who the hell is he?

Ruben's biggest problem has been his material or lack there of. I have all 3 of his cd's and combined I can't get 6 GOOD songs from all 3. They put no effort at all into the writing of his lyrics or his music. The production on these cd's are 3rd rate at best.

It is his own fault 4 allowing himself 2 become a puppet.

uPtoWnNY said:

The name rings a bell but apparently it didn't stick Plus, if we can only name ONE song worth mentioning & that fool won years ago he must not have much good shit Sucks man - Fantasia has the same problem. I love the shit outta her voice but I only like 2 songs by the chile

CalhounSq said:

You actually don't wanna hear it. For me, it's only slighly less evil than Trapped in a Closet (you'll hear "Damn, I'm sorry" after every line). He's apologizing to some girl in the hair salon. But should you choose...




...
[Edited 12/21/07 6:56am]

matthewgrant said:

I did like "Make U Feel Beautiful" that Ne-Yo produced and wrote from his 2nd album.

Janfriend said:

That's so far. Her album has only been out a couple of weeks. Radio Disney has started playing her single, so that means that kids will start wanting the cd. She may sell a half-mil.

daPrettyman said:

Oh I bet he did have some hidden treasures it's just nobody knows who he is or can remember anything he's done. I'm pretty sure there's a few more songs by him that I enjoyed but I just don't remember.

It was all over with that first track, "Sorry, 2004." Can you really sing that 10 years from now? He was never promoted properly and with each release, the support began to wane. He'll bounce back elsewhere because R&B is in need of that person that can fill that void left by Luther Vandross.

Ruben didnt win.. they gave it to him because of the Racial Issues of the show at the time. Plus they didnt want a Gay guy to win.

The ONLY one ever that is going to have a Career is Carrie Underwood because she is smokin

Ugly People
Fat People

Dont make it in music for the long haul since MTV took over the music industry. Actually this might be the best time to have a career since the 1970's. Because MTV isnt music anymore. But over all TV Exposure, a Fat Guy who is more R&B/BET isnt going to make any real money.

Maybe if he sings as a rapper mumbles crap next to him. kinda sad but thats the business

CalhounSq said:

I was being sarcastic, Calhoun. It's one of the worst songs I've ever heard - sappy & wimpy. The video is a trainwreck.

ElectricBlue said:

That is so damn insensitive to say. What does this man's size has to do with his abilities? Racial issues of the show? Who is thinking racial issues on "American Idol?" Two of the judges are minorities and Ruben Studdard is a very talented individual. The same can be said of Clay Aiken. Race, sexuality... that had nothing to do with the man winning the show and the title.

ElectricBlue said:

I don't think it was a racial or social issue why he won. I think that he won because 19 Entertainment wanted an R&B artist (since it was making a lot of money). They thought they had it with Ruben, but didn't hit big. They also had Clay for a while. They were trying to market him like a modern day Barry Manilow. That didn't work either. Not many 50 year old women buy music.

Cinnie said:

That's it right there. The white, girl artists are gonna always get more run than anyone else.

MuthaFunka said:

Actually, that wasn't my point. The "white, girl artists" recorded pop (pop-country, pop-rock) which is what voters of American Idol wanted.

Cinnie said:

Right. Which is exactly what I said = White, girl artists get more run.

MuthaFunka said:

I'm sayin, they didn't go record R&B or gospel, but I see what you're sayin' now

Cinnie said:

Because none of us can name any black - male or female - Pop artists. The closest would be that sista from Canada a few years back.

MuthaFunka said:

Fefe Dobson!

What I meant is.... Ruben could have tried a very cheesy pop "lite" format and got over, but he didn't. He didn't even do pop'n'b ()

being African AMerican doesnt help ..or a lack of strong songs..or...

Cinnie said:

That's her name! And you see she had to make her name as white as possible! "Fefe"

And it's virtually impossible for a Black artist to do Pop unless it's REALLY rock-pop, because people are always gonna relate Black artists to R&B/Hip-Hop unless it's a rock band, no matter how "pop" they may try and sound.

White artists can do both though. Notice when Christina does a song and she uses her "soul" riffs it's STILL called a pop song simply because she's white and when she does an R&B song and really goes to her soul riffs, she's called "soul". Think about it, had Brandy done "Genie in a Bottle" they would've easily called it an R&B song but Christina does it in the same soulful style and it's called "pop" because she's white.

MuthaFunka said:

What genre was Ruben singing on American Idol that allowed him to win then?

Cinnie said:

A bunch of genres. But again, you're talking about a music spectacle and not a music career.

MuthaFunka said:

American Idol definitely equals an musical spectacle especially when well known name star has the audacity to go that show for shameless album promotion.

MsLegs said:

That poor little purple kid.

uPtoWnNY said:

OH! I didn't realize

CalhounSq said:

I can name plenty of his songs. "Flying Without Wings"/"Superstar" was released after he won. The first album's singles (in order) were "Sorry 2004," "What If," and "What Is Sexy." Album tracks included covers of "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" and "For All We Know." Two of my favorites are "No Ruben" and "After the Candles Burn." He also performed a track with Fred Hammond, "We Have Not Forgotten," that was reused on his gospel album. The title track from that one, "I Need an Angel," was the lead single.

MuthaFunka said:

Co- -sign

Ruben still has a great R&B vocal style; unfortunately, what passes for R&B these days is a bunch of mindless, horribly produced and written crap. It seems that every R&B artist that wants to get any airplay on mainstream radio has to have their sound tailored to the hip-hop audience. There have been too many really good R&B artists who have put out crappy albums because the record label insisted on putting T-Pain, Lil' Wayne or some other rapper on their tracks. Speaking of which, it ruined Fantasia's second album as all of her tracks sounded like the same old hip-hop crap. Even the so-called beats in R&B feel soulless and unorginal these days, let alone any real melodies, harmonies. and hooks.

728huey said:

For better or worse... this is what I was referring to. Fantasia is doing better than Ruben, no?

I don't feel sorry for him..lol

You knew the chubby black guy would be treated worse then the rocking white chicks.

His music was really awful, you have to admit.