Who is Mike Jones? Well, not long ago, he was Trae's punching bag at the Ozone Awards, which at least reminded people he was still alive. Well, Jones has a new single, "Next to You," from his forthcoming album The Voice (due April 14), and it's probably not going to enhance his 'hood reputation a whole lot either. Or the line "I love to cuddle up" won't, anyway.

Obviously geared toward the ladies, "Next to You" finds Mr. Jones extolling the virtues of a shorty who, among other things, likes to shop at malls (whoa), drive his Jag and throw away his phone while they're being intimate because she "don't like interruptions while we goin' strong."

Fair enough, but if Jones wants to scale the Houston rap totem pole, he's going to have to come with something a little stronger than this. The acoustic-guitar hook is more or less a retread of TLC's "No Scrubs," and Rocks Off just listened to this thing seven or eight times in a row and couldn't find a single memorable lyric in the whole thing. 

At least Jones isn't yelling out his phone number every ten seconds anymore, although it is posted on his Web site. And, rappers, can we please, please, pllleeeaaassse knock off this Auto-Tune bullshit? That T-Pain business was amusing for a minute or two, but you're not fooling anybody, you know. Howlin' Wolf, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash couldn't sing either, and they turned out all right.