This week’s edition of Second Listen Sunday takes us to the Sunshine State as we highlight R&B crooner J. Shin and his third album, “All I Got Is Love,” which was released in the spring of 2006.
If you were a hip-hop fan in the ’90s, you know that every hip-hop label had an R&B artist who would sing hooks for their roster of rappers. Slip N Slide’s resident hook man was J. Shin. He gained popularity with a quiet storm hit in late 1999 titled “One Night Stand,” a duet with Latocha Scott from Xscape. This song laid the groundwork for his debut album, “My Soul, My Life.”
Despite the shifting tides of the music industry, J. Shin’s resilience shone through. His debut album, ‘My Soul, My Life,’ was a solid R&B project, but unfortunately, the sales were low, leading to his record label dropping him. Undeterred, he signed with an indie label in 2003 for his sophomore album, and three years later, he returned with ‘All I Got Is Love.’
“All I Got Is Love” opens up with the upbeat “All I Got Is Love”. The next track is the album’s first single, “Send Me An Email,” which features T-Pain. A song typical of the time finds J. Shin asking for details in an email about his current relationship. The somber ballad “If I Fall In Love” was up next.
A relatable track about telling a woman you’re pursuing you, expecting the same things in a relationship. The song would have easily been a hit for a more mainstream artist. Like many indie crooners, J-Shin got lost in the shuffle against bigger artists at the time. That said, he was better at ballads than up-tempo tracks.
The Denise Williams sampling “Perfection” is like a smooth cove on a yacht-filled summer day. Here, J-Shin croons about the perfect woman. “Better Man” pays homage to having a good woman, while “Sayin Oh” is for the bedroom. The rest of the album is pretty much filler, but the singer does show promise.
If J-Shin had the likes of The Underdogs, Babyface, or Jam & Lewis doing the music, what would the results may have been? Although the album is largely forgotten in 2025, it remains a decent project.
Final Grade: B-
“All I Got Is Love” is available on all streaming platforms.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I want to revisit 2004 and highlight Romeo’s debut solo album, formerly of Immature. Titled “Food for Thought” and released on June 22nd, this project marked the singer’s change of name to Young Rome in an effort to distance himself from the youthful sound of his group, much like his bandmate Marques Houston had done a year earlier.
In the nineties, Hip-Hop reigned supreme, and every label CEO wanted a share of the lucrative R&B market. One strategy was to keep singers on their roster who could deliver catchy hooks, keeping everything in-house and saving money. Bad Boy had Carl Thomas, Death Row had Danny Boy, and Roc-A-Fella had Rell, our featured artist for this week’s Slow Jam Saturday
Growing up in the eighties, I was surrounded by incredibly talented male R&B singers who could deliver unforgettable love songs. Artists like Luther Vandross, Jeffrey Osborne, and Peabo Bryson dominated the airwaves, but Freddie Jackson was another voice that truly deserved recognition.