I really like JE's music, so I decided to get their debut album. It's not that bad and I did like "I Gotta Be"(the best song), "Wednesday Lover", "The Way That You Talk" and "The Rest of Our Lives". There were a few things that irritated me about this album. Since this CD is mostly slow ballads, it was so annoying to hear Lil Kim or whoever it was and Busta Rhymes rapping on some tracks. And then on the track "Slow Motion", I was thinking why did JE do a twist to Tupac's "Hail Marry" towards the end of the song. That was totally unneccessary and made the song worse.

This was a beginning for JE and they definately improved in the R&B game. If it wasn't for the annoying voices of Lil Kim and Busta Rhymes that was so unneeded, this CD would have been perfect.

Jagged Edge came out in a big way with A Jagged Era. The only reason I bought this was for the one song that came out which was "I Gotta Be". Initially, I was not impressed with this album because it showed no roundness of any sort. Bottom line-
these guys could sing you to your grave if you let them. I'm not hating, these brothas can saaaaaaaaang, but give me some variety. They only had one fast tune on this whole cd. I like variety and they did not provide me with that. Singing is off da hook, productions are mediocre and that plummets my stars down to one. I like to feel sexy and comfortable, not sleepy.
Grade: F

I wasn't initally impressed with Jagged Edge and wrote them off as another Jodeci/Dru Hill clon. Then in the summer of 1998 I heard the ballad I Gotta Be. I rushed out to get in the CD and was pleasently surpised. The first five tracks are ballads and all of them are of five star quality. The standouts though Funny How (which could serve as the first part in a trilogy of break up songs included on the first three JE CD's, the other two True Man and Goodbye are from JE Heartbreak and Jagged Little Thrill respectively). Wednesay Lover has an old school feel to it. The ballads make this CD work and if you've never heard it you should check it out.