Rolling R&B Thread 2009

Alright, so I guess it's time to make this thread. 2008 was an excellent year for R&B - both mainstream and underground - and 2009 looks to be just as good! We've got albums scheduled to come out from:

Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, The-Dream, Fantasia, Usher, Teedra Moses, Ciara, Toni Braxton, Tweet, D'Angelo, Amerie, Bilal, Maxwell, Kelis, LeToya Luckett, Omarion, Alice Smith, Amy Winehouse, Faith Evans, J. Holiday, Monica, Mario, Estelle, JoJo, Brandon Hines, Cassie, India Aire, Trey Songz, etc.

and a few notable debuts:

J*Davey
Janelle Monae
Keri Hilson - In A Perfect World... (LOL)
Muffy
Marsha Ambrosius
Sophia Fresh
Electrik Red

So yeah, what are you looking forward to? And how was your 2008 R&B-wise?

Amy Winehouse is RnB?

Also, don't forget Missy!

What else would she be?

Crap Soul?

"..."

I have eyedrops that are really good for that

http://i39.tinypic.com/wci7af.gif shut up

good way to start off the thread - can't wait for what the rest of the year has in store

haha yeah i can't stand Winehouse but please let's not have this fucking argument, at least not until she actually drops anything new.

i'm still holding out hope that the Ryan Leslie album will drop anytime soon, it really seemed like his singles did well enough in '08 to release it but i guess not.

i'm totally biting that jill scott gif sometime btw

08 was really good but i have high hopes, especially for hilson, ciara and leslie

super psyched for cassie, the-dream, r leslie, d'angelo, badu, ciara and hilson.

Psyched for all the obvious ones, especially after 2008 opened my ears to the joys of R&B, but I really can't wait to see what Janelle unleashes on us. The Chase Suite was revelatory and funky and completely unexpected, and I'm dying to get some more material from her.

was talking about this in another thread earlier, but i just found a youtube:

Thanks, nice work, etc., lex! (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/dec/30/cassie-unreleased-album)

oh thanks, i actually had no idea that went up! yeah, hyped for cassie and ciara especially, though not holding out much hope for either to be actually released. y'all have seen ciara's comic book concept/"supa c" alter ego, right? it looks really cool but a pity that it's coming so hot on the heels of sasha fierce.

teedra's album could be quite special, 'so kool' was v promising, and she's a genius and stuff. am definitely down with all the new dream stuff (how big is 'rockin' that thang'! and i even love 'let me see the booty' now), hopefully he'll get some UK crossover this time round. will be interesting to see what sophia fresh can do with the girl group format too - 'what it is' is an underrated jam.

when's erykah's baby due? i can't see her being the type to plunge into an album promo cycle when she has other things on her mind.

janelle's PR tells me that bad boy are going to get really behind her promo this year...

Rye Rye album will be pretty great despite balti-frankenbeat backlash

she's an R&B singer?

you know, unlike amy winehouse

well, I figure if amy winehouse is an r'n'b singer, we're being pretty liberal

here

wow had no idea there was a connection between this dumb argument and your last dumb argument, thank you for connecting the dots.

I wasn't trying to have some dumb argument

and yet you succeeded

lol zings

i like the keyshia cole from last year. her best album yet imo, shes kinda less naggy

i think the akon was really underrated also

I like "Right Na Na Na", but couldn't even make it through the whole album.

the first half of the album is all good though

its only towards the end where i start shrugging

'keep you much longer' is the most house-sounding beat on an R&B album yet

that akon album is basically a house album

it's also awful

"beautiful" is a good single though

the slow songs are bad, the fast songs are good
that basically how i break it down to an extent

the kardinal offishal rap is good

Ciara's second first single "Never Ever":

not sure about this one....

I mean, it's nice enough in a "Love In This Club" sweet mid-tempo type way, but when she has songs like "Echo" and "I'm On" and "Work" that might not even make the album and she releases this? I just don't get it.

yeah otm

i hope it's a huge hit so her album will come out

i really don't know why she's suddenly lost faith in her superlative dance tracks. i like 'never ever' but the hype was making me expect something of the quality of 'echo' or 'work' or 'i'm on'. (oddly another track, 'one favor', leaked last week, and it's really incredible - about as close as she's come to recapturing the spirit of 'promise', of all these efforts to rewrite the thing.)

I'm kinda loving "Never Ever," plus thank god she did something too straightforward for her to make another video with that lame sci fi/comic book angle. I'm not real into the other leaks, "Echo" is OK but I think she made the right choice for now. Also digging that one with The-Dream, "Keep Dancing."

wowowowow matt was 100% right about the anthony hamilton!!!! this. fucking. album.

his VOICE on 'fallin in love'

i kind of dont like it. or its just like, ok. its so much like everything else hes done. i feel like the first anthony hamilton album you hear is the one you will like the most but in the end hes kinda one note

i mean, i LOVED 'comin from where im from.' but every successive album is like, whats the point of all this

lol hence the title

damn, not sure I like the Anthony Hamilton as much as Matt does, but it's v. good

hilson at 85 on the hot 100, dream enters at 95 - maybe we got some albums coming out finally...

Keri Hilson is about as famous as anyone pre-album now right?

Seems like a good time

hilson actually seems oddly un-famous, despite her songwriting rep and presence on bona fide hits. can't think why this wasn't put out sooner after 'the way i are', though as much as i like some of her songs, she seems a bit too chameleonic to be an easy sell as a pop star...jill of all trades, mistress of none. ie, you can hear she's a songwriter.

yeah, for a long time I think was way more into the idea of her -- beauty n brains, hot girl who can write good songs -- whereas now i've heard her voice more and gotten used to it, but still not crazy about it or convinced that she has 'star quality.' still really wanna hear the album before i make up my mind about her, though.

Shakin' It 4 Daddy hook -- "She's shakin' it for daddy, she's shakin' it for me" -- makes it sound like Alan is there w/ Robin.

haha i have definitely written some half-assed posts lately w/ my 2 month-old son in my lap demanding my attention

i just assume when im chatting with you its actually him

i didn't even teach him to hate OJ Da Juiceman, i think it's a hereditary trait

listening to 'mahogany' now and oh yeah so it is, thanx. (have never heard that album.) tsk well that is less fun.

http://thisisareallybadidea.tumblr.com/post/278165059/amerie-6-shes-pretty-but-no-swag

jesus

i can't believe i just read that.

uh are you guys scandalised by the original interview or something this blogger's saying? i mean i agree regrading amerie to an 11 is probably a bit excessive but then you know how indie types be.

lol

what did u think of the amerie album?

i only heard the single which i was not feeling

i think it's pretty forgettable unfortunately, some talk starting here Rolling R&B Thread 2009

yeah haven't been particularly compelled to go back to it - some serious doldrums. this is why i concur with breezy's 6/10, you just gotta look at the formbook sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJK0L0J2GAk

dope cut from the 03 golden age honey s/t i forgot ever existed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkyUW8RF35k

surprised no one's mentioned this yet btw? starts off the teensiest bit unconvincing in the way that all nu-sassy-richcraft-is-trying-to-grab-your-attention stuff does, but real heads will know to wait for the 2 minute mark.

was not feeling the amerie album either. too by-the-numbers and stripped down

basically if you see the cover art you will instantly know what it's about, though you will hope and pray otherwise.

haha just going back to that indie zing it was pretty lol when i went to see what all the fuss was about when peeps were spitting fire about the idolator coup destroying everything it stood so bravely for and then like the new guy's third post was an "oh noes why will no one buy this amerie album" thing

Shakin' It 4 Daddy hook -- "She's shakin' it for daddy, she's shakin' it for me" -- makes it sound like Alan is there w/ Robin.

― Andy K, Thursday, December 10, 2009 5:48 PM (Yesterday)

best part of this is that our man apparently gets sloppy seconds to his pops

song sux tho

amerie album is decent but v predictable

suitable chris brown replacement imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v99auFFNX0&annotation_id=annotation_552975&feature=iv

THIS IS AWESOME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uicmes6fBMk

i can never remember what we've talked about here or elsewhere, apols if we've covered this already - really feeling it though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAjpf6BZGEY

Yes, loving that.

lloyd! free 8-track ep! this is really awesome stuff

http://younggoldie.blogspot.com/2009/12/like-me-young-goldie-ep-download-it-now.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0iBK7V7rwU

love this dork. kinda hated the album the first time at first, but it's growing on me. jay, cudi, and minaj all being on one album is unforgivable, tho, for real

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swod5asBd8A

working on a top 100 r&b singles of the decade... still in planning stages tho... anyone else doing decade retrospectives?

that omarion song is awful but the video is cool (tho cheap looking)

I fux with the song. It's no "I Get It In" tho

my top 200 singles list is shaping up to be at least 25% R&B

working on a top 100 r&b singles of the decade... still in planning stages tho... anyone else doing decade retrospectives?

Yes, but time for follow-through will be problematic. Hoping to do a pair of top 40s -- one for charting singles and one for other stuff (noncharting/noncommercial/album tracks that deserved better, etc.).

polow da don production on Usher/Nicki Minaj - Lil' Freak
really dark and ugly and awesome and fun to replay. strangest use of stevie wonder i've heard in a while, sounds like it's been run through a gameboy.
Really really really want to hear this usher album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJELrUHq2sI

Nicki drives me nuts cuz i kinda like her flow but she just has the dumbest conceivable lyrics

whoa

nice beat, shame about usher

that is one grandiose beat. ushers so weedy sounding though isnt he? crap lyrics too.

same sort of thing with omarions song - good beat, crap everything else.

well i kinda like usher on it. Lyrics are dumb as fuck, yeah. I assume this is part of his post-marriage concept: some "i'm a pimp" songs, some "i'm so hurt", some "i'm movin' on", etc.

all situated in the redemptive confines of The Club, of course...

yeah, i imagine Usher's redemptive domestic abuse center album would likely be a bit less commercial

i wouldn't be surprised if they switch to the minaj song but afaik this is usher's next single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWwN6TEch8A

the 'swedish mixtape cartel'??

ja, undt ve are so icee mit da schväg ja
shmorgy shmorgy shmorgy

no that's german

tell that to these ballaz
http://www.funnypictures.net.au/images/celebrities-and-muppets-dr-phil-and-swedish-chef.jpg

anybody wanna start a '10 thread?
anyways, this sounds like the weakest Usher track yet, kind of a take on 'my life would suck without you' from an asshole's perspective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wPWXR5SP8Y

Rolling R&B Thread 2010

"how does it feel" is an all-time masterpiece, thank you miss keri