The Singles Jukebox

We ARE still capable of scoring songs outside the 6 range…

[Video][Website]
[6.67]

Thomas Inskeep: Polow da Don is still making magic. Here he opens with an ace sample from Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ 1968 deep cut “Much Better Off” before Lil Wayne drops in and drops one of his more committed verses in some time (I’m especially fond of “Droppin’ her off then toppin’ it off with a muah on the jaw and a smack on the ass and a ‘call me tomorrow…'”), in and out in 30 seconds. Then Polow drops the track out for a couple seconds, only to drop back in with a monstrous, rubbery bassline – and then loops Smokey back in. This is a master class in R&B production, and I’ve not even mentioned the song’s star yet. Monica is a grown-ass woman and lets you know it – “so you know what a wife like me gon’ do” – while praising her man as she pledges to stick with him through it all. Her vocal is big and strong without being overblown; Monica is a singer in complete control of her instrument, and it’s only gotten richer over time.
[10]

Micha Cavaseno: That soul sample and this Wayne verse took me back to ’07, but then the time-warp production snatched me right back to the present while my shoes ended up getting flung off into the far-off tomorrow (see ya guys!) Monica is doing more energy than songcraft, but perhaps it’s necessary to balance out Polow Da Don’s overkill radiating around in the track, with 808 bass melody lines and transforming filtered orchestration threatening to swamp and drown a lesser performer.
[7]

W.B. Swygart: Monica’s voice is built for this kind of undulating grind, and the strings embroider things nicely. Doesn’t exactly qucken the pulse, though.
[6]

Katherine St Asaph: Monica provides the sort of vocal heft, that gravitas everyone strives for, that’s timeless. Lil Wayne is also timeless, in that his presence suggests a 2008 mentality but his verse quality suggests 2015 Wayne.
[6]

Brad Shoup: The beat doesn’t bang and it doesn’t cohere with the Miracles sample — it’s more like a straining dam. Monica latches onto that title and doesn’t let go. Wayne offers the chance to ponder an inverse relationship between bar quality and the number of times he flicks his Bic.
[5]

Alfred Soto: A victory of performance over songcraft, and thanks to Wayne’s verse and Polow da Don’s production, boy, does it sound like a victory of throwback over contemporaneity too. I prefer “Everything to Me,” though, and so should you.
[6]