Trey Songz – Trigga

Trey Songz has come a long way from being budget T-Pain for rappers signed to Koch to the place he currently holds in R&B today. He's had moments during that ascension to stardom in which he broke into the mainstream world – "Can't Help But Wait," "Say Aah," "Bottoms Up" – and he had some very special moments musically on Ready and Passion, Pain and Pleasure, but it's as if he's just settled into existing within the contemporary R&B realm since since 2011.

Chapter V wasn't all that. It was good enough for the mediocre state of R&B radio at the time, but there was nothing touching the likes of "Say Aah" or "Unfortunate" on the project. He was regressing creatively and maintaining the success and fame he attained previously. So, if things are working out well and he didn't have to work as hard, I guess you can't blame the guy?

He's a talented singer – something The-Dream isn't. And he's committed to R&B – something Usher isn't. There's room for some incredible music to be made. We've seen glimpses of it in the past. If he didn't want to be the superstar people imagined when he joined Jay-Z on The Blueprint 3 tour, that's fine. He can still roll out solid material.

Trigga isn't the most solid project possible, but it's a step in the right direction from the lull he's been at. "Cake," my favorite song on the album is absolutely ridiculous thematically – forget how the saying goes, I made this cake and I'll do whatever the fuck I want to it. Melodically, however, it's one of the most impressive R&B records I've heard in recent memory, so I was surprised to learn he wrote it entirely on his own. "Foreign" is also very impressive. "Na Na" is still garbage. There are plenty of the lazy moments here like the ones on the previous album. Some of them are slightly saved by appearances from Nicki Minaj and Ty Doll $ign. The Justin Bieber feature proves that R&B Bieber is actually boring Bieber.

He's maybe having trouble marrying creative excellence and commercial success (probably the audience's fault... hence "Na Na"), but at the very least we have our first above average R&B album this year.