Every Wednesday morning, I go to Billboard.com to check up on the new charts, and for the past couple months, I've been greeted by this picture of Usher laughing maniacally, as if reacting directly to the news that he's #1 again this week. He just looks so diabolical. Usher would make a good Bond villain, actually.

Usher - "Throwback"

This is one of the only uptempo songs on Confessions besides "Yeah", but it's got the melodramatic remorse of the ballads, and it's really good. Ursher deserves some credit for being the only R&B singer going to Just Blaze instead of Kanye right now, and Just deserves some credit for doing an R&B production that's for once as muscular and majestic as his rap beats. Of course, he accomplished this by recycling the sample that was used just last year in State Property's "Want Me Back", which I'm pretty sure he didn't even produce, but clearly heard and realized would be put to better use on a heartbreak jam than a street joint. Of course, there's also that unofficial remix that Jadakiss has been plastering the mixtapes with, but I think it works fine without a guest rapper.

Noreaga f/ Peedi Crakk - "Niggarican"

Nick Cannon f/ Ying Yang Twins and Fatman Scoop- "Get Crunk Shorty"

OK, Just Bleezy has done similiar beats for different songs before (which is why I appreciated that Joe Budden diss track for indirectly calling JB out for that Rah Digga track that sounds so much like "Fire"), but dude's really starting to lose my trust, doing two tracks with the exact same instrumental. "Niggarican"'s been making the rounds for a while now, but "Get Crunk Shorty" was on Cannon's album that was released last year, and is just now starting to get pushed as a single. I'm wondering if Nore/Peedi actually paid for th ebeat or just spit on it for mixtapes. But theirs is the stronger of the two, half-Puerto Rican pride complete with the Frankie Cutlass chant and Big Pun references. Cannon's isn't bad either, though, he flips some rhymes from "A Million & One Questions" and once again proves that he's a better MC than anyone wants to admit.