Casserine - Gotta Get To Know Me (1994)

Casserine made her debut with Gotta Get to Know Me, a by-the-book urban contemporary effort along the lines of Brandy. None of the material is earth-shattering, but most of it is decent, and while Casserine's singing isn't distinctive or terribly original, she demonstrates that she is a competent and likable vocalist on "Sweet Lover Runnin'" (which draws on the Gap Band's "Runnin'"), "Sure as the Sunrise," and other tunes that combine gritty R&B wailing with a high-tech hip-hop production style. Casserine sounds undeveloped, but one can hear her potential on both funk numbers like "I Get a Buzz" (a duet with singer/producer Cato) and "Need," as well as romantic slow jams such as "Unconditional Love," "If You're Ready," and "Hard to Say Goodbye." Gotta Get to Know Me gave the impression that Casserine was an artist who could have benefited from some old-fashioned artist development; she had talent that deserved to be developed and nurtured, and one was curious to see what she would sound like on subsequent offerings. But five years later, Casserine had yet to deliver a second album.