There has been no shortage of fruitful duos within the realms of jazz, R&B and soul through the decades: from Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway’s beautiful coming-together in 1972 to Roy Ayers cutting it up with Fela Kuti to Stacy Lattisaw and Johnny Gill’s Perfect Combination. Where once the pattern tended to be of two signers, duetting on ballads; in the post-Aaliyah era, the formula took notes from hip-hop’s full-length-collaborations between a producer and an MC and shifted the balance somewhat: introducing a raft of collaborative albums not between two singers but a singer and a producer. I’m a fan. Often, these concentrated efforts bring new flavours out of both artists, and have lead to modern classics like Anderson Paak’s pairing with Knxwledge or last year’s fruitful collaboration between Anysia Kym and Tony Seltzer; capturing high-points of both artists careers.
The latest duo in this lane arrives in the form of GENA. Named after Tisha Campbell’s storied Martin character, the pairing brings together Dallas-born DJ, rapper, singer and producer Liv.e with Karriem Riggins. If you haven’t heard of Riggins, you’ve still likely heard him. A jazz drummer and producer from Detroit, he first met Common and J Dilla in ‘96 and, from there, proceeded as an oft-overlooked beat-maker for everyone from Erykah Badu to Slum Village, from Kaytranada to Kanye West. His pairing with Liv.e is a fascinating one because she’s often leant her voice to rappers and producers who operate within a new school of artists so clearly indebted to the Soulquarians-era Riggins was central to the first go around, like Earl Sweatshirt, Navy Blue and MIKE.
On her own albums, Liv.e is a deconstructionist force. On records like 2023’s Girl in the Half Pearl, in particular, there was a sense that she was further unspooling the already loose delivery of of New Jack Swing-era R&B artists like Aaliyah and Monica; often producing for herself and pairing her wandering intonation with glitchy, spasmodic breakbeats and subterranean mixing: a counter-intuitive pairing which rubbed up against each-other in electric ways, like Björk with Graham Massey or FKA twigs with Arca. Likewise, as a companion to Pink Siifu or MIKE, her voice had similarly acted as a counter-balance to the gruff, mumbled flow of male MCs.
The Pleasure Is Yours is a change of pace then. Unlike that work, Riggins is a much more harmonious partner. He has formed collectives with both Madlib and Robert Glaspe and you can hear the prettier elements of both men’s work in his as acts as partner to Live. They gel, undeniably, but perhaps to a fault.
The logic of the project is hard to impugn. As a producer and veteran drummer, Riggings is capable of swing and subtlety: conjuring seductive, ornate instrumental beds. Liv.e has the voice to match. But perhaps there’s such a thing as too much harmony. Its clear from the album’s title and cover that this is a good-time record: expressly smooth songs with titles like ‘Dream A Twinkle’ and ‘How We Flow’, aimed to lull the listener in a state of bliss. The music certainly sounds blissful, replete with gently noodled guitar and snapped fingers, but the results are so smooth that they often fail to stick.
There are highlights. ‘TGD’ instantly captivates, frankly, because it reminds of Liv.e’s solo work: breaking up the clattering drums and slapped bass with a clean, throbbing synth, cut through with a ticking clock drum-track. ‘This Is So Crazy’ is defined (aptly) by aching, New Generation coos which evoke the Purple One so masterfully that it easily avoids pastiche, while ‘Lead It Up’ disrupts the calm in its final moments with a vocoder cranked to maximum, distorting the melody so much that the channels begin to clip.
These moments stand out, noticeably, because they’re instances of this harmonious pairing being wilfully disrupted, and I wish there was more of it. The Pleasure Is Yours absolutely delivers on its title: it will surely make any room its in a sweeter place for playing it. But its proof, too, that sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.
