Now after keeping up appearances via soundtracks (check the catchy "What About Us" on the "Soul Food OST" and also on Mase's "What You Want"), they are spearheading Puffy's clutch of soul releases, with Faith and 112 also dropping within a week of this one. But the bug that bit them on the first album is also the drawback here, and a major problem. I'm sure this is more to do with Puffy, as the sampling is taken too far. Seems like everyone is running out of samples, but more on that later.

Big problems abound when you start sampling songs that were big at the tail end of last year. Just check "If You Want Me" reusing Busta's "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" groove, just overlaying a tinkling piano which doesn't save it, and neither does Mase's guest rap. Ok, we all know they don't possess the best singing voices, but this is just outrageous! Also, we have a familiar sample on the remix of "What About Us", which suits guest Black Rob much more than the vocals, which just sound ill-fitting for the "Hobo Scratch" sample. Besides, the original was much superior. The sample on "Rain" is also all-too familiar and mars an otherwise pleasant tune, and these are not the only sample-saturated songs.

This is not the only problem, the vocals are never really stretching Total, and the subject matter is very generic as is some of the production, even though it is polished. Missy Elliott and Mario Winans attempt to inject their own brands of pop/R&B and soul respectively, but they don't succeed. The lead off single, "Trippin'" is ok, but the shuffling electro-type groove is ok, but it never grabs you. Her usual gibberish rapping won't mean a thing to people used to the lyrics of a Mos Def or a Common or a Jay Z. The chorus has potential to be catchy in the style that they do, and will garner some radio airplay. Mocha joins her mentor Missy on "Do Something" but this just goes to show how annoying a rap can be in an R&B song nowadays. It is not the all-star lineup it used to be when every man (or woman) and his dog are dropping the very simplistic rhymes like here. Otherwise, the song would've been decent, with the sultrily sung lines.

"The Most Beautiful" jacks the same guitar riff from Tribe's "Bonita Applebum" that the Fugees and Ghostface Killa used recently and is so slow paced it is more likely to send you to sleep. "Rock Track" is self-explanatory, Puffy exerting his tendency for rock tracks, and isn't as bad as previous attempts, the guitar riff is kinda catchy, but most R&B fans won't be open to these crossover attempts.

The album improves on the slower numbers such as "I Don't Wanna" and the Diane Warren penned "I Don't Wanna Smile". and I can't see what they are trying to do in this overcrowded "Street Soul" market where there are new artist coming out everyday. And the interludes are redundant, "Masturbation" and "There Will Be No #!*@ Tonight" are pretty self explanatory and pointless.