It’s a new year, which means that my R&B tolerance level has been reset. It sounds off, but I’m not the biggest R&B fan. After growing up listening to the likes of D’angelo, Sade, (old) Mary J. Blige, Mariah, Ginuwine, 112, Next, etc. (the list can literally go on all day); it’s hard to cope with today’s ‘so-called’ R&B music. There are some good ones here and there, but there’s not much that’s brought to the table that one would consider really good. The MF Life & Blak & Blu, to me were my favourite R&B albums of 2012. I don’t know what all of that hype behind Elle Varner aka Keyshia Cole 2.0 was about, but when you blow up from one song, hey, can’t knock the hustle.

As stated before, it’s a new year, and my R&B consultant, Jason, came to me about a couple of projects. This one was the better one of the two, but both are dope. This project is overall smooth, from vocals mixed in with production. The problem that one can encounter in this new age of R&B is being compared to each other, because a good majority of them do sound similar. Although I/O is their own entity, you can’t help but pick up on elements from style based on other singers out there. It doesn’t diminish their talent, however. I salute them for a great listen. It’s a cool project to zone out too, so definitely enjoy it.