Ari Lennox notched some personal firsts when she and fellow
Dreamville affiliate Elite connected with R&B legends
Jermaine Dupri,
Bryan-Michael Cox, and
Johntá Austin, and newcomer Jai'Len Josey, to make the lead single off her second album. The singer and songwriter's most cross-generational collaboration, "Pressure" went Top 20 R&B/hip-hop and Top Ten R&B, topped the Adult R&B chart, and crossed into the Hot 100, all milestones. Appealing as it is, teaching, teasing, and inquiring with acerbic wit and sly audacity, "Pressure" is inessential to the excellence of
Age/Sex/Location. That's a testament to the strength of what surrounds the hit in the sequence.
ASL begins with "POF," an indication of the creative way
Lennox consistently stirs together themes of independence, sexual agency, and bullshit detection. It's
Badu-ist philosophy with a lithe, neck-swaying groove to match. (The only cut co-produced by
Dreamville operator
J. Cole, it's one of few not involving Elite, who was key to the preceding
Shea Butter Baby.) The
Badu influence on
Lennox hasn't been clearer, but the song is also a showcase for some of
Lennox's most striking vocals and her strongest, pithiest writing -- singular qualities that remain throughout the album. Most illuminating are the slow jams that, like a few songs off the debut, either repurpose or evoke mellow R&B and jazz grooves from the late '70s. In "Mean Mug," finished off with a gentle trumpet solo,
Lennox is enraptured and vulnerable, observing "There's a magic in your eyes," then isn't above being petty or possessive, advising with "Blockin' you, baby, if I can't have you to myself." The burrowing bassline on "Hoodie" neatly complements the way
Lennox seeks permission to get closer to her man, yet she makes it known her guard isn't all the way down, issuing a challenge of her own. "Boy Bye," built on a sample of
the Crusaders' classic "A Ballad for Joe (Louis)," brings
Lennox and
Lucky Daye back together again to spar with even greater chemistry than they displayed on "Access Denied." Duet-wise, it's a very close second to the
Summer Walker-assisted "Queen Space," a steady-knocking finale so authoritative that the titular appellation can't be disputed. ~ Andy Kellman