Joe - "Ain't Nothing Like Me"

On his sixth album, Joe doesn't vary much from the tone and image he established for himself on previous albums; there's the same emotional ballads, the same sexy bedroom music, the same obligatory guest appearances by rappers. Joe's approach on the album seems to be if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And the approach works; Ain't Nothing Like Me is a solid, if unspectacular, album that should be appealing to the women and men who are fans of Joe's earlier work. But the question is: will the album gain him any new fans? Maybe, maybe not. But what it most likely will do is further solidify his considerable fan base.

Ain't Nothing Like Me - both the album and the song of the same name - straddle the line between young & hip and grown & sexy. The album is aimed at the post-college-age crowd, the ones in their late 20s and early 30s who are sophisticated folks, but still young enough to care about keeping up with styles and trends.

One of the more obvious signs of this is the song "Just Relax," which uses the beat from the 1990s A Tribe Called Quest hit "Electric Relaxation." The song, which features a rap by Dre of the Cool & Dre production team, works as a nice nostalgia piece and it sure to bring back memories for those familiar with the original song.

As usual with a Joe album, there's plenty of appearances by rappers, (Nas, Fabolous and others) to keep things fresh. Most give good-to-great performances (particularly Fabolous on "Let's Just Do It" and Papoose on "Where You At?," (Stream it HERE) but the verses that G-Unit member Tony Yayo spits on the otherwise dope title track are half-hearted and the audio equivalent of warm garbage.

Other than the braggadocious title track, there's only one serious misstep on Ain't Nothing Like Me, and that's the posturing "Go Hard," where he sings about going all-out in his pursuit of a woman. "Real G's go hard," he sweetly sings, not even sounding a little bit convincing.

Lyrically, there's not a lot new or even interesting; the same ol' love songs get retold in semi-new ways. But Joe's voice is still a quality tool, and the song production, overseen by Brian Michael Cox, Tim & Bob, Sean Garrett and others, is quite solid.