Usher ‎– Usher

The Usher on this album’s cover looks fifteen years old and kind of chubby, don’t you think? Yeah, Who knew?

So, Usher’s debut album was released in 1994. Before those of you who were around in ’94 think I’m shitting you because You Make Me Wanna came out years later: that song which was his breakthrough single in 1997, but it was not his debut single. An entire self-titled album preceded it. Now, you are forgiven if you don’t even barely remember this album it wasn’t a very big success. It was however, as we all know now, the kick-start of a very successful career that is still going strong today. (Although what Usher is most known for today is dancing around with Justin Bieber in his videos. In many a way Usher’s career is quite similar to that of JB (although not completely, because obviously there was no such thing youtube in ‘94.) Usher Raymond IV was born in 1978 in Dallas, Texas but spent most of his younger years in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was raised by his single mother, who until 2007 was also his manager. In 1991 he joined a local Urban Boy band called NuBeginning, which fucking sucked and after one bootleg-ish album he was out again. In 1993 he was on Star Search which apparently was the early ‘90s equivalent of American Idol/ Pop Idol where he was spotted by an LaFace A&R guy who arranged an audition for one of that label’s head honchos, Antonio “L.A.” Reid, and Usher left they guy very much impressed which meant that he had hit the jackpot because LaFace was big pimpin’ at the time when it was R&B acts that was concerned. After L.A. put his debut single Call Me a Mack on the soundtrack to the John Singleton-directed, 2pac and Janet Jackson co-starring 1993 drama film Poetic Justice the recording of his debut album could commence. Because in 1994 Get him to the Greek’s Sean “Sergio Roma” Combs was also becoming a big name in urban music after successfully launching his Bad Boy Entertainment imprint via the Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die and Craig Mack’s Froject: Funk the World albums and because L.A.’s partner in crime Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds was probably busy writing and producing every goddamn song on the radio at the time the album was overseen by L.A. and Puff. Both of them had musical connections a plenty and, among others Al B. Sure!, JoDeCi’s DeVanté Swing, Faith Evans, Brian-Alexander Morgan, Dave “Jam” Hall, Puffy himself, and Timbaland, who allegedly produced alongside of DeVante but wasn’t credited, were all drummed up to make this fifteen-year-old sound good. Usher was relocated from his Atlanta residence to Puff Daddy’s house where he was allegedly exposed for the first time in his life to marijuana, alcohol, sex and hanging around with the big stars. Possibly because Puff, didn’t want his name on some kiddy stuff but rather wanted to make an adult mature album and wanted Usher to have the experience to sing the material being someone who really lived that shit, but more likely because marijuana, alcohol, sex and big stars are the things you are going to encounter in abundance when hanging around at one of the residences owned by the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy, and wen you let a 15 year old walk around in such a place unattended to, well, you get the picture. They got it cracking and released Usher’s self-titled debut… to the sound of crickets, but after all these years of collecting dust on record store shelves this finally sold over 500 k. And it is my favorite Usher album.

Wanna know why?, read on!

[read the rest of this review on: http://straightfromthecrates.com/2011/11/08/usher-usher/ ]