Taking aim at the poster who called it “Diana Krall in a track suit.”
[Video][Website]
[5.57]
Will Adams: By the time Snoop’s verse — a play-by-play of the lavish night out that caused this mess — rolls around, it’s more than a bit unclear how sincere the apology is. Like, is the dumb shit what you did, or that you got caught? The ambiguity is a risky move that pays off, saving the song from being the self-pitying sorry-sorry so common for this archetype.
[6]
Anthony Easton: The smoothness of Tyrese’s voice is the strength, one of those maple syrup traps, where every implausible, slightly offensive thing seems righteous. Snoop Dogg, however, makes the negotiations move to rougher territory, collapsing the enterprise into the usual seductions.
[5]
Micha Cavaseno: You know life is weird when Tyrese sounding like Joell Ortiz is a more rewarding rap experience than Snoop. Yeah, Bobby Shmurda might be making mistakes, but he isn’t over emphasizing his name into “SHMURDER” or ever tried to hoodwink the world into thinking he’d become Bob Marley reincarnate CALVIN. The rest of the song is a pretty basic testament to Tyrese’s perfectly adequate performances in R&B, oddly sounding rather much like an Adrian Marcel castaway. I don’t know who that speaks lower of, but all the same, there’s very little to object or to be excited by this.
[5]
Brad Shoup: Tyrese is basically George Takei with a pool, so why be surprised by some re-hash from a propped-up tenor? A CTRL-V Calvin verse gets this to maybe-pay-attention level, but holy hell, here comes Roman’s revenge. I hope Maya Rudolph doesn’t have to sign physical checks, because what a waste of her time and gifts.
[2]
Thomas Inskeep: Well, one way to tell your boo that you’re sorry is to tell ’em “I been doin’ dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb shit,” and follow it up with “you’re the only I love,” over a note-perfect sample from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebaum,” with an assist from Snoop Dogg, rapping more in a few bars than he does on most of Bush. And then Tyrese shows up as his rapping alter ego, Black Ty, who sounds an awfully lot like a B-list Jay-Z (which, frankly, isn’t that far from Jay-Z himself these days). But this isn’t predominantly about Black Ty; it’s about Tyrese, who still has one of the silkiest male voices in R&B, and here he’s singing a sensational apology. And if he’s apologizing, I’m forgiving, period.
[10]
Alfred Soto: Long but worthwhile despite the obvious sample, with Tyrese signifying acceptance of mistakes with nasal understatement.
[6]
Ramzi Awn: Great hook — I can relate. The rest is Diana Krall in a tracksuit.
[5]