Rolling R&B Thread 2007

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haha rev. otm

why must everything come back to grindin

― deej, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

Okay, so this Rihanna track is pretty good. The way she says "umb-er-ella" cracks me up. Lex, yr. right about the power-ballad-ness of it.

― The Reverend, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

Beyond the obvious minimalistic connection, they ("Lip Gloss" and "Grindin'") both remind me of high school so much...Grindin' has that slamming locker sound, which I try to emulate every time I see a row of open lockers (like twice so far this year!), and also that confident, braggish air that so many teenage guys walk around with. And "Lip Gloss" is like an anthem for all high school girls and was written by a teenager.

― Tape Store, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

Anyone know what's up with that Anthony Hamilton album that came out yesterday?

― The Brainwasher, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

it's another old one re-issued

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 23:21 (nineteen years ago)

so nothing on Macy Gray? she writes songs with Teedra Moses....

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know, I don't think I'll ever be able t get over her voice. I've heard two songs from Big and they did sound pretty okay... but that voice of hers, it's so irritating.

― The Brainwasher, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

it's another old one re-issued

Damn, how many old albums does he have. "Merovingian Records", huh?

― Jordan, Thursday, 5 April 2007 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

Dear The Brainwasher:

Annoying? Perhaps. Unusual? Yes. Evocative? Oh yeah.

― Dimension 5ive, Thursday, 5 April 2007 02:57 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

I'll give the album a try, Dimension. I've found myself humming "Finally Made Me Happy" a lot recently.

OH MY GOD @ the new Chrisette Michele single "Good Girl"

http://www.myspace.com/chrisettemichele

― The Brainwasher, Saturday, 21 April 2007 05:04 (nineteen years ago)

The new Ne-Yo album is pretty good. Starts off sounding pretty much like his first one, not exciting at this point, but accomplished. About track 5 or so, it gets more interesting, "Addicted" cracks me up with its R. Kelly as Al Green-isms and awesome chorus. "Leaving Tonight" is a good duet w/ Jennifer Hudson. "Ain't Thinking About You" & "Sex With My Ex" ride these really weird, unpredictable drum programs, and are both pretty demented. After that, it gets all twee, which might not have been quite as noticeable if we hadn't jumped straight from "Sex With My Ex" to "Angel", and then it ends more or less as it began.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 26 April 2007 06:15 (nineteen years ago)

the ne-yo's occasionally very listenable and pleasant n stuff, but seriously if u go and listen to the first album again u will know it is but a mirage and that to compare the two is really a massive insult! i'm very disappointed.

also oh dear god, 'sex with my ex'!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even speaking as a guy who's listened to the sa-ra album, that has got to be the worst prince impression ever ever. it's secretly my fave song tho tbh.

― r|t|c, Thursday, 26 April 2007 22:23 (nineteen years ago)

that has got to be the worst prince impression ever ever. it's secretly my fave song tho tbh.

Haha, otm.

I've only listened to this once, so I'm not prepared to make any judgments versus the first album, though on one listen it didn't strike me as significantly better or worse. I wouldn't consider myself disappointed at all though, although my expectations weren't all that high.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 26 April 2007 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

i recommend the first unreservedly, it's a classic! also not to be a total downer but there were about 10 songs from around then that never came out that pwned this album too. whenever it is i find the cd i made of them i'll come back and get into them maybe.

in other news i'm really feeling this guy alot

http://myspace.com/noelgourdin

he's kinda like jaheim if jaheim was good!

― r|t|c, Thursday, 26 April 2007 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

oh al's a jaheim man isnt he? i didn't really mean it.

sometimes i wonder to myself, will lex like a new tiffany evans with ciara on a collipark beat??? probably not.

― r|t|c, Thursday, 26 April 2007 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

haha I did like the last Jaheim album, but not really enough to be insulted by that.

― Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 26 April 2007 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

Cratedigger's Thursday, for listening & reading, on PaperThinWalls, starting with mine: http://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item/id=688

― dow, Friday, 27 April 2007 00:04 (nineteen years ago)

'cept I left out the ?; should be: http://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item?id=688 And to make up for that, one more, from Indianapolis: http://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item?id=493

― dow, Friday, 27 April 2007 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

will lex like a new tiffany evans with ciara on a collipark beat???

whaaaat does this exist or are you teasing

― lex pretend, Friday, 27 April 2007 10:16 (nineteen years ago)

i'm not a monster, sadly.

http://www.myspace.com/tiffanyevansmusic

http://www.zshare.net/audio/tiffany-evans-promise-ring-feat-ciara-mp3.html

― r|t|c, Friday, 27 April 2007 10:39 (nineteen years ago)

i love how its all soppy moving but then gets all perky with "if u break yr promise we breaking up / gotta keep the things that i want!"

― r|t|c, Friday, 27 April 2007 10:45 (nineteen years ago)

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n266/bfrederline/ciaratiff.jpg

ha ha

― r|t|c, Friday, 27 April 2007 11:44 (nineteen years ago)

ciara's a big, strong girl!

cannot wait cannot wait to hear this.

― lex pretend, Friday, 27 April 2007 11:58 (nineteen years ago)

oh yeah i forgot u met her! jealous. that wz a good article btw,

"When I decided I wanted to be an entertainer, it was like turning a switch on. The switch of perfection."

is officially the best thing ive ever heard

― r|t|c, Friday, 27 April 2007 12:03 (nineteen years ago)

thanks! she is the only sleb i've met/seen in person who's actually bigger than she looks in mags & on tv. also, drop dead gorgeous.

she was so serious about being perfect

― lex pretend, Friday, 27 April 2007 12:42 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't picked up the new Ne-Yo yet, but I loved his last one. I was wondering if this one was gonna kinda disappear (relatively speaking of course). Sure it's just been released, but I haven't heard nearly as much about it pre-release-wise as his last and "Because of You" just seemed to be going nowhere. But then suddenly it appears at #5 in the Hot 100 today. I guess I was maybe wrong.

― matt2, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

posted this in rolling teenpop thread but Asia from the pussycat dolls reality show is the daughter of Joe Bataan!

― deej, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:33 (nineteen years ago)

I think any song by a fairly popular artist jumps into the top 10 as soon as it hits iTunes now, doesn't really reflect airplay or how much people actually like the song. I kind of hate "Because of You," and the first album was just OK for me even though I liked all the singles besides "Sexy Love," so I'm probably gonna skip the new one.

― Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

also: someone explain the appeal of "Get It Shawty" to me. it's the first Lloyd single I haven't liked at all, but people seem to love it. although it might just be my weird personal hangup on not liking any song that seems like it would work better at a completely different tempo (also my problem with "Because of You").

― Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

It's the first Lloyd single I've liked. It's all about the contrast between the light textures of the synths/vocals and the popping beatz.

I didn't like "Because of You" at first but it's grown on me some. It still isn't as good as any of the singles off his first. It's getting tons of airplay, (here, at least) btw.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

x-post

That's bizarre--five minutes ago I was going to step in here and ask if anyone could recommend the Lloyd album becasue I love the single so much!

The Ne-Yo album is okay, but a bit blasé, though I have a feeling some songs might sound better if they're singles--his stuff's just not very immediate.

― sw00ds, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

anyway, i mostly love the stuttery-freestyle beat on "shawty" and the sampled vocals which sound like raindrops on the chorus (and the reference to Frankie Beverley in the rap seems funny).

― sw00ds, Thursday, 3 May 2007 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

I can't explain the appeal "Get It Shawty" because I really don't like it either.

On the Ne-Yo tip, you're right. But I guess I was surprised it would even get enough download sales to land that highly, even though I shouldn't be. These days, it seems the way to get the most sales overall really is the Matthew Knowles rapid-fire approach of a new single every month for like six months (an exaggeration, but only slightly and it seemed that way). That way non-album buying folks (the majority of music buyers at this poitn I would think) will keep buying up a new single every month, nearly buying the album a song at a time. Who cares if each single (Irreplaceable being the exception) only stays in the top 10 for two weeks.

― matt2, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i agree, that seems like the way of the future. I liked the B'Day approach, though! if an artist is big enough to milk 4-6 singles from an album, they should just keep 'em coming instead of letting each one get played out for 3 months.

― Alex in Baltimore, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

i love 'get it shawty' - one of my favourite singles this year. the production is amazing, gorgeously textured BURSTS of sound, that stutter-beat floating somewhere above it and those awesomely sonorous, chilly synths which are slightly reminiscent of 'me & u', it's v intimate...on headphones every sound is so wonderfully isolated. lloyd really sells it too, i love the way hysterical over-emotional singing contrasts with the languid sound and the flat guest raps (missy rehashing a verse from 'i'm really hot' right?)

― lex pretend, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

oh yeah that tiff/ciara single is great! rtc otm about the amusing sudden perkiness

― lex pretend, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

err ok i wrote this and had to go do something before u all posted, i'll just leave it:

oh that's true, about the tempo. but i seem to enjoy it, and do you really notice it when those tunes come on. moreso than that, there's maybe a kind of vague wrongness in that that's appealing, things not being quite right - so much of what works with 'get it shawty' works counterintuitively, like it's apparently a confident seduction song on a freestylish summerjam beat that references 'pump up the jam' in the chorus, yet what do you really hear? the beat is the sound of ghosts haunting nothing in particular, the pumpupthejam ref is so indistinct u have to force yourself to notice, and lloyd comes across as really passive somehow (he manages this trick all thru the album as well, often more explicitly than this) (not just cos he's a wispy ladyboy either.) basically i'm saying it's a sad sounding song! for summer!

none of which really says why it's great all by itself. but compared to other, bigger rnb jams around 'get it shawty' seems so nonobvious and empty even that it's kinda hard not to fill in the blanks yourself and make it a favourite cause.

― r|t|c, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

oh i also wanted to put that the way he starts the verses with "i guess i can let this woman slip awaaaaay / the night drift awaaay" is just... yeah, the main thing

― r|t|c, Thursday, 3 May 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

btw i've come to enjoy the lloyd alb as time's gone by, but it's got quite a modest unassuming thing going that i can't really nail right now. also i listened to the bobby valentino and joe albums in a row today and my, um, palate's totally ruined for today. piss weak stuff from the pair of them! both their songs with fabolous are their best by far.

― r|t|c, Thursday, 3 May 2007 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

o yeah, did anyone like that noel gourdin guy upthread? i won't bite.

― r|t|c, Thursday, 3 May 2007 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

I missed your mention of him the first time. I quite like "Your the One", he's got a strong voice. Don't hate on Jaheim though, he's got some great songs (though alot of his stuff is uber-cheesy...).

Some other songs I'm feeling at the 'mo:

LeMarvin - Thug Like Me ( http://www.myspace.com/lemarvin )

I don't believe for a minute that he's a "thug" but I love this song anyway. It's so syrupy sweet.

Steph Jones - http://www.myspace.com/stephjones2

In a thread about John Legend's last album someone mentioned that he felt there was a recurring theme of "50s/60s pop squareness" ... this guy takes it a bit further. The songs on his myspace are a bit rough but he has potential. (He's recently been signed to DefJam)

Haven't picked up Ne-Yo's record yet, have to do that by the end of the week. And yeah I love "Get it Shawty".. it's just so laid-back and chill.

― The Brainwasher, Friday, 4 May 2007 01:14 (nineteen years ago)

someone mentioned that he felt there was a recurring theme of "50s/60s pop squareness" ...

Would be me. This Steph Jones stuff is pretty interesting.

― The Reverend, Friday, 4 May 2007 02:41 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

moving this over:

nelly furtado - say it right (reggae rmx)

i can imagine this working so well. is it a kyaal style rmx?

-- lex pretend

erm, str8er down the line reggae this time; less of the kyaal's cutesy xmas tinsel chintz, and with an, i guess, subtler relationship to its material. obv the reggae lilt instantly adds much needed warmth - cos after all, who ever remembers the "you could mean everything to me" kicker in the og, even tho it's not supposed to be a song of rejection - but the genius of it is the way they stick in a sweetly persuasive singjay bloke and reshape it into a duet: "noo you don't mean nothing at all to me" / "- you don't mean that, girl". so it kinda humanizes the defensiveness of the thing, basically, turns it into a situation, when all you had before was skyscrapers and helicopters and corny guitar solo and timbaland's fat face mouthing the african tribesmen he sampled or whatever. get off the screen you fuck!! sorry, where was i.

(also it kinda proves no one gives a shit about this song when nelly can drop a lyric like "from my mouth i could sing you another brick that i laid" and nobody steps up for the easy zing?)

more than anything tho the chorus just sounds so much sweeter and gently buoyant and stuff on this rmx! and nelly's got good form here cos the reggae mix of 'turn off the lights' wway back when was also v brill.

i fucking love reggae remixes so much.

― r|t|c, Saturday, 19 May 2007 20:16 (nineteen years ago)

i love them too. heard the reggae remix of "No Diggity"? the most bad-ass thing ever.

disco remixes of R&B aren't a bad idea either, judging by this

― Mind Taker, Saturday, 19 May 2007 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

ahh good to see u back dude! i wz gonna fire up the ukg thread again the other day but thought my slav work ethic alone is not enough.

that disco shit is NICE

― r|t|c, Saturday, 19 May 2007 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

this no diggity mix yeah? agreed.

― r|t|c, Saturday, 19 May 2007 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

yeah that's the one!

anyway, my fave R&B blend of '07 is Thicke's "Lost Without You" vs Lil Scrappy's "Oh Yeah" from some Michael Watts/Paul Wall mixtape (i didn't hear it in its entirety, a friend just alerted me to that tune)

― Mind Taker, Saturday, 19 May 2007 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

i think it must be the only rnb blend ive heard this year, but the benja styles dancehall mix of beyonce 'upgrade u' is cool, if a lil perfunctory

also, just to reverse the ting - turns out that rollerjam 'clothes off' tune of nina sky's was produced by black chiney?! impressed. so much less awkward than something south rakkas would do.

― r|t|c, Saturday, 19 May 2007 21:50 (nineteen years ago)

lol!!!! ... this is not the best rnb blend of 07

― r|t|c, Saturday, 19 May 2007 23:45 (nineteen years ago)

what the hell did big boi do to janelle monae

― r|t|c, Monday, 21 May 2007 01:24 (nineteen years ago)

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