Rolling R&B Thread 2009

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.

I think she'd be way easier to sell as a Santogold-type pop know it all

i dunno, like to sell her to Santogold's actual audience? do skinny jeans kids care about contemporary R&B formalism?

Maybe not exactly, but I definitely think that she's more marketable to an older audience than the average top40 R&B

I don't think the audience for Keri Hilson really exists. otherwise Teedra Moses would be huge.

The Santogold audience can stay well away though.

i feel bad for Keri because if you watch her videos on youtube, 90% of the comments seem to be "she's trying to be Rihanna"/"that looks like an outfit Rihanna would wear"/"so much better than Rihanna!!!"/etc. so there's a real image problem out there with the kids.

Ironic that Rihanna is now the standard given when she started out she was like this r&b/dancehall fusionism offsider.

yeah i don't think she's gonna pop off anytime soon but i certainly don't think brooklyn vegan is the answer

I never would have thought to compare her to Rihanna, but now that that's said, her vocals on the verses of "Turnin' Me On" do kinda sound like Rihanna.

lex's reasoning re hilson is interesting too tho idk if it's exactly right or not

I feel like there's nothin' but goodwill for her though and actually now that I think about it doesn't she (and R&B in general lately) have a bit more hipster cred? She was on the cover of Fader (split with Santogol lol) last year

yeah I don't think she's really that much in the same lane as Rihanna, in terms of voice or talent or musical style, but obviously w/ the 12 year old youtube-commenting masses that for better or worse represent the audience that can make or break her, she's already being seen as some kind of derivative also-ran to a more established artist.

xpost - yeah i mean she has a decent about of hip/crit cred, but it's not like that really counts for anything in sales OR serious crit interest unless a record is a big to-do like New Amerykah or something

I dunno, isn't there avenues of working that into mass success. I kinda feel like there's a lot of people behind Hilson who really want her to succeed.

yeah i doubt that santogold has even moved 200,000 copies. hilson is a major label songwriter i think she's probably aspiring to more. don't think the label could make much off of that either.

i think they have the best strategy right now. she's penned a bunch of r&b hits in the past and i think they need to keep floating her songs to radio in the hope that something will catch on. i think she's just had a run of bad luck. there's no reason why her wayne collabo or chris brown collabo should both be flopping right now.

I hear that Chris Brown one on the radio all the time and I don't even own a radio, I had assumed it was doing well!

and yet wikipedia says it only got to 15 in Ireland

I hear that Lil Wayne one on the radio all the time, I had assumed it was doing well!

yall both wrong as fuck - but RETURN THE FAVOR HAS PEAKED AT #5 in the CZECH REPUBLIC, no joke

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