''Usher's Success Became A Double-Edged Sword''
03:00PM ET July 17, 2010
Contributor : Hip Hop Blog Staff
A Rocky Williform Company

In a recent interview, Ne-Yo offered his critique on the career of veteran pop/R&B star Usher. "As far as the current state of R&B right now, I've gotta say I'm a fan of very, very little," the singer/songwriter said. "I respect and appreciate what Trey [Songz] is doing. I've personally been a Trey Songz fan for a long time. I've always felt like he has an incredible voice and people weren't paying attention for a minute, for whatever reason. So I'm glad he's getting the recognition that I feel he's deserved for a little while.

I like what Usher is doing right now," said Ne-Yo. "I can't say that I love it because...Usher's success became a double-edged sword for him. Confessions was one of the greatest R&B albums to ever be made. Period. Point blank. I can sit here as an Usher fan and say Confessions was that joint. Now everything that he does, I'm gonna compare to his best. I'm gonna compare to Confessions."

"The whole Raymond v. Raymond [album] is good. {But] it's not Confessions."