Winner of the Best Male R&B Artist in the 2000 American Music Artist awards Donell Jones was relatively unknown to most people before his sophomore album “Where I Wanna Be” was released in the charts.

The album tells the story of relationships, love and heart break. What makes this album so strong are the lyrics, beats and haunting guitar rifts. Another detail about this album is that he uses great emotion and the right notes to make the songs sound so authentic and true that everyone will be able to relate to moments of their own lives where they felt the same way.

His voice has drawn comparisons to Stevie Wonder and is melodic and sincere that it seems as though he isn’t just singing the song but living it, but feeling the joy, love and pain as his voice comes out. Unlike other artists of this genre, Donell portrays a vulnerable side to his personality that most of his peers are still afraid to do. His emotions are heart melding through his voice and the soft guitar stokes almost capture the mood of the moment superbly.

The album has a certain timelessness about it that if you listened to it 20 years from now, it would still be relevant and the meanings would still be the same. This isn’t an album just for the ladies, or for that matter an album you can make babies to. For me this is an album that I can listen to at anytime, be it happy, sad, reminiscing, relaxing or listening to with my wife.

The album also includes the UK smash hit “Shorty (Got Her Eyes on Me)”, the minor R&B/Hip Hop hit “This Luv” and the US smash hit, soulful ballad and title track,”Where I Wanna Be”. Executive Produced by Edward “Eddie F” Ferrell & distributed through Untouchables/LaFace. The album is considered by many as a classic and his best work yet. Also it’s considered as one of the best R&B albums released in the past 10 years.

A number of tracks stood out for me, in fact I would say all the tracks on this album are great, more so the non chart related hits. This is a must have item for anyone who is a fan of the Soul and Rn’B genre.

Recommended Key tracks

2. Shorty got her eyes on me (A favourite of mine, everyone can relate to this)
3. Where i wanna be (Slow, sad and great guitar playing)
4. Have you seen her (Cruise tune.. How many of you guys been in this situation)
5. This Luv (Checkout the video on Youtube, great feel good song)
6. All Her Love (Reminds me of the past…Of a girl I once knew…)
8. Think about it (Check out the ending, the track flips into an interlude song, classic!)
11. I wanna luv u (Hold your women in your arms, look into her eyes and play this)
13. U know whats up (remix with left eye) (Need I say more? Classic club joint)