Jaheim STRUGGLE LOVE (EXP)

Recording information: 5 Walls, Dallas, TX; Wisdom Palace, Hillsborough, NJ.Jaheim's time with Atlantic was basically as productive as his earlier Warner Bros. phase. For both labels, he released three albums. All six went Top Ten R&B. Despite commercial radio's increased marginalization of soul-rooted R&B, not one of the releases contained a stylistic concession. Album seven, released on the singer's reactivated Julia's Dream label (named in honor of his mother) through Primary Wave/BMG Rights Management, adds to the uniform discography. Jaheim does switch it up by employing a mostly new set of producers and musicians for support, and they duly serve up a fresh-sounding mix of songs based in traditional R&B. On "Songs to Have Sex To," he acknowledges his inspirations more explicitly than before, citing "Teddy P., Luther V." first among a list of classic balladeers, like a less silly but still humorous update of Twista, Jamie Foxx, and Kanye West's "Slow Jams." The album al