Chris Brown and Trey Songz bring the romance at Wells Fargo

If ever there were a complicated male bill of soul-hop singers and MCs, Wednesday's show featuring Chris Brown, Trey Songz, and Tyga at Wells Fargo Center was it.

Tyga is known for supposedly dating Kylie Jenner of Kardashian/Jenner family fame. If the Bruce Jenner news wasn't bad enough, Tyga got Twitter-dissed by Philly's Amber Rose (ex-Mrs. Wiz Khalifa!) for leaving his baby mama for young Kylie Jenner. It's hip-hop as soap opera. As for soapy drama, Chris Brown is the king: club shootings, Drake disses, his history with Rihanna, etc. Poor Songz - not known for anything but great singing, good abs, and racy lyrics. Isn't there another Kardashian lying around with whom Trey could cook up a scandal?

Tyga opened the show wearing a large, puffy coat (it was cold out) and was neither original nor romantic in his barking raps.

The pairing of Brown and Songz for a sexed-up, romantic show titled "Between the Sheets" was a genuine treat. Songz came first and gripped the tween-female crowd with lively, R. Kelly-ish vocalizing and F-bomb-filled lyrics. The Bollywood-lite "Foreign" and the plastic, soulful "Cake" started his set innocently, despite female dancers dressed scantily as maids. Songz inquired about "any freaks in Philadelphia?" and followed with the salty "All We Do" and other ribald songs. Pelted with leopard print panties, he did the bump-and-grind while slowly intoning "Late Night." Songz could have been this generation's Teddy Pendergrass if he scuffed up his silken voice.

As soon as Chris Brown came on stage, he staked a claim as successor to Michael Jackson's singing-dancing legacy. With a voice moving from angelic highs to sensuous baritone lows, Brown bobbed and locked while singing the electro-laced blues of "X," the New Wave-y "Wall to Wall" with its haunting bridge, the robo-syncopated "Run It," and a gently jazz-poppy "Strip." Throughout his set - and this was crucial - Brown proved less obviously a romancer in his lyrics and stage antics than Songz had been, and therefore doubly dangerous and potent. When he performed the gorgeously orchestrated, Jacko-sampled "She Ain't You," Brown hit every sweet spot - his own, and that of the audience.

Then the young gents hit the stage together. After this conjoined set each would perform solo hits (Brown's "New Flame" and Songz's "Bottoms Up"). But that middle set was nu-soul at its finest, with the guys trading harmonies, licks, and oohs-and-ahhs on "Neighbors Know My Name," and doing a regal, back-and-forth battle of each singer's hits.