Kirk Franklin - "Looking for You"

Say Hallelujah! Kirk Franklin's finally recaptured the popgasmic magic he bottled and sold (like deep-fried candy bars at a midwestern state fair) on 1997's "Stomp" (credited to God's Property, but really a Franklin track). He accents the disco-kissed "Looking for You" (taken from 2005's Hero) with his "Preach, Preacha!" brand of exhortation (a la Diddy), but the single's really not about him; it's about his expert use of the backbone of Patrice Rushen's 1979 hit "Haven't You Heard" (her first R&B top-tenner, it peaked at #7 in early '80). For that matter, apart from his interjections, Franklin's hardly even on this track, which relies heavily on a coterie of gorgeous, creamy black voices. Of course the subject matter here is all about giving praise to Jesus, but that doesn't mean non-believers should stay away. Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost party, as Franklin himself likes to say, and "Looking for You" - which, incredibly, just cracked the Billboard R&B top ten in this, its 33rd week on the chart - shows that Kirk Franklin has learned George Clinton's dictum very well: Free your ass and your mind will follow. And maybe even your soul.