Ne-yo's debut project was very impressive, making a mark for the youngster as an amazing R&B writer and singer. His sophomore offering Because Of You showed a different side of Shaffir Smith. His sound for the secong go was more pop than anything, borriwng influences from legends such as Prince and Michael Jackson. This is the lucky third strike from the man who has elevated his songwriting status throughout the industry. Year Of The Gentleman sees Ne-yo return to his true R&B roots and it works perfectly for him.

The first single from Year Of The Gentleman didn't catch on as much as the second one, Miss Independent, a stellar Ne-yo signature sound. Because this album is packed with so many great R&B jams, it's not easy to choose a favourite. However, Fade Into The Background did stand out for me. I popped the CD into my player and was listening along, but as soon as I reached track 7, Fade Into The Background, I just had to go back and listen again. And guess what? I had to repeat again and again, before I could listen to the rest of the album, it made that kind of impact on me.

More songs that have that extra edge and appeal include Why Does She Stay, Part Of The List and the smooth and slow album closer Stop This World, decked out with a full choir. has proven the buzz about his songwriting skills, the best one since Babyface, or even R. Kelly at some point in his career, but I digress. He has delivered an amazing product in The Year Of The Gentleman. The writing is impressive, the production on par and the singing great. It's not easy to achieve those in a songs, let alone on the whole album. And the fact that there is no feature, except on the production roster, made me appreciate and respect this young man's art more. This is a quality R&B album and one of the best this year.

YEAHBO.DOT.NET gives it 4/5 stars.