702: Star

702, a trio of mid-tempo R&B queens who started out in 1995 creating a bit of a stir with the Missy Elliott-produced “Steelo” and before that, the popular and banging “Where My Girls At”, seemed poised to find a niche in the ever-merging world of R&B. Nasal vocals and elementary lyrics aside, there was a perfect window of opportunity in the mid-’90s for their brand of flirtatious and innocent crooning. Even if they were just teenagers, they were sassy and cute and girls just wanna have fun so it was natural to expect that they’d grow up and get better.

Besides, Destiny’s Child wasn’t on the musical map until 1996, SWV was splitting up, Xscape was official black history and Allure was always hanging around, but they weren’t really a force to be reckoned with. What girlie R&B needed was a group that could deliver some hot club songs while still pushing the proverbial envelope, not another group of aspiring monotone chicks. Even if 702 wouldn’t drop any jaws with their amazing vocal range (which is there, even if their albums don’t always showcase their ability), they were three beautiful girls with excellent producers and a little notoriety. They had spunk where charisma was lacking. Maybe the well-written songs and seamless production would come later. Or maybe, in a post-Ashanti world (you know, the girl who says she wants to be the Barbra Streisand of hip-hop R&B), it’s every woman for herself in R&B and any trio is old news.

After eight years in the music game, 702 haven’t found a niche. Their third album, Star is trapped in a time warp. It wants to be pre- Mary J. Blige hip-hop and R&B with some notable exceptions. Lots of good beats, a little bit of sampling (there’s a Talib Kweli beat jack on “Reality” that would only sound good if it were included as an instrumental) and a lot of cliché-slinging (i.e., “Star” the single) make all 16 tracks a dull journey into suspended adolescence.

Basically, where the girls are at is about ten years ago. If that sounds harsh, consider “Come and Knock on My Door”, a song built around the Three’s Company theme song melody. Even the idea of that song sounds ridiculous; but even worse, that’s followed by songs like “Blah Blah Blah Blah” and “I’m Wit It”.

Mario Winans and the super-producing team the Neptunes manage to create some haphazard hits here, lack of creativity aside. The standout songs are not even in the neighborhood of classic, but they are reasonably good. “Trouble” has a hypnotic and playful tone, even if you won’t be sure what the song is about after listening to it several times. “I Still Love You” is a make-up-to-break-up jam and effective spacing out music. The latter, though, sounds like it could have been performed by anyone from Kelis to Beyonce — but 702 handles the spare drum beat and formulaic chorus with charm. If there is a major achievement of this album, it’s that 702 grew in another direction — in fact, it’s rumored they broke up afterward. At least there was a slight attempt to try and move out of the teenybopper R&B category, even if it was half-assed and most of the songs on the album are the equivalent of aural junk food.