When Usher Raymond IV burst upon the scene in the ’90s, his popular dance hits and smooth moves helped him become one of the hottest R&B artists in the business.

VIDEO ~ Usher ~ “Call Me A Mack”

Usher was actually 16 when he recorded “Call Me A Mack” for the Poetic Justice Soundtrack but he was well on his way to being the superstar he is today.

Usher hits up MTV’s “When I was 17” to discuss the birth of his abs and also reveals he suffered from “pizza face”…. was the megastar a stud or dud in high school?

He answers that question in nine words or less during the intro, saying… “When I was 17, the abs came to life.”

More photos of a young Usher + Usher’s segment of? “When I Was 17” below:

“His acne was so horrible,” recalled one of Usher’s more blunt friends, Keith. “His face was so jacked up.”

Music mogul and producer Jermaine Dupri remembered how the entertainer’s spotty complexion led him to shy away from the spotlight.

“He didn’t want to go out. He wanted to stay in,” Dupri says. “He was a little ashamed of what was going on with his face.”

The singer went to extreme, and ultimately unsuccessful, lengths to disguise his breakouts.

“As a dude, you’re not gonna put makeup on your face, right?” Usher said. “I tried that, it didn’t even work.”

He may have experimented with cosmetics and spent a few more nights at home but the multiplatinum star didn’t let his acne hold him back from wooing the ladies. “I was 17, so I would still try to talk to girls [and] get past it,” Usher reasoned.

He even had some smooth lines to drop when he wanted to draw attention away from his skin. ” ‘Don’t look at that, look at my eyes, baby. I’m trying to say something real serious to you right here,’ ” Usher recalled, reenacting his complexion-deflecting dating moves. “I know I have pizza face, I don’t care.”

In the end, his skin cleared up and the singer said it was just a matter of riding out a rite passage that many teens are forced to endure.

“This is something that all 17-year-olds have to deal with,” Usher said. “You can’t run away from it.”

CLICK HERE to watch the FULL EPISODE over at MTV…