Guest Week: Ed Baron

Futuresex/Lovesounds- Justin Timberlake

What do you think of when someone mentions Justin Timberlake? Many would immediately associate him with N*sync, singing popular songs like “Bye, Bye, Bye” and “Tearin’ up my Heart”. Others would think of him as the scrawny ghetto white boy around Cameron Diaz’s arm. And still others think of him as the solo artist who broke away from his boy band image with his 2002 solo project Justified. In fact Justin did “justify” himself with his first album. He became a superstar who mixed pop and r & b to create songs that had people dancing and singing in the privacy of their own homes or cars. People feared liking Justin Timberlake. Fear no more. Mr. Timberlake is back and bringing sexy with him.

With his new album Futuresex/Lovesounds, Timberlake matures and mixes his sultry voice with rough, high energy club beats to create a great album. Justin called upon some of the greatest producers in music to help him with this album. Timbaland, Rick Rubin and Will.i.am, from the Black Eyed Peas, all contributed to the album. “SexyBack” , the first single off the album, features Timbaland and really sets the tone for the whole album. The heavy drum beats, typical Timbaland style, and catchy lyrics “SexyBack” exposes Justin’s dirty style in which he proclaims “I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave.” This song is far from his teeny bopper lyrics of the late 90’s. Timberlake also has a winner with the song “My Love” which features the new “king” of rap T.I. This song is the “Cry me a river” of his latest album and doesn’t disappoint at all. T.I. dominates the song with his rap, while Justin’s lyrics and the synthesized club banger beat helps to make this song work.

A majority of the songs on the album are really up tempo. However, Justin does offer some slow, emotional, ballad type songs on his latest album as well. “Until the End of Time” is a real slow typical “quiet storm” type of song, while “All Over Again” has Justin tickling the ivory in what I would classify as a baby making song. The song that I find most unique is a song that for once Justin doesn’t sing about a lady in. In “Losing my way”, Justin helps to paint a picture of a person who is struggling with addiction problems as well as family issues and other problems. The smooth sound of the drums and emotional lyrics helps to make for a great song. The song that really caught my attention is the high energy Will.i.am produced song “Damn Girl.” This song offers everything a Justin Timberlake song usually offers. In typical Justin style, he smoothly sings his catchy lyrics behind a crazy busy beat with a catchy chorus. Oh and in typical Justin style he has Will.i.am rap on the track.

Altogether this album has a lot to offer in what is a pretty short album. Only 12 songs total in the album and yet none of them will have you reaching for the skip button. Justin has yet again delivered with his sophomore album and has shown he is done with the boy band stereotypes. The teen we once loved to hate is now the man we hate to love.
It’s ok to like Justin Timberlake. I know it sounds crazy. But let’s face it, it’s hard not to these days. He’s everywhere. Futursex/Lovesounds might help everyone realize that it’s ok to admit being a fan of Justin Timberlake.

Must hear: “Damn Girl”, “My Love”, “Losing My Way”
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Note: Big ups to Ed Baron for his contribution to guest week. Whan I said that Ed had his hands in a lot of things, I wasn't kidding. In the last two years alone, Ed has been a radio personality, grocery store manager, amature chef, freelance journalist, college basketball player, gambler, and salesman. He has been connected to comedian Jimmy Shubert, taken pictures with Carmello Anthony, and he was once a close friend of Ashley Simpson. Ed dosn't give this album a rating, but who the fuck am I to tell him what to do? For all I know, Ed's going to be my future boss. He's like Young Joc, if you see him in Philly, NYC, or Rhode Island, it's going down.