Happy 20th Anniversary to Musiq Soulchild’s second studio album Juslisen, originally released May 7, 2002.
The first we heard of Musiq Soulchild was his extra singable debut single “Just Friends (Sunny)” from the soundtrack of Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000). That was the era when soundtracks could really break a new artist. No one knew Musiq and they barely remembered the song’s proper title. They knew they loved the “you ain’t even really gotta be my girlfriend” part. It’s a great start, but where does one go from there?
Some might have expected a hasty, slapdash “10 tracks max” to capitalize on the moment. Instead, they got his 2000 debut Aijuswanaseing (read: “I just want to sing”). This platinum-seller’s ability to spin off another big hit (“Love”) without the help of blockbuster film promotion should’ve been enough to quiet any doubts. But when a new artist hits it out of the park this way, there’s an inclination to minimize it as dumb luck. It’s almost a dare. “I bet you can’t do it again.” It just so happens Musiq Soulchild is the wrong artist to issue such a challenge to.
“With this being my sophomore project, the wisest thing to do would be to make it a sequel,” he portended to Billboard during an April 2002 promo jaunt. “I learned from other artists who’ve gone in other directions on their sophomore efforts. Everyone isn’t avidly an artist...They just want to put on an album and feel good.” True to his word, he provided what he promised. This second time around, any one-hit-wonder claims had to bow to Juslisen (read: “Just Listen”), an impressively cohesive R&B disc that pairs soul-steeped traditions with hip-hop sensibility and commercial sheen.
His label Def Soul had the utmost confidence in him and offered full creative control. He assembled a production team of no less than 11 beatsmiths, including returning collaborators Vikter Duplaix, James Poyser, Keith Pelzer, and primarily Carvin & Ivan who shepherd almost half of Juslisen’s production. The goal was to create a successor just like his debut, but instead he came up with something even better.
Our first taste was the musically infectious single “halfcrazy,” a cautionary tale about friend-turned-lover romances and the complications that come with them (“We used to laugh / Now you get mad / Damn, I just want my friend back). It would have been a Billboard #1 R&B song if Ashanti’s uncooperative “Foolish” would have gotten out the damn way. Still, #2 isn’t bad. And it had no problems summiting the Adult R&B chart, or climbing to #16 on The Hot 100, a feat few soul artists of that day could achieve.
Though “halfcrazy” is one of Musiq’s biggest songs, it almost got away. Dru Hill singer Jazz had first dibs, but fortuitously rejected it because he wanted live instruments instead of the sampled bossa nova from Charlie Byrd’s “Live for Life.” That sample made “halfcrazy” magical though. Just last year, Lucky Daye heavily siphoned that magic to create “Over,” his own tale of a situationship going off the rails. It’s netted over 45 million streams to date. So, in a sense, “halfcrazy” has now become a hit twice.
Following the Aijuswanaseing playbook, Musiq follows one smash single with an undeniable ballad. At times recalling Michael Jackson’s “The Lady in My Life,” “dontchange” sweetly puts the focus on devotion and commitment (“I’ll love you when your hair turns gray, girl / I'll still want you if you gain a little weight, yeah / The way I feel for you will always be the same / Just as long as your love don't change”). The single charted almost exactly like its predecessor: #3 R&B, #1 Adult R&B, and #17 Pop.
Both singles did quite a bit to contradict those assuming Musiq Soulchild was no more than big hair, sunglasses, and kitschy mondegreen titles with no spaces in them. It’s evident in the fantastically dense foliage of Juslisen which digs deep into the gardens of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, and Michael Jackson to grow its own soulflowers.
Juslisen delivers a solid slate of songs with few dips in quality. The disc begins as his debut did with a beatboxed intro from ex-Roots member Scratch. “newness” jump starts the tempo, picking up the “get to know you” process where “Just Friends (Sunny)” left off. Next, “caughtup” marries hip-hop with Musiq’s muscular delivery on an unofficial sequel to Aijuswanaseing’s “seventeen.” The cut hits hard borrowing the same Bohannon loop Jay-Z used for Reasonable Doubt’s “Cashmere Thoughts.”
A bit further into the listen, “stoplayin,” “babygirl,” and the Roy Ayers vibe of “future” keep a solid party feel in the CD’s midtempo first half. Musiq shines on midtempos. They’re ideal for his agile, Wonder-esque, alto flute-toned voice. Though he leans heavily on melismas, they are lyrical, conversational, intentional. He sings in sentences that start with endings, end with beginnings. Rather than communicating a showy “look what I can do,” his vocal choices gesture you to “listen to what I’m saying.”
What he’s saying gains importance in Juslisen’s latter half. On “previouscats,” Musiq delivers an anthem for good men tired of others’ behavior giving them a bad name (“I’m not Steven, Anthony even, Leroy or Ivan / Damn, girl, I’ve been / Right there for you / Since day one / So where is all this coming from?”). Co-writer Eric Roberson contributes backgrounds to the sparse-but-honest track. For those weary of cleaning up the emotional mess their women’s exes leave behind, it says everything they want to hear (“Just speaking my mind… / I put in too much time / For another brother's crimes”).
In line with that theme is “realove,” which examines a woman’s challenges learning to trust again after bad experiences. Topical heft notwithstanding, this cut is a thrill ride. Based on the rhythm of Edwin Birdsong’s “Rapper Dapper Snapper,” it adds color by replaying the chromatic melted wax chords hidden in the last minute of Earth Wind & Fire’s “All About Love.”
If Juslisen has a flaw, it’s that it’s too much of a good thing. The running time puts it into Sign O’ The Times territory. One more song and it won’t fit on one CD. American consumers are taught to “clean their plates,” so it’s hard to stop eating when it all tastes so good. Still, its special edition added a bonus disc with exclusives and rarities including a remix of “dontchange” featuring Ronald Isley. Predictably, it lifts the “don’t change” chorus from The Isley Brothers’ “Hello It’s Me” remake.
Perhaps due to its length, Juslisen has room to play with genre, intersecting R&B and sacred music on “religious.” This ode to a good woman mixes a robust Meters sample with a heavy dose of Sunday morning at a COGIC church with no air conditioning. There’s also some blessed oil rubbed onto “time” and the Hathaway-influenced parental tribute “motherfather.”
In addition to the above baptisms, Juslisen has multiple climaxes in its sequence. One such apex is the conga-dappled “onenight,” an underrated, starry night ballad. It’s perfect for a slow dance that could get slower later that night thanks to its spine-tingling invocation of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You.” Goosebumps also appear for Musiq’s soulful reinterpretation of The Beatles’ “Something.” Its extended instrumental coda gives a satisfying sense of finality after the record runs its course.
Juslisen became Musiq’s first #1 on both Billboard’s R&B and pop album charts, again earning platinum certification. Its GRAMMY nomination for Best R&B Album was, of course, no surprise. Musiq has never been braggadocious though; his work speaks for him. If he heard whisperings of doubt about his talent, he never delivered a clapback directly. He merely put it in the title of his album. Naysayers needed only follow those instructions to be left with nothing more to say.
LISTEN: