Rolling R&B Thread 2012

Man, I seriously underrated Elle Varner's album, it is so great. so very very great. very jazmine somehow. and yet not at all.

shanell got one spin and i love a lot of it, but don't have time to fall madly in love with it until wednesday night.

http://singersroom.com/content/2012-12-19/JoJo-Agape/

been anticipating this jojo mixtape for a while now

dling now

'we get by' was some underrated dopeness

even if i do spend its duration bracing myself for a talib kweli appearance

^^thoughts i had when listening to this - i don't know whether she's jazzed up the arrangement a bit or not but it sounds amazing here as opposed to okay before

"white girl in paris" is not a twist on jay-z/kanye but a joni mitchell cover!!!

"these colonial beams and bricks are just not enough to hold me / all I got are my hopes and dreams and this cranberry Stoli" is a kind of joniesque lyric!

yeah, agape is great.

i had messed up internet so i was only streaming it for a while but it's really lovely, esp. for this time of year.

been p into the omarion ep tape thing, the song w/ joe buddens, him aside, makes me nostalgic for peak era the-dream somehow. he'd give it better hooks but it's still p nice

JoJo mixtape is so good, love the control in her voice and the jazzy touches and the California feel

we fucking with ratchet&b? i love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02JMBhxufJw

hate that song, although it can't help that out here they only play the version with French Montana

yeah i chose not to listen to that version... seems totally unnecessary

taking iamsu! off a snappy LA hit is just so wrong... same thing with "up"

only version of "up" i was into was the one w/ whoever the singer dude was (skipper?) doing a more melodic take of the chorus -- heard that one first and when radio seemed to prefer playing the version w/o him i lost all interest in the song

i fux with "who booty"

r&b game travis porter

also reminds me of something else from ages ago in r&b that i'm too holiday mode to bother trying to remember, it'll come to me

i thought it was bobby valentino the first few times i heard it

hmm never heard of 'who booty', look fwd to checking it out

'rock body' by bobby v was kind of a grower this year imo

also reminds me of something else from ages ago in r&b that i'm too holiday mode to bother trying to remember, it'll come to me

― lex pretend, Friday, 28 December 2012 14:36 (32 minutes ago) Bookmark

pretty ricky?

no that's not who i was thinking of (but yes)

i thought you posted "who booty" initially!

http://i.imgur.com/VXT99.gif

re that jojo tape, the deeply unfortunate conclusion i found myself making was "cool but hopefully some big label will sort her out cos um she is kind of a weirdo"

oopsy

she is kind of a weirdo, and not in the way i expected, i enjoyed that! she is in such an unfortunate contract it seems, all signed when she was a kid :/

oh yeah sure it's fun generally that she's a one but the tape didnt suggest it would be particularly fruitful musically is what i'm saying

aaaaand El Deano finally reviews Kaleidoscope Dream...and All I Want is You.

lol "Afro-Chicano" is such a baby boomer 'i can't keep up with what the preferred term is anymore' way of describing Miguel's ethnicity

coast to coast
Afro-Chicano
western male

xp yeah, that did strike me as kind of weird

oh yeah sure it's fun generally that she's a one but the tape didnt suggest it would be particularly fruitful musically is what i'm saying

i think the tape was a lot stronger musically than i was expecting - dunno how much of that is the surprise factor of it not being what i was expecting generally though

Who Booty is awesome.

it took me a while to figure out what the phrase that sounded like "hoop of the year" was supposed to be

xgau pretty otm about miguel

yup, he's definitely right about the 2nd album being better than the 1st

well like most of the ppl reviewing his album this year he was probably late to the game ;)

so you're saying he...wasn't otm? i'm confused

grades schmades man what's the difference between a B+ and an A-, he seems to 'get' miguel

he's so spot-on about "teach me" too

yeah def a standout

Never heard that John Hart song before. Is that getting radio play? Haven't heard it at all on my rap station

yeah it's just started to blow up the last few weeks

As much as I cheer for regional differences in radio play, there are times when I feel cheated by them. My rap station is playing "Wicked Games" about three times an hour now, and it feels like a violation every time

and here i thought making people feel violated was the weeknd's whole raison d'etre

yeah that's on constantly here too (and everything i think) and i swear i will never get used to dude's awful voice or those cheeseball '90s trip hop drums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaPm6YESMYg

i like this song

My favorites of the year -- singles, album cuts, whatever.

http://survivalthemes.tumblr.com/post/39280625219/201240
http://open.spotify.com/user/avilyn/playlist/0FbJ4QSOki8sHBEGwsLuiB

1. Miguel - “Adorn” [RCA]
2. Frank Ocean - “Pyramids” [Def Jam]
3. Jessie Ware - “Running” [Island]
4. Storm Queen - “Let’s Make Mistakes” [Environ]
5. Elle Varner - “I Don’t Care” [RCA]
6. Brandy - “Slower” [RCA]
7. Lulu James - “Rope Mirage” [Lulu James]
8. Usher - “Climax” [RCA]
9. Robert Glasper Experiment - “Move Love” [Blue Note]
10. House Shoes - “Castles” [Tres]

11. Funkineven/Fatima - “West 2 East” [Eglo]
12. THEESatisfaction - “Queens” [Sub Pop]
13. Full Crate & Jesse Boykins III - “See with Me” [Kilawatt]
14. Meshell Ndegeocello - “See Line Woman” [Naïve]
15. José James - It’s All Over Your Body” [Blue Note]
16. Kalenna - “Black Matte Truck” [Kalenna]
17. Roses Gabor - “Night Sky” [Girls]
18. AlunaGeorge - “Your Drums, Your Love” [Island]
19. Daley - “Alone Together” [Universal Republic]
20. Andrew Ashong - “Flowers” [Sound Signature]

21. Columbia Nights - “In the Glow” [Record Breakin’]
22. Mary J. Blige - “Don’t Mind” [Geffen]
23. Georgia Anne Muldrow - “Kneecap Jelly” [SomeOthaShip]
24. Dawn Richard - “Automatic” [Chartbreaker]
25. DVA - “Eye Know” [Hyperdub]
26. The Internet - “Fastlane” [Odd Future]
27. Melanie Fiona - “Bones” [SRC]
28. Khari Mateen - “Family and Friends” [The Lunchroom]
29. Dwele - “Going Leaving” [eOne]
30. Leon Ware - “Orchids for the Sun” [Quieres Chicle]

31. Hiatus Kaiyote - “Malika” [Hiatus Kaiyote]
32. R. Kelly - “Green Light” [RCA]
33. Cody Chesnutt - “Don’t Follow Me” [Vibration Vineyard]
34. SWV - “Better Than I” [eOne]
35. Keyshia Cole - “Hey Sexy” [Geffen]
36. Inc. - “5 Days” [4AD]
37. Tank - “Compliments” [Atlantic]
38. Teena Marie - “Luv Letter” [Universal]
39. BJ the Chicago Kid - “Good Luv’n” [MAFE]
40. Khari Cabral - “Get Back” [Dome]

22. Mary J. Blige - “Don’t Mind” (Geffen)

This album didn't get much love, but it had some great singles on it

15. José James - It’s All Over Your Body” [Blue Note]

YEAH, love this, probably top 5 for me. I've watched this live version like 30 times this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGtHvy_3W4Q

XXP I like that Avant joint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0nRtZbz0QI

lol @ xgau devoting precious words of his capsule to 'candle in the sun'

i feel like we need brainwasher to start the 2013 thread just so we can have that optimistic list of artists at the top