Rolling R&B Thread 2012

The MF Life is sort of like 2012's answer to Lloyd's King of Hearts for me. A back-to-back strong album that's maybe a few missteps away from being the indisputable masterpiece I really wanted it to be, but still probably the best album I could have reasonably expected.

I do like how in his guest verses Nas always mentions the name of the artist featuring him. It's a little thing, but that personal touch makes them feel less remote than the usual copy-and-paste verse.

http://www.youtube.com/v/L5FFljQvW3M&feature=youtube_gdata_player&fs=1&hl=en

i like this song

― been to lots of college and twitter (k3vin k.), Tuesday, March 20, 2012 12:04 PM (11 hours ago)

whoops here's the actual song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGwUyuSHomk&ob=av2n

relistening to melanie fiona's debut - so much better than i thought at the time, but i'm remembering why i dismissed it - around that time everyone was doing these chintzy retro 60s sounds, it was kind of like labels were trying to cast around for a non-scary winehouse without the crack and ink, so we got adele and duffy and several others i probably forget, and melanie fiona fit a bit too snugly into that. a few years later it sounds a lot better.

but the mf life is still a huge step up.

also if i may repeat myself, the estelle album is EXCELLENT

The MF Life is dope, exactly what i was hoping for

maybe not as good as the Lloyd album but the missteps are WAY less glaring imo

Yeah, the missteps are pretty forgivable. "6 AM" is like a bad joke to me, and the sappiness of that John Legend track seems to cut against the rest of the album, but those are pretty minor quibbles. Mostly her voice is so fantastic that I just want more of it, in any context.

"6 am" is a good joke! r kelly worthy tbh

"bones" is def the most amazing after "4 am" though

"Bones" is the type of retro I usually reflexively hate, but it's so damn flawless it just totally wins me over

nice to see a couple productions from Jack Splash of "Fool For You" fame (4 counting bonus tracks!)

Also, MF takes all the right cues from Mary, Mariah and Alicia, but more than any of those influences she comes off as really sympathetic and relatable. I can't quite pinpoint what it is that makes me connect to her so much, but there's something about these songs that leaves me really vested in Melanie Fiona and her happiness.

the comparison springing to mind to me throughout was NEW JAZMINE

yeah thematically and musically there's a lot of shared territory, although i think the grain of each's respective voice is distinct enough that it's a non-issue while i'm listening.

she could never compare to Jazmine! and she's definitely not more sympathetic than MARY of all people!!!

still haven't listen to this yet though, will give it a spin l8r.

I think public image plays some role in it. Mary is MARY, all caps. Melanie is just Melanie. Not royalty or anything.

And yeah, I definitely hear the Jazmine now; both have the Salaam Remi thing going on. And now I am really nostalgic for "10 Seconds," which I miss hearing daily

MF Life is projected to sell a disappointing 23k - 27k. We complain about this all the time, but I'm still a bit stunned by how bad the publicity campaign for this album has been, especially on the print side. There have been hardly any newspaper or magazine reviews of it.

i like the jessie ware stuff. sort of like if azari & iii made 2-step or something? really nice.

ART DEALER CHIC Vol. 2. Can we talk about it? Can we talk about how great 'Arch n Point' is? And "...ALL"?

There's no 'Adorn' here but this is such a great way to consume music. Every month getting a little three track parcel of awesome from Miguel instead of having to wait for the next full album.

haven't heard it yet but there's a thread: thread of miguel

on the off chance you guys arent up on your eastenders actresses' sanging careers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOC9hGGs5GM

shockingly impressive imo!

(in a remedial uk kinda way, natch)

nobody here likes 'the misunderstanding of teyana taylor'? i know 'armor on' is the best thing in the world, right now...but that mixtape deserves some love, i guess (better than 'mf life' imho)

some dude wrote this on thread Kanye West - Dark Twisted Fantasy on board I Love Music on Nov 26, 2010

i literally had to google teyana taylor to remember whether she was the person who did "google me" -- prophetic song

i always forget that i actually liked "make your move". idk whenever i remember teyana taylor exists i just get that na'tee line "teyana taylor got your girl doing sit-ups" in my head

i should probably check out that mixtape though

people have been sleeping on the estelle album too, it's really v strong and perfect for this weather

^^ forgot about that too (damn you dawn richard for being so incredible!), tho i've never been that hooked on her in the first place. will check that.

(in portugal it's raining, so 'armor on' is a perfect fit - if a setting was ever needed)

the first single from the Estelle album was on the radio so long ago that i didn't even realize that the album itself only just dropped last month

Still sorting out my feelings about this guy, but I'm really into the new Bei Maejor mixtape

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMA40d0C904

he has a new one out again?

i always feel like this guy's stuff is a lot more slight than it should be, but the tape sounds pretty good

it sounds pretty radio ready

he shouldn't be rapping this much tho

There's a disconnect between his voice, which is the definition of slight, and his songs, which can be super bold ("The Truth" is really chilling). His rapping is just dreadful, but his storytelling is really vivid.

Goapele 'Tears On My Pillow' got visuals (from 2011). I love the last minute of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eOBNiYDuPY

New Monica album seems like a mixed bag—Rico Love seems off his game on a lot of these ballads. But I'm listening to the album preview stream of the new SWV album and everything sounds absolutely incredible. Can't wait to hear the real thing.

I'm ready to write the Monica album off as a total disappointment.

Someone on twitter called it the aural equivalent of a Tyler Perry movie.

Ha, that's kind of spot on, sadly. One of the non-Madea ones where you actually kind of begin to miss Madea.

Yeah, I had to sit through The Family That Preys once and I know exactly what you mean.

damn i saw that Monica's album was out and was looking forward to listening to it this morning before i looked at this thread. will still check it out and see if there are any standout songs, because i love that woman's voice.

The new Brandy single is beyond awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uHCVaVZfQ4

love it!

That is brilliant, even with Chris Brown.

either this thread or You forgot how incredible SWV were... needs more people talking about the great new SWV album

New Jessie Ware is very pretty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eblGD5yuid8&feature=player_embedded

Produced by Julio Bashmore too! Didn't really see that coming but it makes perfect sense.

really feeling the new usher single - between this and "climax" it's boding v well for his album

http://soundcloud.com/usher-raymond-music/lemme-see-feat-rick-ross

sparse and minimal blah blah but it sounds HUGE too