In 2000 the R&B trio Next released “Welcome II Nextasy”, their second album, and it saw them return with more of the shockingly explicit work which they came with on their 1997 debut. Minnesota’s T-Low, Tweety and R.L. showed how things could be taken in order to bring more of the Hip Hop-influenced work into R&B through this, in addition to the album thy brought out the year after this.
1. “Welcome II Nextasy” (Intro)
2. “What U Want”
Getting straight into the freaky work on the release, you have a nice little one from them which has them working with Philadelphia’s Beanie Sigel, who provides a short rap to just fit in with the gentle and light club song to begin this record from them. It isn’t all that special, but it doe swell to ease you in.
They waste little time and get right into the hit single from this album on this track, and it truly is one of the great R&B songs of this period, as it shows that in spite of the fact what they do with the music is clearly taken from the music from “Too Close” (the song which broke them in) but by making the theme one which fits in more with the general sounds of R&B, it shows the adapted root they are taking this time around.
**Five Stars**
4. “Cybersex”
This
one shows how the Millennium fever was effecting the music world, and this was something very apparent in the R&B world with a completely revamped sound from about 1999 acting as a transition towards what we have now. Here they capitalise on the kind of things which were really at the height of popularity at this time, and I felt that it made the most out of what they had to offer in a step up from the “Phone Sex” on their debut.
**Four Stars**
5. “Beauty Queen”
The production of this particular one seems to fit in with the trends of R&B at the time as you here that the beats have clearly been taken form the trends in UK and the whole 2-Step Garage up-rise form the time, and I felt that it made for great backing to a song which has theme getting into the explicitly-worded song here.
**Four Stars**
6. “When We Kiss”
This is a song on the album which I couldn’t quite get my head around as it had so many things going on within it, and I couldn’t keep up with how erratic the production of the song was structured, and so it put me off what was a nicely-written song and one which had them getting down to more typical R&B work, but complicating it all with the contemporary R&B beats with a little Rock then twisted with multiple tempos running simultaneously.
**Three Stars**
7. “Jerk”
It is interesting that in this Hip Hop themed song which samples some classic work has theme working with a young 50 Cent a short while before he really blew up, and I felt that this one really played up to the perceptions I had of them and where they tend to go when they are looking to come up with something fresh and original.
**Four Stars**
8. “Call On Me”
You here that for this one the Timbaland and Dark Child style of production comes back for this one as they attempt to do one which sounds to be something which they have taken from an act such as Dru Hill where their R&B is based upon the ballad form, but done in a way so it is manageable for listeners more into the Pop side of things.
**Four Stars**
9. “Shorty”
You have the music taken to the clubs as the type of freaky percussion which you got on the last one is made to be the primarily focus of the music in this one, and it means that they are able to really get down to the whole feel of the song and where they want to do things for another of the popular songs from the record.
**Four Stars**
10. “Minnesnowta” (Lude)
11. “Let's Make A Movie”
Following an appealing little interlude from the, you here that on this one they do something which has been done on a few occasions later on in the R&B world, and personally I felt as though although the way it was written was pretty nice, the overall sound of the song wans’ really clicking with the very rigid sound of the beats.
**Two Stars**
12. “My Everything”
This is a song from the band which really contrasted from a lot of the other work on the record, and I felt that it was positioned poorly in it as it wasn’t quite the time to drop a song of its kind as they perform a very generic Pop crossover joint which really has nothing at all going for it and having it here really exposes it and uncovers it weaknesses.
**One Star**
13. “Splash”
They stay on the same level for this one ass they continue doing what they did on the song prior to it by performing one which has very basic and simplistic production which doesn’t really do all that much as they try and hold on to all the great work of nineties R&B, but just don’t have the ability to take it where it needs to be, and so having the choosing to do more of the innuendo-rich work just doesn’t do what it should.
**Two Stars**
14. “Banned From TV”
You have a rather predictable change i direction on this one as they go one where they try to get back to the harder work where they done which deals with them walking in on a cheating partner, and so the production is made to support this, but I wasn’t really feeling it in the way that I could with earlier one which appear to take on heavy Hip Hop inspiration.
**Two Stars**
15. “Oh No No”
Bringing it to an end you see that they do something very different as with former Zhané member Renee Neufville and Red Rat, they do a Dancehall-inspired one as they take it to the Caribbean to get a last bit of energy out of the album, but really it doesn’t really do what it was designed to do, just as pretty much every other time R&B and Hip Hop acts attempt such a track.
**One Star**
Personally, I saw this is a weak follow-up to a debut which many weren’t really into, but here |there really wasn’t much of anything going on at all as pretty much everything fell apart. Initially the quality was decent, as they dropped a couple of memorable ones, but it just turned into something far below the standards of previous work.
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Next perfects the art of the hip-hop tinged, R&B ghetto hymn on Welcome II Nextasy, a ... more
slick and explicit soundtrack for all of life's freakier moments. Best known for the erection-on-the-dance-floor number, "Too Close", from their debut, Rated Next, T-...
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Welcome II Nextasy (Intro) What U Want (Featuring Beanie Sigel) Wifey Cybersex Beauty ... more
Queen When We Kiss Jerk (Featuring 50 Cent) Call On Me Shorty Minnesnowta (Interlude) Let's Make A Movie My Everything Splash Banned From TV Oh No No (Featuring Red R...
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Jul 20th, 2009
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