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Ray Ray

Raphael Saadiq
1 disc

1. Blaxploitation
2. Ray Ray Theme
3. I Know Shuggie Otis
4. This One
5. Chic Like You
6. Live Without You
7. Detroit Girl
8. Not A Game
9. Rifle Love
10. Chic
11. I Want You Back
12. I Love Her
13. Grown Folks
14. Save Us
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 0048102
Credits

Producer
Engineer
Raphael Saadiq has never been one to walk the safe, highly traveled R&B roads. While his compositions, dating back to his days leading the successful trio Tony Toni Tone, have always been of the smoothly palatable R&B variety, they have certainly been somewhat unorthodox, and there has always been a Prince-like unpredictability to Saadiq's career. In 2004, Saadiq followed a solo debut (which snatched multiple Grammy nominations) and a 2003 live record with a concept-album homage to Blaxploitation films of the 1970s.
AS RAY RAY opens with a perfectly true-to-form audio "trailer," which fades into the groove-funk introduction to the lead character, "Ray Ray Theme." A wandering guitar enhances the ethereally beautiful ballad "I Know Shuggie Otis," and, on "Detroit Girl," Saadiq breaks with his Ray Ray character and throws in music that recalls the decades in between the '70s and early 2000s. Saadiq also cleverly brings together all of his musical projects, as Tony Toni Tone and Lucy Pearl join together on the catchy "Rifle Love." Raphael Saadiq is always willing to take chances, and usually, as on the captivating RAY RAY, his efforts bear sweet fruit.
Critic Reviews

Entertainment Weekly (p.117) - "[W]ith enough midtempo dance grooves to make R. Kelly seem out of stem....Saadiq's bass virtuosity is strictly pimp caliber." - Grade: A-
Vibe (pp.159-60) - 3 1/2 discs out of 5 - "With his impressive solo follow-up, Saadiq continues to put the soul back in R&B music."