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After his first solo CD, 2002's Instant Vintage, and many collaborations, bassist-songwriter-producer and ex Tony! Toni! Tone! member Raphael Saadiq returns as lover extraordinaire on the funky R&B-laden Ray Ray. This alter-ego's road has a few bumps -- the sound collage "Blaxploitation" wastes time, and "I Know Shuggie Otis," an ode to the Seventies songwriter, lacks depth. But so does Ray Ray -- which may be the point. The man's regaling stories for his Saturday-night kickin'-it crew, and he means to entertain. On "Chic Like You" (featuring rapper Allie Baba), Lover Boy uses braggadocio as seduction to snag prey. A rifle-shot sample serves as metaphor for lust on the Tony!
Read More Toni! Tone!-like "Rifle Love." He does contemplate heavier stuff -- Curtis Mayfield would approve of the surprisingly fine "Grown Folks" and the unfussy "Save Us" -- but Saadiq saves it for the end of his night, when he resolutely shuts his front door and whispers, "Home.
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