Still, “I Wish” possesses a certain light-heartedness that comes through in the hook, “Girl I wish, oh girl I wish, nothing but bad luck, hope you never fall in love, in life/Girl I wish, oh girl I wish. The track then addresses the unspoken desire behind the respectable façade. You know how when you break up, ‘Oh, I wish you the best,’” Jennings says in during the song’s spoken word intro. That track finds him telling listeners what they really mean when they wish their exes well: “I’m so sick of people.
“I Wish” is the only track where Jennings addresses what could be considered darker themes. The album’s sweet intimacy comes at a time when the raspy voiced singer once again had to confront legal issues, but the new record is the most upbeat project of Jennings’ stellar career. Jennings is the love man and balladeer on Lucid. Jennings also proved to be the master of the musical counselor and cautionary tale spinner, as can be heard on tracks such as “S.E.X,” “It’s Real” and “Statistics” from “The Phoenix,” Lyfe Change and I Still Believe. Those albums also featured numbers such as “Must Be Nice” from the debut and “Midnight Train” from Lyfe Change that are sweet and tender soul songs. Jennings addressed his past on subsequent albums such as The Phoenix and Lyfe Change on tracks that managed to be real and gritty without glamourizing the street life. After spending a decade in jail, Jennings released that critically acclaimed album in 2005.
His first album, the semi autobiographical Lyfe 268-192, draws its title from Jennings' prison ID number.
It’s not like Jennings spent his career running from his legal issues. Yet, the music they created often belied all of the difficulties they faced in their personal lives. Why? Like Jennings, these artists had troubled lives that included addiction and run-ins with the law. Instead, I look to jazz and R&B artists from a previous era such as Charlie Parker or David Ruffin. When considering Lucid – the new album by Lyfe Jennings - the comparisons I make are not to his hip-hop and R&B age group cohorts.