Wait a Minute

by Craig D. Lindsey

Every man has experienced it. A new song plays on the radio. The man turns up the volume. It's a little on the sensitive side, but he's still feeling it. Ten seconds after the song plays, the male listener is pressured to ask himself this question: "My God, was I supposed to like that?" That must be what white men go through whenever they find themselves jamming to a tune from the Goo Goo Dolls or Matchbox Twenty (those wet-dream makers for teenage girls everywhere), and it surely must've been what black men thought when they heard "Halfcrazy," the newest single from our own Musiq Soulchild. Securing his place as the most sensitive brotha in the whole neo-soul pack (sorry about that Maxwell), Soulchild composes a heartbreaking ode--practically a sequel to his single "Girl Next Door"--that's about as touching as it is musically unorthodox. (The classical guitar, clopping percussion and la-la harmony that begins it seems more equipped for a Renaissance festival than an R&B song.) It's also a song some emotionally insecure men may have trouble admitting they like in public. This is the kind of tune a guy would lash out at in front of his boys ("Man, that boy's a pussy!") whenever it played on the radio, but later that night he'd curl himself up in a fetal position on the floor and blubber incessantly ("I want my friend back too!") as he played the song over and over again. As his second album, Juslisen (Def Soul), rolls into record stores next week, Soulchild can be proud in the knowledge that he's helping thugs, playas, ballas, roughnecks, macks, pimps and hardcore brothas all over this great land get in touch with their feminine side.