Omarion and Marques Houston at TLA

Just before showtime, The Beat (100.3 FM) tweeted that Saturday's Omarion show with special guest Marques Houston at the TLA had been sold out, and the predominantly female crowd chanted "Marques! Marques! Marques!" as the former member of the R&B boy band Immature hit the stage.

Houston hung around the edge of the stage crooning just four songs while offering sneak peaks at his abs during his 20-minute set. Full of raunchy posturing and dedications to "all the freaks out there," his onstage persona was like bad soap-opera acting.

Also plagued by too much ad-libbing and not enough straight-up singing, he gave his best effort with the steamy bedroom anthem "Naked."

The headliner was up next, and it became immediately clear that the former B2K boy-band member had become a man. A sea of camera phones lit up as the short R&B star - flanked by two male dancers - proved to be a phenomenal entertainer with the midtempo, Neptunes-produced "Touch."

Wearing a denim vest, red sunglasses, and a printed black T-shirt, Omarion had designs cut around his head, a small patch of hair or "tail" at the base of his neck, and more patterns cut into his eyebrows. Rocking a Rhianna-like punk/hip-hop/hipster style, he was not afraid to show off his amazing physique when he went shirtless for the screaming fans.

Omarion remained playfully genuine and accessible while he danced with 10 women brought up onto the stage.

As he launched into his hit song, "Ice Box," his nimble, acrobatic dancing amazed once again. Think slow-motion hip-hop meets The Matrix meets the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.

After finishing with his latest single, "I Get It In," Omarion had set the bar high with a hard-to-pull-off combination of hip-hop, R&B, and well-choreographed dance. He has officially challenged Chris Brown for the crown.