Soul -- Sweat

Picked up a CD recently: Keith Sweat's The Best of Keith Sweat: Make You Sweat.

What is it about Sweat? He doesn't have that cool, mellow voice like Luther Vandross or somebody. The music is mostly synthesized-sounding stuff. The lyrics aren't all that deep.

But the man brings it from the heart like very few others. "How Deep Is Your Love." "I'll Give All My Love To You." "Something Just Ain't Right." My brothers out there, you know what I'm talking about. We've all been there. Sweat brings it on home, says what we want to say. Throws a little Roger Troutman-type thing in there, just to keep it real.

Sometimes, when I'm feeling it with my baby, or when it's just getting a little too rough for words, I still have to turn to Keith Sweat. Pop in the CD, bring the funk, let him "say a few syllables," as my boy Bostic used to say.

My man. Sweat comes from the soul.