One Twelve - Pleasure and Pain [Clean] (CD)

All Music Guide

What's more surprising? That Pleasure and Pain, One Twelve's fifth album, is not a greatesthits compilation named after a song off their 1996 debut, or that it comes with a parental advisory label? In nearly a decade of existence, the group has amassed enough charting singles to warrant a concise bestof, and not many artists coming up with them during the mid'90s are still active. In the wake of parting with P. Diddy and Bad Boy, they've taken the opportunity to work with a mostly new pool of collaborators, including Mario Winans, Jermaine Dupri, and Bryan MichaelCox, who each pitch in once or twice. They remain selfsufficient otherwise, with member Daron Jones handling a good portion of the production duties. The result isn't much different from the previous albums, with a few standout singles and album tracks surrounded by a generous amount of forgettable moments, and a similar ratio of upbeat numbers and ballads to match. The parental advisory label (a first for the once squeakyclea...n group) can actually be pinned on previously unlikely collaborators Three 6 Mafia. (Who could've ever predicted that a line as forthright as "Is she gonna chew me up or she gon' swallow up my nads" would ever appear in one of their songs? Nobody.) [A clean version of the album was also made available, presumably with the group members' mothers in mind.] - Andy Kellman, All Music Guide Read more Less