A Man's Thoughts

Starting with some dude telling us “May I present to you the legend, Ginuwine” the record opens with a limp piano piece and one of the naff-est voices in modern hip-hop ‘(Show Off’). Sounding like a second rate Usher isn’t the most auspicious of beginnings and Ginuwine, a.k.a. Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (no, we’re not making this up) has been treading water for a decade now, while Neyo and Akon powered past him to the finish line. The main problem with A Man’s Thoughts is that it’s all so formulaic. There are the tracks where he complains about his girl (‘Trouble’) and the ones where he talks about hanging with his “homies” (‘Orchestra’). In each case, he basically uses every cliché you can think of. Worse yet, it’s all delivered with a straight face. Instead of being touched by his supposed sincerity when he thanks his fans ('Interlude') we end up laughing at this utter delusion.