Longtime Bad Boy sideliner/ hook singer Cheri Dennis (you may remember her summery '06 sweetener "I Love You") makes another go for some solo shine on new single "Portrait of Love", a nice dalliance with sleek, Prince-styled soul-funk.

Any other female adorned with the track's galloping drum claps and simmering synth lasers would no doubt assume the role of a lip-licking, lingerie-clad Pussycat Doll-type character and Dennis flirts with that role, teasing that she'll "be the only one to blow your mind and get you there". But that's the extent of any naughtiness she conveys, allowing the track's oozing eroticism to play up the porno vibe as she projects intentions a bit more purer.

Yearning for something more long-lasting than a cheap, one-night stand, Cheri asks the Adonis before her for his help in illustrating the perfect portrait of true love. "This ain't the Mona Lisa/ No Michelangelo picture," the hook purrs, establishing the thought that what they would create together could be even more "classic" and "priceless" than those iconic works of art. The fact that it avoids obvious overtly sexual inclinations and plays with the mind a little ("It's not unusual to want somebody more than physically," she sings towards the fade-out) adds a seductive, virginal allure to the track.

Perhaps in fear that something a bit more creative than the usual wouldn't survive as-is in today's urban contemporary scene, labelmates Yung Joc and Gorilla Zoe are needlessly brought in, disrupting the flow with their trite, macho contributions. It's a silly move that foolishly grounds "Portrait of Love" in a modern day context, instead of the more otherworldly R&B plane it would otherwise exist on. When will the execs learn that a marriage between hip hop and soul works the best when it feels organic, not forced?



DL: "Portrait of Love" (YFH)