The Singles Jukebox

Make ’em say…

[Video][Website]
[5.43]

Alfred Soto: The peripatetic way in which the label has handled Usher since 2012 is no way to treat the creator of what is likely one of the last diamond-certified albums in music history, but fortunately we haven’t missed much, “Good Kisser” aside. The throbbing, stuttering “No Limit” won’t trouble anyone who isn’t already persuaded that when it comes to sex talk Usher Raymond is old enough to count as influence on Jeremih and Jason Derulo, and Young Thug knows it.
[7]

Ryo Miyauchi: This song isn’t for the kids. No, the sex talk here is tame, but I mean it more about its reference-driven chorus. Do the teens know “Make ‘Em Say Uhh,” a single which turns 20 next year? Do they know where those hilariously garish mixtape covers take their aesthetic from? They’re savvy enough to figure it out, but “No Limit” is for the slightly older crowd who’d rather go out to hear late ’90s/early ’00s Usher than late ’00s/early ’10s Usher. Usher knows who he’s speaking to. He’s just giving them the nostalgia they crave from the man they tag #TBT for.
[5]

Tim de Reuse: The title is repeated with the exact same half-enthusiastic flourish over and over, hypnotic and vapid, but, thankfully, the general tone on display here doesn’t imply that we’re supposed to be so impressed. Nah, it’s a song for lazing around, talking big, and doing nothing, and it succeeds in its lack of ambition. Whether or not you consider this a success probably depends on whether or not you find the empty, circular bragging that constitutes the meat of this track endearing or irritating.
[6]

Jonathan Bradley: Young Thug’s wild and warped flow is a good template for an R&B star, which is something Usher recognizes: his stop-and-start, repetitious phrasing ghosts his guest’s style. He’s also not the ideal singer to realize this hybrid; I like Usher best when he floats above the track, voice skipping like the impossible footwork of an accomplished dancer. Thug’s curious appeal stems from his expanding and contracting physicality, his ability to be gravity-bound and exospheric all in the same bar. What winds up most notable is Usher’s ever-professional execution and a not half-bad Master P pun.
[5]

Brad Shoup: Asking Jeffery to do his best Mystikal would’ve been the only way out from these dreadful No Limit puns, sung by Usher in a tone a world apart from P’s salesman patter. Letting Young Thug do his own thing, though, is somehow a more cynical move: his miraculous invocation of kerosene sits awkwardly by his host’s forced gags.
[5]

Jonathan Bogart: The single joke of the title gets pretty old by the end of the song’s running time — Master P, get it? — but Usher’s fluid command of seduction aesthetics and, just as importantly, Young Thug’s bugging-out sincerity makes up for a thin premise and relatively uneventful production with personality, and then some.
[6]

Jessica Doyle: As a transit geek and proud member of the MARTA Army, I was quite pleased to hear Young Thug’s sage observation that a train will outperform a Ferrari: his feelings for his beloved are strong enough that he will not subject her to the Downtown Connector between 3 and 7 pm, obvious status symbols be damned. Of course, the first 2:46 of “No Limit” is Usher doing an uninspiring monotone; the wait for Thug to show up gets tedious, kind of like… the wait for a MARTA bus. Perhaps this song is actually a carefully subtle pro-expansion vote, or just a message to Keith Parker and crew to keep doing what they’re doing. I mean: Clayton County is in; Gwinnett County is not the anti-urban monolith it was; the Atlanta Business Chronicle is now talking up transit-oriented development. No limit, indeed! 
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