Lovesick

Soul is more than a sound. It is a timeless idea and an immortal condition. It cant be borrowed or traded, bequeathed or imitated (no matter how much they try). Soul isnt the blues, but the best blues has soul. Hip-Hop isnt soul, but its the most fundamental component of its DNA. R&B is the genre, but soul is the yearning, the lust, the regret. Without soul, love is merely sex. With it, you get something like Lovesick. Lovesick is a collaboration between the 3x Grammy-nominated singer Raheem DeVaughn and the legendary hip-hop producer, Apollo Brown, best known for making hip-hop so grimy that it permanently lodges in your lungs and underneath your fingernails. It is a work of startling beauty, a blend of modern R&B, classic soul, and guttural funk that recalls Smokey Robinson, Al Green, and Marvin Gaye. Yet it doesnt sound out of step alongside DeVaughns peers The-Dream, Anderson .

Paak, and Miguel. It is an album that bears the echoes of Jodeci and James Brown, but it is ultimately the clarion vision of two masters of their respective forms.