Raymond Usher cruised to the top of the RandB scene back in 1999, largely on the strength of his smooth gigolo image and a catchy number one single You Make Me Wanna. Two years on, he's regressed so far as to appear like a caricature of himself. 8701 is a really awful album, full of cliched, insincere ballads and anodyne rap workouts where any semblance of originality has been carefully ironed out by an incredibly bland production. Evan a guest appearance by P Diddy sounds laboured and smug. A contender for dud of the year, this album makes most boybands sound like Mozart.
