When Brian Reith sings R&B, he doesn't have to hire a rent-a-rapper to provide hip-hop flavor. That's because he's pretty killer at spitting out rhymed, spoken couplets, too. The Milwaukee native who goes by his first name's initial had been kicking around the city's gospel, contemporary Christian, indie ground for a few years before releasing his first national EP earlier this year.

On the full-length Now Is Not Forever Reith doesn't so much preach as gently affirm his faith, and if you're on the same page as he is, fine. That's not the extent of his subject matter, either. When he croons to a potential paramour, he proves he could share a concert bill of silky neo-soul smoothness alongside Musiq Soulchild and Robin Thicke.