Theoretically R.Kelly's debut album,as a solo artist anyway is very crucial for the development of music in the 90's. It was transitional music easing out of the hip-hop based new jack swing style of the beginning of the decade towards what would eventually be known as "neo soul",a largely retro funk based sound usually informed by hip-hop rather than being dependant on it. Creatively R.Kelly embodies many of the qualities of the R&B/soul/funk greats that came before him. He's a songwriter/vocalist with a strong flair for song construction and strong,gospel informed singing and (most importantly perhaps) a multi instrumentalist with the ability to create sturdy grooves and,for example the good sense to bring in jazz guitarist Bobby Broom to play on "Your Body's Callin'". Lyrically this album blends the sacred and the secular in the classic soul tradition. It was a quality he'd maintain throughout his career. "Bump N Grind" was of course the big hit and the album followed that excellent groove,for the most part in the same manner."For You","It Seems Like Your Ready" and the extended jam "Sex Me" all follow that same basic mid-tempo neo-funk groove to a tee. This album also includes a touching story song type tribute to his mother in "Sadie",full of gospel organ and all kinds of soulful breaks and release. The same goes musically for the closing title song,the main difference is that one as with the rest of the album is based in heavy duty bedroom music,visually explicit without the use of explicit language. The interesting part is,as pointed out in many reviews the album is actually one of the few of it's type I've heard where the album loses some energy when the tempo picks up. With the exception of the strong "Summer Bunnies" the majority of the uptempo cuts such as "Homie Lover Friend","Freak Dat Body","Back To The Hood Of Things" and "I Like The Crotch On You" feature raps by DeAndre Boykins and Carey Kelly that are very repetitive and very uninteresting. Since this album was at it's time looking to innovate to a degree the inclusion of rapping on these songs kind of seemed like a step back and,in the future Kelly would come to do much much better at utilizing hip-hop in his music. For the longest time I thought of R.Kelly as a bit of a one trick pony who was likely not very capable of delivering anything close to a consistant album. After all that tended to be a problem for a lot of music of this particular era. For those I will have to say this album will certainly prove those naysayers wrong,including myself.