Lloyd f/ Ludacris, “How We Do It” (The-Inc). It’s hard to get worked up about any of the R&B tracks that entered the April 5 and April 12 editions of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. This one, from Lloyd’s upcoming Lessons in Love (due in July and likely lacking in Level 42 covers), might be the best of the bunch, if only by a hair — Raheem DeVaughn’s uncharacteristically uptempo “Energy” is pretty close. “How We Do It” wins out for its grinding glam shuffle, but don’t expect to hear it spun at a club between Goldfrapp and Gary Glitter.

Karina Pasian, “16 @ War” (Def Jam). Quincy Jones’ goddaughter debuts with a song that, from a production standpoint, does not offer much more than listless thudding — pretty surprising, given that it was put together by “Tricky” Stewart (Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” Mary J. Blige’s “Just Fine”). Lyrically, it’s another story (the lyrics were written by frequent Stewart partner the-Dream), beginning with “Ain’t no daddies where I’m from, it’s just mad mothers/And eyes that still seem they can’t look past color” and working its way through a number of pressures placed upon young females of color. The remainder of the songs on Pasian’s MySpace page are in the slow, dramatic, inspirational vein. There will hopefully be more variety on her Def Jam debut, but at least it seems she is making a major effort to provide alternatives to glamorous/brainless escapism while relating to young women her age.

Paris Houston, “Make It Bounce 4 Ya” (Grand Slam). A stripper’s anthem — “You make it rain like it’s summer, I’ll do anything ya wanna” — or Ciara gone sleazy. (Houston’s next single: “Lo-Cutz.”) This is definitely in “Enjoy it now, forget about it a few weeks from now” territory. In fact, it debuted on the chart for the 12th at number 78 and slid all the way off by the time the chart for the 19th was published.

Here is the full roster of new R&B entries on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for April 5 and 12, listed in order of position, along with ratings on a 0-to-10 scale and links to samples.

April 5, 2008
81. Lloyd f/ Ludacris, “How We Do It” (7) MySpace
88. Raheem DeVaughn, “Energy” (6)

April 12, 2008
74. Chris Brown, “Take You Down” (5)
78. Paris Houston f/ Kid Kutta, “Make It Bounce 4 Ya” (6)
88. Keyshia Cole, “Heaven Sent” (6)
93. Karina Pasian, “16 @ War” (6) MySpace
100. Mario, “Music for Love” (5)

Previously
January 19 (Ryan Leslie, Usher)
January 26 and February 2 (Dear Jayne, Raheem DeVaughn, Cherish)
February 9 and 16 (Johnta Austin, Charlie Wilson)
February 23 and March 1 (Mariah Carey, Usher, Ashanti)
March 8 and 15 (Estelle, Noel Gourdin)
March 22 and 29 (Tiffany Evans, Michael McDonald)