X

Includes exclusive bonus track 'Tell Me It's Real (Club Steppers Mix)'. Track sequencing is slightly different than USA version.

Whereas Jodeci (the four-man ensemble that spawned this spin-off project) were known for their grinding-the-stage gyrations and afterparty aspirations, K-Ci & JoJo, often besuited in tuxes and tails, are a duo known more for their semidignified balladry. Each of their two previous albums (Love Always and It's Real) spawned an anodyne megahit: "All My Life" and "Tell Me It's Real," respectively. X promises nothing less. "Crazy" has that formula feel to it; "Baby, I apologize for all the things that I've done," JoJo croons at the outset, before giving way to a vocoded chorus so tinny it almost collapses. Nevertheless, its moody blue tenor is just what urban radio ordered. The pair keep up the serenades throughout X, hitting high points on "One Last Time" and the Marvin Gaye-ish "I Can't Find the Words." K-Ci and JoJo only go uptempo on the banal "Game Face" and the bubbly, aggressively sexy "Thug in Me, Thug in You." The latter features yet another lost 2Pac verse, and it's the only track where the two don't appear to stand on ceremony--hinting that freaks still lurk under those tuxedos. --Jon Caramanica