Rolling R&B Thread 2007

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some half-asleep thoughts:

'heartbreak' is AMAZING, it's so disco-infused! this is reminding me of cherrelle! everything in the richcraft vein has been very taut and teetering-on-tightrope-even-as-you-lose-control poised (which is why it works best on songs about that moment just before you fall in love), but 'heartbreak' is totally uninhibited about abandoning itself to those yummy disco strings. it's fully committed to...what exactly? i must listen to these lyrics more closely, is she full of determination and spirit to save herself from a bad relationship by...getting him back?

another natasha song, 'so sick', with clipse: minimal beat, cooing ghostly verses, i like.

and monica is fucking awesome in this video. love the song, i will never tire of generic crunk'n'b, especially not when it sounds like a hollabackesque marching band.

― lex pretend (lex pretend), Sunday, 28 January 2007 01:58 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not usually one to bitch about people not being able to sing, but Natasha...gross.

― The Reverend Rodney J. Greene sings you a dirge (R. J. Greene), Sunday, 28 January 2007 02:09 (nineteen years ago)

blehhh @ 'so sick', the worst kind of insulting half-assed 'club banger'

gr8 sleeve tho

http://i10.tinypic.com/2iapwup.jpg

― tsk. (mwah), Sunday, 28 January 2007 08:51 (nineteen years ago)

'unfaithful' chiney rmx = fair2middling - chris brown 'yo' chiney rmx = blissed out godhead

― tsk. (mwah), Sunday, 28 January 2007 08:54 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

New R. Kelly: [Removed Illegal Link]

Also, can we talk about the amazing turnaround for Robin Thicke? His album, which is excellent BTW, was totally flopping and then all of a sudden "Lost Without You" starts getting major play and the album is on it's way to Platinum status! How great is that? "Lost Without You"is currently #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop chart and it's climbing up the Hot 100 (currently @ #25).

― The Brainwasher, Thursday, 22 February 2007 08:03 (nineteen years ago)

His album is kinda doldrumish. There's only three songs I care about and two of them are old as fuck. (The mambo one being the third. It cracks me up.)

― The Reverend, Thursday, 22 February 2007 08:32 (nineteen years ago)

That was in reference to Thicke, if that wasn't clear enough.

Has whitey ever had a #1 R&B hit before?

― The Reverend, Thursday, 22 February 2007 08:35 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, I'm really happy with the fact that Thicke's big hit is a nice quiet subtle jam that I never get tired of hearing, as opposed to those songs with Lil Wayne and Pharrell that I absolutely hated.

what was the R. Kelly link that got removed, btw? he's having a really good year so far, with the awesome version of "Flirt" w/ T.I. and T-Pain, the song from Daddy's Little Girls, the Ciara and Fat Joe remixes, etc.

has anyone heard the Sunshine Anderson album? I almost checked out just on the strength of her hit from a few years back, but the words "Matthew Knowles" on the back of the CD scared me off.

― Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 22 February 2007 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

Stay scared.

― Andy K, Thursday, 22 February 2007 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

r kelly single is great
why didn't you like "Shooter" Al? I think I like all songs that use that bassline. I feel like asking you about why you didn't like an indie crossover rap song is like asking why the sky is blue but

― deej, Thursday, 22 February 2007 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

(other examples of the bassline = freaks of the industry and that song off the first soulja slim album with Mia X. whats that bassline from? I know I've heard the o.g. before but i cant think of what it is)

― deej, Thursday, 22 February 2007 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

It's from Donna Summers' "Love to Love You, Baby". "Freaks of the Industry" is as excellent as songs get.

How is "Shooter" indie?

― The Reverend, Thursday, 22 February 2007 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

I just think "Shooter" comes off really slapdash and awkward, all those little 8 bar verses that sound shoehorned into the beat. I mean, Wayne raps more on a lot of his R&B features than he does on that song. plus that weird little part where Thicke's voice gets all squeaky and goes "shoo-shoo-shoo-shooter" is the most annoying shit ever.

― Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 22 February 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

oh my god, the new ciara video. SO FIERCE.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 22 February 2007 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

...and i'm talking to her next week!

― lex pretend, Thursday, 22 February 2007 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Just curious, Alex. Did you hear Thicke's original version before Wayne's or no?

― The Reverend, Friday, 23 February 2007 03:16 (nineteen years ago)

nah. is it much different aside from the lack of raps?

― Alex in Baltimore, Friday, 23 February 2007 04:26 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno. I haven't heard it either, but I could more readily imagine this: "I just think 'Shooter' comes off really slapdash and awkward, all those little 8 bar verses that sound shoehorned into the beat." coming from someone who heard the OG version first.

― The Reverend, Friday, 23 February 2007 04:49 (nineteen years ago)

Has whitey ever had a #1 R&B hit before?

June 18 1988 One More Try George Michael

― danzig, Sunday, 25 February 2007 06:13 (nineteen years ago)

Polow-produced new Kelly Rowland single:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIjNAB7jAGA

I love the percussion. It's kind of underwhelming, I wanted her to come out with an ANTHEM, this is just 'good'.

― The Brainwasher, Thursday, 1 March 2007 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

where did 'owner of a lonely heart' end up on the R&B charts.

― deej, Thursday, 1 March 2007 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

i really like that kelly r song on one listen. but where is 'gotsta go'! that was amazing.

― lex pretend, Friday, 2 March 2007 11:16 (nineteen years ago)

The new Ne-Yo single "Because Of You" is totally classic. Is that a slap-bass I hear? OMG.

― The Brainwasher, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

the new Ne-Yo single "Because Of You" is totally classic

yeah!! god i can't believe i wasted a whole month dismissing it as a lazy 'step in the name of sexy love' job, cos when i heard it on kiss the other day it absolutely fucking killed. neyo + stargate = that crack.

cool how it fits into my casanova bullshit upthread too, it's like stage 3: selfawareness! i got a problem and i / don't know what to do about it /
even if i did i don't know if i would quit, but i doubt it, i’m /
taken by the thought of it... just kinda stuck between my fantasy and what is real...

― r|t|c, Thursday, 8 March 2007 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

that kelly rowland song is really great too. it totally is an anthem, but i love how it makes you work for it first - cos yeah, it does just sound like bad swizz to begin with, yet with a little magic something that makes u persevere until it slowly blossoms into perfect sense. polow is the master of the silent "hold up guy, i know what i'm doing" trust! ( aka WAITAMINUTEMOTHERFUCKER obv)

― r|t|c, Thursday, 8 March 2007 02:48 (nineteen years ago)

really i'm secretly glad the rich boy album turned out to be balls cos for a second there it looked like polow thought he wz making a step up. a step up from rnb!

(that young buck is ace tho yeah)

― r|t|c, Thursday, 8 March 2007 02:53 (nineteen years ago)

could people entertain me with their thoughts on bobby val's 'anonymous' (http://www.myspace.com/bobbyvalentino) and the lloyd album, cos i'm still on the fence leaning to nnnnah on both of them. the bobby feels kinda rushy and desperate in a really unconvincing flimsy way, and i think i've always wanted lloyd to be actually good when this has never quite been the case truth be told. lloyd does like him some art of noise though.

― r|t|c, Thursday, 8 March 2007 03:06 (nineteen years ago)

Ne-Yo = aces. He seems like he should be kind of innocuous, but somehow he always keep me very, very interested. Agreed that all of his Stargate tracks are perfection.

Kelly R = okay. I could do without Eve, but I do trust in Polow. It hasn't completely grown on me yet though.

Bobby V = love it. It just works for me. Deserves to be a hit, and I'll always have a place for this kind of RnB.

Lloyd = Loved "You" for months, could do without hearing it now, but that comes with ubiquitousness. Really like how the remix just goes ahead and uses the Spandau Ballet original, it works for me. "Get It Shawty" still hasn't worked for me. It's a little too Chris Brown-y.

Lloyd remix side note: funny how Andre 3000 seems to have decided he wants a little shine again popping up on remixes here and there, but his flow still sounds forced and a little herky-jerky or something. I guess it's best that maybe he's working out the kinks on remixes if he's ever gonna come with a full-on rap-don't-sing album (prolly not).

― matt2, Thursday, 8 March 2007 03:35 (nineteen years ago)

yeah see with the bobby saying "this kind of rnb" really rings my bell, cos with it being so very appealing to all the best things in life (starbursting pixelclouds at the speed of light n whatnot) i do wonder if i'm not forcing an average little song onto a higher level than it really merits... sounds like i'm cockblocking myself right? but something there bugs, still.

(it's not even a trite timbahandz thing this time either, tim's even kinda country-fried cute here, if still basically unecessary: "is yr name mary-aaaane? or kathy lee?" haha)

'get it shawty' just has an absorbing little bittersweet freestyle vibe to it i reckon; just what u wanna hear from ur singing ladyboys (where are you these days chico!), and especially on the remix where joc and missy sound really by-the-numbers and dulled it's a lot like some empty roller rink with the ghost of 'pump up the jam' floating about listlessly. cor, were i an infinitely more foolish man i might even say it was, what's the word, it's coming to me, ah yes of course HAUNTOLOGICAL

― r|t|c, Thursday, 8 March 2007 04:25 (nineteen years ago)

The Ne-Yo album was one of my faves of last year, but the new single is zzzz. It sounds like a BS Musiq Soulchild song, (but is better than his new one.

The Kelly R. single is pretty bad. It's really sacchirine (in sound, not in sentiment) and seems really uncommitted to what it wants to do.

Danjaland are having slowly diminishing returns on their new formula and "Anonymous" isn't doing it for me. But I wouldn't mind it on my radio.

"You" is meh to the mehth degree, (I've always hated anything to do with "True") but "Get It Shawty" is aces, even if Lloyd sounds like an out of breath eunuch. Problem is whenever I hear him, I think of "Southside" which is one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 04:48 (nineteen years ago)

haha "Danjaland" xp to "Timbahandz"

― The Reverend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 04:49 (nineteen years ago)

i looooove 'get it shawty', it's almost emotionally vacuum-packed like omarion/jt but it does it so well. missy just reprises...some old verse from this is not a test, doesn't she? i can't even remember which one, did she even re-record it? but she sounds so uninvested in her own booty-jiggling that it totally works.

ha, so polow produced kelly rowland's single, that explains why i keep going back to it despite still pouting over mysterious non-appearance of 'gotsta go'.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 08:47 (nineteen years ago)

shall we talk about how great tiffany evans' 'girls gone wild' is? it's very great.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

Thicke's "Oh Shooter" >>> Thicke & Lil Wayne's "Shooter," and anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't heard "Oh Shooter" or thinks the Dead Presidents soundtrack really needs spliced-in raps about "dick takers" at radio stations.

Not that I didn't hear "Shooter" well before I hunted down the original.

― da croupier, Thursday, 8 March 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

i think tiff's total boredom wouldnt be nearly so much fun if she wznt 15 herself! (altho brooke valentine couldve pulled it off too probly.) the whole thing reminds me of erm, caitlin from the oc

(btw anyone quite rightly despairing of the fun-killing danjah/keri handwringing surrounding timbaland on this thread can count themselves lucky we havent even got into brian kidd, sean garrett & the clutch :$)

(no not that brian kidd)

― r|t|c, Thursday, 8 March 2007 16:41 (nineteen years ago)

How is that Thicke album? Shit seems to be selling really well around these parts

― deej, Thursday, 8 March 2007 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

Haven't heard the first album, but I like a lot of the current one. Overlong, too many ballads, but he's like a grown-ass Justin Timberlake who knows the difference between unique and quirky.

― da croupier, Thursday, 8 March 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

That sounds good, I'll have to check it out

― deej, Thursday, 8 March 2007 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

u ppl are mental, that thicke album was truly dreadful. and i say this as someone who'll have a go at defending 'wanna love u girl'!

― r|t|c, Thursday, 8 March 2007 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

Agreed. (and "Wanna Love U Girl" doesn't need defending, it makes its own case. It's the rest of the album that sucks.)

― The Reverend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

I really enjoy "Got 2 Be Down," "Would That Make U Love Me," "Lost Without U," "All Night Long," "Teach U A Lesson," "I Wanna Love U Girl" and "Cocaine."

― da croupier, Thursday, 8 March 2007 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

ok i'll downgrade mental to differently opinioned, cos if u put a gun to my head i'd have said those were the only vaguely listenable tracks too. except 'i need love' instead of that lil wayne one

plz to explain "knowing the difference between unique and quirky" with reference to that bossa nova nightmare tho

― r|t|c, Thursday, 8 March 2007 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

B-B-But that's the best song! It cracks me up sumn fierce.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:57 (nineteen years ago)

megan rochell ft ac - betcha

following 'heartbreak' upthread...she is queen of denial as tactic to deal with break-up, this is amazing. echoing beats and a glissandoing harp!

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

Rich Juzwiak had a typically on-point post about much of this stuff today:

http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/2007/03/not_above_freak.html

― matt2, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I love Rich's blog.

― The Brainwasher, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

does rich juzwiak post here? i didn't know about his blog. he was the only person apart from me to put 'promise' as his no 1 of last year, also he has the same v uncommon surname as someone i used to know, so my interest is piqued.

― lex pretend, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

I know he posted periodically on the old ILM as Rich Juz.

― matt2, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah he does post here. He actually posted in the "Promise" thread a few times.

― The Brainwasher, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

that is clearly the 'sexy love' harp!! but yeah, if there are any bad meg roch songs then i havent heard em. i never partic feel like getting into any serious psychoanalysis with her though - that homely, personable everygirl voice defeats me every time, just like a baby nivea

― r|t|c, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

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