by John BushBoasting the best album-length production of the year, will.i.am's Songs About Girls is a tour de force of next-generation contemporary R&B, all of it devoted to girls -- girls he wants, girls he wants back, girls who are gone, girls he's glad are gone, and, of course, girls trying hard to make a living for their family as strippers. Although the trailer single, "I Got It from My Mama," had threatened to become even more obnoxious and unescapable than Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps" -- replacing Fergie's awkward come-ons with will.i.am's clumsy rapping -- it's the lone note of pandering on this record. (Perhaps another should be guest Snoop Dogg lofting the word "donque" into the popular consciousness.) Recorded everywhere from Rio to The Record Plant, Songs About Girls percolates with more innovation, enthusiasm, and excitement than contemporary work by Pharrell, Kanye West, Mark Ronson, or anyone else remotely in the same league. Fo...