Ain't Nothin' Like Me | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 24, 2007 | |||
Length | 60:51 | |||
Label | Jive | |||
Producer |
| |||
Joe chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Ain't Nothing Like Me | ||||
|
Ain't Nothin' Like Me is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Joe, released by Jive Records after several delays on April 24, 2007 in the United States. A breakaway from previous projects, Joe co-wrote five songs on the album but left most of the writing and producing to his collaborators, including Bryan Michael Cox and Tank as well as production teams Tim & Bob, Cool & Dre, Stargate, and The Underdogs. Rappers Papoose, Nas, Fabolous, Young Buck, and Tony Yayo appear as guest vocalists.
Upon release, Ain't Nothin' Like Me received generally positive reviews from music critics. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 and on top of the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart, selling 98,000 copies in its first week, while marking his highest-charting album since My Name Is Joe (2000), which had reached the same position of both charts. In support of the album, three singles were released, including lead single "Where You At" and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs top 20 hit "If I Was Your Man."
In 2003, Joe released his fifth studio album And Then . Produced by Joe's labelmate R. Kelly along with Roy "Royalty" Hamilton, Kevin "Shekspere" Briggs, Carvin & Ivan, and others, the album reached number 26 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, selling 121,000 copies in its first week of release. It produced the R&B top thirty single "More & More" and "Ride wit U" and was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). [1]
Soon after, Joe started work on his sixth full-length album. Aiming for a new direction, while maintaining the romantic, gospel-influenced R&B style mixed in hip-hop elements, the singer collaborated with a different range of writers and producers to create the bulk of the album, including Bryan Michael Cox, Cool & Dre, Sean Garrett, The Smith Brothers, and Tim & Bob. [2] Although he co-wrote five songs on the album, Joe decided to leave most of the writing and producing to his collaborators: “I look at what the record ultimately needs [...] It’s about making a great record, not about how many songs I have on the album. A lot of artists get into writing too much, and the album starts to sound the same. I like working with several different producers who can bring their own sound to the record. It gives the album more variety and dimension.” [2]
In an interview with Jet , Jeo further noted: "The only thing different on this album is the tempo. The rhythm of the songs; it's more uptempo than the past albums I put out." [3] The singer named “If I Was Your Man” and “It’s Me” as two of his favorite songs on the album; both tracks were written by the Norwegian duo Stargate. Commenting on their work, Joe elaborated, that "it was a blast working with [them]. They are doing something great for R&B, creating strong midtempo and uptempo songs and tracks. There’s normally a lot of slow ballads in R&B, but they bring in more uptempo grooves and sounds.” [2]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
About.com | [4] |
AllMusic | [5] |
Entertainment Weekly | B− [6] |
People | [7] |
PopMatters | 6/10 [8] |
Upon release, Ain't Nothin' Like Me received generally positive reviews from music critics. Andy Kellman from AllMusic wrote that "contemporary as ever, Joe seeks production and songwriting assistance from a number of ubiquitous heavyweights and up-and-comers [...] While a very basic name, a lack of flashiness, and sizeable gaps of inactivity have only gotten in the way of his popularity, Joe has maintained relevant and reliable since he debuted." [5] Mark Edward Nero, writing for About.com, felt that with Ain't Nothin' Like Me the singer "doesn't vary much from the tone and image he established for himself on previous albums; there's the same emotional ballads, the same sexy bedroom music, the same obligatory guest appearances by rappers. Joe's approach on the album seems to be if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And the approach works; Ain't Nothing Like Me is a solid, if unspectacular, album that should be appealing to the women and men who are fans of Joe's earlier work." [4]
Laura Checkoway from Vibe felt that the "album, though heavy on cheese, is surprisingly pleasant, especially as there is a deficit right now of true grown-man R&B. Joe stays young with A-list production and rap cameos." [9] Less empathic Entertainment Weekly 's Simon Vozick-Levinson wrote that the "album is most entertaining when New York City MCs like Nas and Papoose drop by for lively guest spots. Joe's solo ballads, however, make the disc's title seem like a cruel joke: His voice is consistently easy on the ears, sure, but contemporary R&B is full of also-rans who sound exactly like him." [6] People magazine wrote that "the title of Joe's latest CD seems to attest to his singular abilities as a loveman. But on these slow jams and hip-hoppish midtempo numbers he doesn't sound much different from fellow R&B Romeos like R. Kelly ("Go Hard"), Brian McKnight ("Feel for You") and Usher ("Let's Just Do It")." The magazine rated the album two out of four stars. [7] New York Times critic Kelfa Sanneh cited "Just Relax" and "Feel for You" as highlights and wrote: "Joe is best when he's whiny." [10] DJ Booth gave the album four out of five spins. [11]
Following its release, it debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 and on top of the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart, selling about 98,000 copies in its first week. [12] It marked his highest-charting album since My Name Is Joe , which reached the same position of both charts. [12] By July 2007, it had sold 224,823 copies in the United States. [12]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Get to Know Me" (featuring Nas) | Tim & Bob | 4:03 | |
2. | "If I Was Your Man" |
| Stargate | 3:52 |
3. | "If I Want Her" |
|
| 3:50 |
4. | "Where You At" (featuring Papoose) |
|
| 4:15 |
5. | "My Love" |
|
| 4:04 |
6. | "Go Hard" |
|
| 3:39 |
7. | "Ain't Nothin' Like Me" (featuring Young Buck & Tony Yayo) |
| 3:47 | |
8. | "It's Me" |
| Stargate | 3:45 |
9. | "Let's Just Do It" (featuring Fabolous) | Cool & Dre | 4:19 | |
10. | "Feel for You" |
|
| 4:06 |
11. | "Just Relax" (featuring Dre of Cool & Dre) |
|
| 3:46 |
12. | "Love Is Just a Game" | Shannon Douglas Jones | Smith Bros. | 3:16 |
13. | "You Should Know Me" |
|
| 5:15 |
14. | "Life of the Party" |
|
| 4:30 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
15. | "That's What I Like" |
| Tim & Bob | 4:15 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
16. | "Run It Back" |
|
| 4:34 |
Notes
Sampling credits
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Joseph Lewis Thomas, known mononymously as Joe, is an American R&B singer. He signed to Polygram Records in 1992, and rose to prominence after releasing his debut album Everything the following year. He followed it with a series of successful albums under Jive Records, including All That I Am (1997), the international bestseller My Name Is Joe (2000) as well as the multi-certified albums Better Days (2001) and And Then... (2003). Several songs from these albums became hit singles on the pop and R&B record charts, including the number-one hit "Stutter", the top ten entries "All the Things ", "Don't Wanna Be a Player", and "I Wanna Know" as well as his collaborations "Faded Pictures", "Thank God I Found You" and "Still Not a Player".
"Jump Around" is a song by American hip hop group House of Pain, produced by DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill, who has also covered the song, and was released in May 1992 by Tommy Boy and XL as the first single from their debut album, House of Pain (1992). The song became a hit, reaching number three in the United States. A 1993 re-release of the song in the United Kingdom, where the initial release had been a minor hit, peaked at number eight. Its music video was filmed in New York City, featuring footage from the 1992 Saint Patrick's Day parade.
It's Dark and Hell Is Hot is the debut studio album by American rapper DMX. It was released on May 19, 1998, by Def Jam Recordings and Ruff Ryders Entertainment. It was supported by four singles—"Get at Me Dog", "Stop Being Greedy", "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" and "How's It Goin' Down", in order of release—and their accompanying music videos.
The discography of Nas, an American rapper, consists of seventeen studio albums, one collaborative album, one group album, five compilations, four mixtapes, one extended play, and seventy-nine singles. Nas has sold over 20 million records in the United States alone, and 35 million albums worldwide.
"I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" is a song by American rapper 2Pac. It was released as the first single from the posthumous album R U Still Down? . The original version, titled "I Wonda if Heaven's Got a Ghetto", was released as a B-side on the 1993 single, "Keep Ya Head Up".
"Nas Is Like" is the first single from Nas' third album I Am.... The song is the sixth collaboration between Nas and producer DJ Premier. It was well received by critics as it was a change from the more commercial and pop-oriented singles from It Was Written and Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album. The song contains a combination of braggadocios and introspective lyrics over a choppy string sample.
"(At Your Best) You Are Love" is a song by R&B group the Isley Brothers. It was originally released on their album Harvest for the World. The song was dedicated to their mother, Sally. Although not a single, the song was a radio hit in 1976, and later became a hit for R&B singer Aaliyah in 1994.
Illmatic is the debut studio album by the American rapper Nas. It was released on April 19, 1994, by Columbia Records. After signing with the label with the help of MC Serch, Nas recorded the album in 1992 and 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording Studios in New York City. The album's production was handled by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and Nas himself. Styled as a hardcore hip-hop album, Illmatic features multi-syllabic internal rhymes and inner-city narratives based on Nas' experiences growing up in the Queensbridge Houses in Queens, New York.
"That's That" is the second single by Snoop Dogg from the album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. The song was the first single taken from the album in the UK; however the single only achieved notable success in the U.S., where it reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song samples the melody played in the 1988 film Coming to America during the bathroom scene in which Eddie Murphy gets washed by female servants.
God's Favorite is the third studio album by American rapper N.O.R.E.. After six months of label delays, the album was released on June 25, 2002, by Thugged Out Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings.
"If I Was Your Man" is a song by American recording artist Joe. It was written by Mikkel Storleer Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen along with Phillip Lamont Jackson for his sixth studio album Ain't Nothin' Like Me (2007), with production handled by the former two for Stargate. The contemporary R&B ballad was selected as the album's second single and released to US radios on July 13, 2007. It peaked at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top forty of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Joe Thomas, New Man is the seventh album by American recording artist Joe, released on September 23, 2008 in the United States. It marked his debut on longtime collaborator Kedar Massenburg's independent record label Kedar Entertainment, following his split with Jive Records in 2007. Joe reteamed with previous collaborators Bryan-Michael Cox, WyldCard, and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins to work on the album, while additional production was provided by Jerry "Fatz" Flowers, D'Mile and production team Stereotypes.
Signature is the eighth studio album by American R&B singer Joe. It was released by Kedar Entertainment on July 14, 2009 in the United States. Incorporating cuts from his previous album, Joe Thomas, New Man (2008), the album features ballads written, produced, and arranged by Joe. Besides Joe, frequent collaborator Joshua P. Thompson is credits as a producer on the album.
Vendetta is the second album by rapper Mic Geronimo, released on November 4, 1997 through TVT Records.
"Where You At" is a song by American recording artist Joe. The mid-tempo R&B track was written and produced by Warren "Oak" Felder and Sean Garrett for his sixth studio album Ain't Nothin' Like Me (2007) and features guest vocals by rapper Papoose. Released as the album's lead single, it reached number 79 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number 92 on the UK Singles Chart.
The discography of Papoose, an American rapper signed to his own label Honor B4 Money Records and formerly Jive Records, consists of four studio albums, 29 mixtapes, and eight singles.
"0 to 100 / The Catch Up" is a song recorded by Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on July 15, 2014, by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Republic Records. The song was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 30, 2015, for selling over 1 million digital copies in the United States.
It Was Written is the second studio album by American rapper Nas, released on July 2, 1996, by Columbia Records. After the modest commercial success of his debut album Illmatic (1994), Nas pursued a more polished, mainstream sound for It Was Written. Produced largely by Trackmasters, it departed from the debut's raw, underground aesthetic and embraced mafioso and gangsta themes.
Top 5 Dead or Alive is the fourth studio album by American hip hop recording artist Jadakiss. The album was released on November 20, 2015, by D-Block Records and Def Jam Recordings. The album features guest appearances from Akon, Future, Jeezy, Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo, Nas, Nipsey Hussle, Styles P, Puff Daddy, Sheek Louch, Swizz Beatz, Young Adz and Young Buck.
"My Love" is a song by American R&B singer Joe. It was written by Greg Curtis, Johnta Austin, and Bryan-Michael Cox for his sixth studio album Ain't Nothin' Like Me (2007), while production was helmed by Cox and Curtis, featuring co-production from Kendrick "WyldCard" Dean. Released as the album's third and final single, it peaked at number two on the US Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart.