Omarion’s first two solo albums topped the R&B and Billboard 200 charts, so it is a little surprising that he took over three years to release his third.
The singer wasn’t twiddling his thumbs, though.
He recorded 2007’s Face Off with Bow Wow -- promoted by a BET special titled The Road to Platinum, it went gold -- and continued his side career in films and on television.
After a brief association with Lil Wayne's Young Money label, Omarion linked with EMI and established his StarWorld label for Ollusion, an album that thrives on sparse, tickling productions that are more about atmosphere than anything else.
Clusters of synthetic handclaps, snares, and other slivers of percussion, along with impressionist-like use of keyboards and piano, are more prominent than busy and slick, heavily layered arrangements anchored by heavy kick drums and blasting bass.
Almost all of these beats would be classified as snapping, slapping, or smacking before banging, flecked with details yet simultaneously somewhat half-assed-sounding.
Given the number of partially detached vocals, filled with android-in-heat impersonations, clipped-phrase drop-ins, and messing around (best heard in “Temptation,” containing a hilarious flub around the three-minute mark), it’s as if Omarion wanted to make a concerted attempt to downplay his vocal ability, which only adds to the album’s weird, teasing charm.
The lyrics are relatively straightforward, though the back half of one couplet (“You got me shootin’ like a porno/B*tch stick to me just like a bag of Fritos”) could be the product of a Mad Libs session.
There’s only one sop to slick pop, “I Think My Girl Is Bi.” It’s easily the worst song on the album, ironically the disc’s only throwaway.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Last Night (Kinkos)Noel "Detail" Fisher, Omari Grandberry | Omarion | Play | 03:08 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 2 | HoodieDerek "DC" Clark, Michael "M.I." Cole, Emmanuel "Peanut" Frayer, Chris "Breez" Fuller, Omari Grandberry, J. McKenzie, Chris Stokes | Omarion | Play | 03:35 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | What Do You SayR. Battle, C. Brown, Omari Grandberry, Beat Syndicate | Omarion | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 4 | Speedin'Derek "DC" Clark, Michael "M.I." Cole, Emmanuel "Peanut" Frayer, Chris "Breez" Fuller, Omari Grandberry, Chris Stokes | Omarion | Play | 04:23 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 5 | TemptationDerek "DC" Clark, Michael "M.I." Cole, Emmanuel "Peanut" Frayer, Chris "Breez" Fuller, Omari Grandberry, Chris Stokes | Omarion | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 6 | Sweet HangoverMitch Cohn, Noel "Detail" Fisher, Omari Grandberry | Omarion | Play | 03:23 | 7 MB | 25 MB |
| 7 | WetOmari Grandberry, Marques Houston, Chris Stokes | Omarion | Play | 05:29 | 12 MB | 32 MB |
| 8 | I Think My Girl Is BiOmari Grandberry | Omarion | Play | 04:03 | 9 MB | 31 MB |
| 9 | Code RedDerek "DC" Clark, Michael "M.I." Cole, Emmanuel "Peanut" Frayer, Chris "Breez" Fuller, Omari Grandberry, Chris Stokes | Omarion | Play | 02:32 | 5 MB | 16 MB |
| 10 | Get It In | Omarion, Gucci Mane | Play | 03:07 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 11 | Thee Interlude With Marques Houston | Omarion, Marques Houston | Play | 01:09 | 2 MB | 7 MB |
| 38 mins | 87 MB | |||||
| 38 mins | 271 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 253 Music Inc. | Producer, Vocals |
| 2 | Elvis Aponte | Engineer, Mixing |
| 3 | Ayeesha | Hair Stylist |
| 4 | Durrell Babbs | Composer |
| 5 | R. Battle | Composer |
| 6 | Beat Syndicate | Composer |
| 7 | Lonny Bereal | Producer |
| 8 | C. Brown | Composer |
| 9 | Derek "DC" Clark | Composer |
| 10 | Mitch Cohn | Composer |
| 11 | Michael "M.I." Cole | Composer |
| 12 | Claudio Cueni | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 13 | Eric Eylands | Assistant Engineer |
| 14 | Noel "Detail" Fisher | Composer, Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 15 | Emmanuel "Peanut" Frayer | Composer |
| 16 | Chris "Breez" Fuller | Composer |
| 17 | Brian "Big Bass" Gardner | Mastering |
| 18 | Omari Grandberry | Composer |
| 19 | Gucci Mane | Featured Artist |
| 20 | Marques Houston | Composer, Featured Artist, Producer |
| 21 | Naima Jamal | Make-Up |
| 22 | Jay Rock | Featured Artist |
| 23 | Harvey Mason, Jr. | Mixing |
| 24 | J. McKenzie | Composer |
| 25 | Naruto's Melodys | Producer |
| 26 | Omarion | Creative Director, Executive Producer, Primary Artist |
| 27 | Battle Roy | Musician, Producer |
| 28 | Nick Saglimbeni | Photography |
| 29 | Chris Stokes | A&R, Composer, Creative Director, Executive Producer |
| 30 | J. Valentine | Composer, Engineer |
| 31 | Eric Weaver | Assistant Engineer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |