All of Street Love is designed to put a little heat under your collar, but the burning, breathless “What You Wanna Do” is enough to make even the coldest old maid feel like she’s caught up in some forbidden dancefloor grind. Other highlights include “Get It Shawty,” a spare and hypnotic club track that slyly incorporates the chorus from Technotronic’s 1989 staple “Pump Up the Jam,” and “One For Me,” a halftime ballad that is a perfect balance between the sensitive and the seductive. The smash hit “You” is about a player changing his ways for the love of a girl, but when Lloyd sings the refrain - “Can I be your friend? / This is how I feel / I’m in need of love” - he sounds as melted by his own emotions as the girls do by his mellifluous voice. The other part is that Lloyd sings every song with a desire that is all-encompassing and absolutely sincere. Part of it is that the 21-year-old Lloyd sounds like a teenager: his fragile, yearning voice has more than little in common with Michael Jackson at his most tender. has a voice that captures the overwhelming rush of teenage love better than any other current r’n’b singer. “Every night of the week lookin’ for some groupie love”, Lloyd sings on “Player’s Prayer”: Jamie Foxx once admitted to bumping his own tunes while getting it on - similarly, Lloyd seems more interested in making staid, tried-and-true, music-that-will-get-me-laid music, rather than taking the style to new enclaves.New Orleans native Lloyd Harlan Polite Jr.
Kelly already took to ridiculously hilarious heights, whereas Lloyd’s version is all-too sincere. Besides the guest rapper singles, Street Love is all bedroom ballads, with the standouts being the Polow the Don produced title track (which is slow-enough to make his work on Ciara’s “Promise” sound almost breakneck) and the sleazy Irv Gotti produced “Take You Home.” The worst offender is “Hazel”, an embarrassing “Sex Weed” rip-off (“girl let me take a look at those purple highlights in your hair”) that R. Lloyd, a 21-year-old with Tiger Beat good looks, largely sheds the R&B thug image of his debut, Southside, in favor of an album largely given over to panty-anthems. It’s said by guest rapper Lil’ Wayne at the end of “You”, the smooth, deservedly chart-topping single off Lloyd’s sophomore album, Street Love.
“Long hair, don’t care” is the missed catch-phrase of the year.
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