Rolling R&B Thread 2007

(I'm popping onto this thread to mention ten days after the discussion that I am shocked and amazed that everything off the Diddy album that's gotten radio play has been great. That's all, fucking off now...)

The album itself is great.

I'm glad Dan used the "everything that's gotten radio play" qualifier instead of just saying "all the singles" or I might've gotten the impression he liked that shitty song with Aguilera.

They played that one to death in the Boston area. I think it's really excellent (but in general Christina has to really try to make me dislike a song she's singing, her first album aside).

I dunno, I think it's the first song where she actually sounds like Britney and has that weird Daffy Duck quality to her voice. I'm glad R&B radio didn't mess with it like they did "Come To Me" and "Last Night" (I guess it did well on pop stations?).

She only really does that on the chorus, though; the pre-chorus hooks are basically Christina singing comfortably in her middle voice without belting. Plus that beat is monstrous.

Eh, vaguely dancey nu-Just Blaze beats just aren't doing it for me, especially compared to the weird hyped up hip house vibe he was flirting with back in 03/04.

xpost: J Holiday's "Bed" is absolutely fantastic. Not quite on the level of "Promise" or "Umbrella" (though, I agree, it sort of sounds like a mixture of the two), but it's so sensual and sumptuous and rich. Amazing.

Some other songs I'm feeling:

Chilli (Of TLC) - Gliding : http://youtube.com/watch?v=xuljAR0g1gU

Candy Hill - Juicy : http://youtube.com/watch?v=yu-9N49qKlw

"Juicy" is totally a throwback to late 90s/ early 00s.. like we were talking about in that Toya thread. It sort of sounds like 3LW.

"Tell Me" is the best single from Press Play so far. It's all about Diddy's unwarrantedly aggro rapping. Really though, there's like five more singles from that album. I have to put in a mention for "Special Feeling", because no one talks about it and it's just about the best thing ever. Diddy should cover "Irresistable Bitch".

the switch remix of 'tell me' is monumental - the a cappella break! makes xtina's chorus sound like the most towering, powerful thing ever! - but i'm always disappointed when i go back to the original.

I'm fucking sick of boring hispanic r&b-lite right now.

Actually, scratch that. It's just Paula DeAnda.

So.. how awful is the new Ashanti song "Switch"? Geesh, 3 years and that's what she comes up with?

I haven't heard it, but that's exactly what I felt about the Lumidee comeback single. I like the last thing Ashanti did w/ Paul Wall & Method Man & the Masta Ace beat.

2007 is shaping up to be a great year R&B-wise, with new albums slated to come out by Teedra Moses, Musiq, Bilal, Erykah Badu (!!!), Faith Evans, Amerie, Tweet, Jill Scott, Lloyd, Beyonce, and a bunch of others.

so where are most of these

Teedra - first single is circulating, samples Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell
Musiq - album has been out for a while now.. it's pretty okay
Bilal - shelved I guess
Badu - album due out later this year
Faith Evans - same as badu
Tweet - same
Jill Scott - First single "Hate On Me" has been out for a few weeks, it's really good.
Beyoncé - I don't know, I sort of doubt that she's going to put an album out this year.

Anyway, I'm totally addicted the new Mya single "Ridin" .. and the new Angie Stone single with Betty Wright (!!!!!) is totally funky and awesome.

Also:

MARY J and CHAKA KHAN "Disrepectful" - produced by Jiimmy Jam & Terri Lewis and sounds like RICH HARRISON. It's a total clusterfuck diva screamfest.

DETROIT (Billboard) - Soul legend Al Green says it's been all love and happiness working on his next album -- a duets project produced by Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson that will feature collaborations with Anthony Hamilton, D'Angelo and possibly Alicia Keys and Joss Stone.
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Green told Billboard.com that he and the Roots already have laid down 15 songs at Electric Lady Studios in New York for the tentatively titled "The Duet Album." Blue Note sources told Billboard.com that they're trying to arrange studio time for Green in August, September and October. They hope the album will be finished by November, with an early 2008 release expected.

"It's turning out to be like fresh cream, man, like fresh milk from the cow's titty, baby," Green gushed. "We wrote these songs right off the (studio) floor and cut 'em right there that same day.

"It's the Roots band playing the music, producing the music, and they let Al sing what he sings and sing with these other people," he said. "I've never heard anything quite like it, 'cause I've never had anybody produce me other than Willie Mitchell. And when you give these young kids a shot at it, it's interesting to see the art they make. It's beautiful."

Green said there's a pronounced hip-hop flavor to the music, but it will contain no rapping. "That's all you need. Don't mess with it, baby," he said.

The album might be something of a departure for Green, but he'll make his familiar sweet soul music this summer as part of the B.B. King Blues Festival 2007, which also features Etta James. Green said the thrill is most definitely not gone in being on the road with King, who, like Green, established his career in Memphis.

"He's the real-deal godfather, if you will, the real-deal person in reference to the blues," Green said of King. "I mean, he played on Beale Street when he was young. And after all these years he's remained true to his calling and is still singing those songs people oughta love -- just like I do."

YES

MARY J and CHAKA KHAN "Disrepectful" - produced by Jiimmy Jam & Terri Lewis and sounds like RICH HARRISON. It's a total clusterfuck diva screamfest.

This will be either the best of worst song of the year.

HOLY SHIT. "Disrespectful" kicks ass! Mostly 'cause of Chaka.

WEHRE DID U FIND THIS?

Where I find the world: Youtube

(hype machine has it, too)

Oh, right.

Can't wait for this. http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news?id=35113http://www.mywebsite.com/mylink.htmlhttp://www.entertainmentwise.com/news?id=35113

Some newer songs I'm loving at the mo

J. Lo - Do It Well [Yet another J.Lo single that uses a classic hip hop break, this time it's Eddie Kendricks "Keep On Truckin'", and like all of the other ones it's AWESOME. Her other single "Hold It Don't Drop It" is great as well.]

Mya - Ridin [THIS SONG IS SO GOOD]

The Dream - Shawty Is A Ten/Shawty Is Da Shit [This dude is the mastermind behind "Umbrella".. this is sort of R. Kelly/T-Pain/Akon/Sean Kingston-lite, but whatever it's way catchy]

Angie Stone & Betty Wright - Baby [SO RAW.. I think this song is about D'Angelo.]

I also really like the "Make Me Better" remix with Lil' Mo (where the hell has she been? lol). Fab & Mo make a nice team. And that new Nicole Scherzinger song.

Also, allegedly Badu's new album is called The Kamah and is coming out mid-October.

dream could stand to slow down with any solo manoeuvring just yet. 'shawty' ain't bad i suppose but it kinda pisses me off on some vague shark-jumping level? i think he also wrote the j.holiday, a factoid i'm trying to forget cos that fucking song is so irresistable, especially when you let it be its own homespun karaoke everyman listening to the radio thing. something, i dunno... protean. like, the bed as a restful thing too! i dunno.

and this is gonna sound strange but i really like the bit in the video where he's driving thru the desert and passes this giant white oil tanker. this big functional thing, going somewhere and back. making glugging noises. just like the song!! haha i think i've turned it into wichita lineman or something.

the polow mix of fantasia's 'when i see u' is really really good too. al was right about it being a great song in the first place, so i was thinking it a fools errand for polow to try and turn it out to the clubs - but no! polow does this brilliant rap on the intro that manages to set up this sorta weird frustration in the song, something almost voyeuristic in fantasia's girly blushing crush so's he can then make it swell with looming pash vibes, until it breaks with this glorious cresting release for the bridge. "that's why i didn't understand, i had a million dollar plan / guess all you really wanted was a man" is a fantastic line, and such a strange angle to come at this particular song with, don't you think?. proper remix.

quite soft on paula campbell's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Spucr7Ia0";>'ain't nobody stupid'</a> also

guh nobody except me obv

(aight whoever's blog this is, come out and say ¡hola!. i know you're reading.)

As much as I like T-Pain and can even occasionally make a case for Akon, the whole army of dudes who are so-so singers autotuning the hell out of their voices (Sean Kingston/J. Holiday/The Dream/Ray-L) are kinda killing R&B radio for me right now.

Paula Campbell's 2004 independent album was really big around Baltimore and a personal favorite of mine (seek out "Take You Home" and "How Does It Feel" if you can), but nothing she's released since signing to Sony has really grabbed me. It's kind of exciting recently that she's hooked up with Ne-Yo and is supposedly having Ciara direct her video, though, maybe she'll get out of label purgatory and drop an album this year.

Also excited that the Amerie album's finally getting a U.S. release. Just when I was about to get fed up and go DL a copy or hit up amazon.co.uk or something, I hear that it's coming out next week.

"As much as I like T-Pain and can even occasionally make a case for Akon, the whole army of dudes who are so-so singers autotuning the hell out of their voices (Sean Kingston/J. Holiday/The Dream/Ray-L) are kinda killing R&B radio for me right now."

I've definitely felt this for a while now. I love the songs, but the non-vocals kinda hurt me. This was exacerbated by listening to this masterful collection this morning:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Pf1%2BC4c3L._SS500_.jpg

I've also been listening to lots of Steve Arrington (aka the original Keith Sweat) and Slave stuff. Both of these guys had that same nasal-y/flat voice that Akon/T-Pain kinda remind me of, but they weren't auto-tuning (well they couldn't, but still) and it sounded so much better for it. Of course, I suspect these new guys are auto-tuning because they have to, so I don't expect them to leave it behind.

Also excited that the Amerie album's finally getting a U.S. release. Just when I was about to get fed up and go DL a copy or hit up amazon.co.uk or something, I hear that it's coming out next week.

Naturally, I just ordered a copy off import.

quite a good point there, about keith sweat etc. i have to say i don't always notice autotune on songs as much as some people seem to, unless it's a particularly egregious example like yeah, that shitty t-pain b-side calling itself ray lavender. i'd like to think autotune will always transcend its ubiquity if employed at just the right moment of painful robo-vulnerability, but maybe not anymore.

(affecting but also hilarious 2006 loser anthem classic 'lucky you' to thread obv)

that new chris brown with t-pain is a bit of a shocker too. why let yourself be all vocodered chris! is that wise! his new album's gotta be the most desperately mismanaged major label thingy in ages by the looks of it.

having said that, the tune still gets a 10/10 just for chris' lyric

AND MY ANATOMY IS BIRDLIKE

YEAH, YOU HEARD RIGHT

!!

haha yeah the 'birdlike' line really made me do a doubletake the first time I heard it. I am really taking joy in Chris Brown's flailing failure with one single and then desperation to latch onto another R&B star with another, my schadenfreude for him is like how most people feel about 50 Cent right now.

This thread! Thank you so much for "When I See You (Remix)"!!

Fantasia singing "SO SEXY BOY!" = wins the entire universe.

for me it's still "SOMETHING NOW IS TAKING OVER ME" with polow cranking the wind machine up to 10 billion, that bit is just amazing

had to listen again, it really is like an exorcism or something

re chris brown again: haha a part of me kinda suspects t-pain might be fucking with chris deliberately! i'm probably just playing dollshouse again but somewhere inbetween that v funny intro ("what them boys gon do for me?! bah!!!") and ooh, this little thing makes me think t-pain isn't above abusing his position a little now he's on top

Ha ha yes! It kinda upsets me that Fantasia hasn't had a bigger career. She really has the most ridiculously great OTT voice.

yes, i must listen to her album. today in fact.

what did u think of nicole 'whatever you like' in the end btw? the video's um... arresting (until that bit when she's eyedeep in the water and i think "ooh, like pharoahe monche!" THAT'S PROBABLY JUST ME THOUGH) but it still strikes me as a bit all bark hollow bite personally

Yeah I was a bit underwhelmed by it. Sort of a mixture of "Beep" and "Like This", except that it's not really very catchy or well-constructed like "Beep", and certainly not as astonishing as "Like This". Nicole is a bit wasted on understated-vocal tracks (whereas Kelly is perfect sounding like she's carefully measuring each phrase).

oh i'm glad ur into 'like this'! thought it was just me, and maybe al. i did indeed grow to love kelly's album.

btw what is up with that bizarrely millenial insistence on kelly having some sort of shoddy-looking LIVE WEBCAST of the party she's hosting in the 'like this' vid!! so deliciously dated.

Yeah, "Like This" is great, although the album did nothing for me in the couple of listens I got in before temporarily misplacing during a recent move. I think "Love" (the Solange co-write!) was the only other song that really grabbed me, let me know what else I should be listening for if/when I relocate the disc.

"Whatever U Like" could have legs for me but right now it's just kinda...there, and the goofy "hot as a stove" stuff would probably work better if it was someone more like, say, Fergie. She's still a really underrated vocalist and I like most of what she's been on so far, but I kinda have to wonder if there's any reason for a Scherzinger solo album right now, although maybe the rumored relationship w/ Iovine is the only reason she needs to make it happen. But seriously, I'm sure the Pussycat Dolls machine could use a new album to keep the reality show going and all (unless the 'next doll' they search for is one who can actually sing lead to replace Nicole?), and it's not like she's going to do something really stylistically different from the PCD album, or like PCD had any qualms about putting her upfront and singing I/me lyrics instead of us/we lyrics before. Still haven't got my head around "Super Villain" to say anything about it either way.

"btw what is up with that bizarrely millenial insistence on kelly having some sort of shoddy-looking LIVE WEBCAST of the party she's hosting in the 'like this' vid!! so deliciously dated."

That's very early 00s J Lo.

Can anyone else hear the Coldplay influence on "Better without You"?