogosphere cred will translate into real dollars and cents (sales, so far, have been slow) remains to be seen, he’s made at least one new fan from this new sound. Oh, also, is there any MC who’s hotter than Rick Ross right now (besides Hansel)? Everything he touches seems to turn to platinum football fields these days.
