Sons of Soul - Songs

Songs

"If I Had No Loot" has a New jack swing beat, pronounced guitar licks, vocal samples from hip hop songs, and lyrics about fair-weather friends. "My Ex-Girlfriend" is a humorous commentary on unfaithful partners, and features lowbrow humor in its lyrics, which scold an ex-girlfriend for her promiscuity. It evolved from a concept D'wayne Wiggins came up with after driving past an Oakland hangout for prostitutes and recognized that one of them was an old friend. The upbeat ballad "Tell Me Mama" has surging dynamics, a horn-filled bridge, and lyrics about responsibility and regret. Phil Gallo of the Los Angeles Times writes that the song utilizes "Jackson 5 and Temptations vocal stylings, Earth, Wind & Fire horn charts and riffs from Sly & the Family Stone hits". According to Rolling Stone journalist Fred Schruers, the album's first five songs comprise a "tour de force that bounces from Motown to New Jack Swing and back before breaking for a series of ballads as sexy as they are sweet".

"Slow Wine" describes a Trinidadian slow grind dance, and the love ballad "(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow" features tender, seductive lyrics, with subtle come-ons, which according to Gil Griffin of The Washington Post "replace hip-hop braggadocio with soul music's promise." "I Couldn't Keep It to Myself" features lush strings and electric piano, which according to one writer "create a jaunty atmosphere that harkens back to early Kool and the Gang and the Blackbyrds." Its narrator wants to brag to his friends about his new girlfriend's sexual abilities. "Gangsta Groove" adapts hip hop's "gangsta" trope in a humane story, compared by one writer to a blaxploitation theme. It draws on the funk music of Parliament-Funkadelic, Cameo, and the Ohio Players. "Tonyies! In the Wrong Key" features a dreamy, dissonant soundscape, slurred vocals, swirling horns, and a James Brown sample. At its end, Raphael Wiggins sings the line "last night a DJ saved my life", a reference to the 1982 song of the same name. Wiggins found his "disinterested" vocal style similar to Sly Stone's "Family Affair" (1971).

"Dance Hall" is styled in the genre of the same name, and also incorporates funk. The segue track "Times Squares 2:30 A.M." was recorded by the group on the street with a tape recorder. "Fun" has a hip hop groove, jazz fusion tone, and irreverent, party theme similar to "Dance Hall". "Anniversary" is about mature, lasting love. Elysa Gardner of Vibe calls it "a grandly romantic, nine-minute bolero that lavishes its female subject with such warmth and respect that the cheeky misogyny of seems instantly forgiveable." "Castleers" is a short vocal track and tribute to Raphael and D'wayne's Castlemont High School chorus group, Castleers Choir, in which they sung as students. Raphael said of its inspiration, "The high school choir was all about that classic R & B harmony, so I named the song after the choir. One of the great things about that experience at school was that it got us ready to go out in the professional world with our music."