Raphael Saadiq as Ray Ray

1	Blaxploitation 0:31
2	Ray Ray Theme 2:36
3	I Know Shuggie Otis 2:32
4	This One 3:34
5	Chic Like You / Allie Baba 4:01
6	Live Without You 4:49
7	Detroit Girl 4:05
8	Not a Game 2:58
9	Rifle Love / Lucy Pearl 4:18
10	Chic / Teedra Moses 3:40
11	I Want You Back / Teedra Moses 3:48
12	I Love Her 4:33
13	Grown Folks 4:21
14	Save Us 4:49

Barnes & Noble

Producer and singer-songwriter Raphael Saadiq is nothing if not ambitious. For his second solo studio album, the former Tony! Toni! Toné! front man attempts to expand the gospeldelic sound he introduced on 2002's retro-soul and gospel-fused Instant Vintage, all the while imagining Raphael Saadiq as Ray Ray as the soundtrack to a '70s blaxploitation flick. Inspired by the Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier classic Uptown Saturday Night, the cover even features a pimped-out Saadiq sporting Super Fly attire, leaning against a white Caddy. The good news is that the Oakland native (né Charlie Ray Wiggins), has all the right influences to pull off a funk-and-soul-drenched '70s send-up: He is well versed in the socially conscious funk of Sly Stone and Curtis Mayfield and the seductive grooves of the Isley Brothers. The bad news is that the album doesn't quite deliver on its cinematic promise, and at times Saadiq's whiny delivery grows tiresome. The end result is less a thematically cohesive album and more a disconnected collection of mid-tempo love songs. That said, the standouts are many, including the plaintive "Grown Folks" and the meditative closing track, "Save Us." And longtime fans will swoon at the inclusion of the campy "Rifle Love," which reunites Saadiq with brother and fellow Tony Dwayne Wiggins and original Lucy Pearl siren Dawn Robinson. Although the disc fails to deliver on its grandiose premise, Raphael Saadiq as Ray Ray is a lighthearted soul record perfect for casual listening. Tracy E. Hopkins

All Music Guide

Ray Ray looks more like a concept album -- about a Blaxploitation hero -- than it sounds like one. It's another ambitious release from Raphael Saadiq, who has continued to be very active as a musician, producer, and songwriter for other artists. Though he has given plenty of his ideas to like-minded artists like Jill Scott, Kelis, Truth Hurts, Mos Def, Amp Fiddler, and Teedra Moses (who guests on two songs here), his creative well seems to be pretty much bottomless. Ray Ray occasionally loses focus, slipping into moments that are either undercooked or worthy of the cutting room, but it's enjoyable enough to keep his followers happy and will certainly act as a remedy for those who don't like the gold-bricked path being taken by mainstream R&B. The album is a little funkier and a lot more energetic than 2002's Instant Vintage, yet just as full of Saadiq's stylish flourishes. The subject matter is as varied as you'd expect: for every song that's charmingly simple and full of lighthearted romantic sentiments, there's something message-oriented, such as "Grown Folks" (in which Saadiq tries on Curtis Mayfield's falsetto and songwriting style, proclaiming that the adults "need more help than the children do"). Andy Kellman