Usher Raymond’s 1997 breakout found the teenage casanova maturing into a sultry and dynamic performer who could serenade us in the club and in the bedroom. Desire is palpable as he duets with Monica on a cover of Midnight Star’s “Slow Jam", and he lets his vocals undulate playfully over the guitar flicks of “Nice & Slow". Mentor Jermaine Dupri helps shape the album’s classic late-‘90s R&B sound, offering up a swirl of punchy keyboards and jiggy beats to accompany Usher’s tales of nighttime lust.