Ever since the golden age of the thug-love duet (roughly five years ago, which must mean someone’s already working on a lavishly packaged boxed set), the two camps have grown better at borrowing from each other: no one is at all surprised, these days, to hear R. Kelly rapping or 50 Cent singing.

Kelefa Sanneh, “Crooning and Rap, in Harmony,” The New York Times, November 24, 2005.

I don’t mean to say that the For The Ladies formula necessarily creates bad music though. Sometimes it leads to material men and women can enjoy. And as for a lavishly-packaged thug-love duet box set, let’s add it to my list of projects. (Or lavishly concocted iTunes playlist, anyway.)