Tony Hussle has some serious musical talent. But after hearing his blend of ridiculously hypersexual lyrics and slick R&B production, it's hard to take him seriously.
Sure, the kind of smooth R&B artists like R. Kelly have popularized in the past decade is overtly sexual. When Hussle tries to imitate this, though, he comes off sounding more crass than slick.
The real problem, however, is that Hussle's debut EP Sexy, Freaky, Electric is long on production and short on catchy hooks. He knows how to create richly textured, smooth R&B soundscapes to anchor his fluttery tenor. But when it comes time to hit with a great line, something to get stuck in the listener's head, Hussle comes up empty-handed over and over again.
He has no excuse, since he's got all the skills. Hussle played most of the instruments on the record, and he has some major chops on both piano and guitar. His instrumental forays are the best part of almost every song.
The guitar solo on the end of "Wait" is a prime example. After three full minutes of un-poetic and clichéd lyrics about waiting for a girlfriend to let him do the deed, Hussle grabs an electric guitar and lets fly. The ensuing solo is 100 percent pure screaming distortion guitar heaven, with some riffs verging on eighties metal.
The incongruent sound manages to work in much the same way that the wailing solo on Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" does. It's just part of the many sounds Hussle uses to make his simple song structures interesting. Echoing pianos plunk along with jazz organ flourishes and synthesized strings and horn sections on most tracks, with a little rock guitar thrown in for good measure.
Bleeping electronics and harpsichord give a haunting quality to the less-than-subtle lyrics of "Come Again," which Hussle doesn't mean in the conversational sense. The chorus is a perfect blend of sounds, but Hussle's dirty lyrics are too conversational to be interesting.
The song is preceded by an intro spoken by Hussle's mother, recalling her son's early love of music. His mother's emotional recollection of how Tony reminds her of her late brother inexplicably leads into Tony whispering, "Roll back over baby, I ain't through." Needless to say, the mother-sex correlation doesn't quite work.
We can only wonder why Hussle would choose this intro, since your mother is the last person you should be thinking about before getting it on. Nevertheless, Hussle shifts from teary mother mode to sensuous lover mode without so much as a backward glance.
But his lyrics are more smutty than sensuous, with a complete lack of poetic imagery or lyrical flow. Good songs about sex leave the best details to the listener's imagination, something Hussle neglects to do. As a result, songs like "Come Again" are more reminiscent of a dog humping somebody's leg than a romantic night of pleasure.
"Welcome to Tony Hussle's, can I take your order? Would you like to have my son or have my daughter?" Hussle sings with a completely straight face on "Special." While the actual music is the catchiest on the album, lame lyrics like this ruin the effect.
The main point of the lyrics on the final track, "She's A Virgin, Too," seems to be that there are a lot of beautiful girls who happen to be virgins. The music is boringly redundant and the lyrics sound like an amateur attempt at sultriness.
It's really a shame, since Hussle has a great voice that deserves better words to sing. His light tenor can jump from a Marvin Gaye falsetto to a Luther Vandross croon with surprising agility. It's just rough enough at the edges to separate Hussle from the common crop of young R&B singers, but smooth enough to sound slick.
Unfortunately, mediocre songwriting and a painful lack of nuance set Hussle back despite his talent. Sexy, Freaky, Electric seems destined for the bargain bin, and so does Hussle, unless he finds a good lyricist to collaborate with.
"You want to hum along with me?" Hussle croons on "She's A Virgin, Too," but the answer is clearly no. Sexy, Freaky, Electric just can't quite reach hummable status.
2 out of 5
