http://www.billboard.com/photos/6737387/best-r-and-b-singers-of-all-time/29

So Thriller is ranked as the best Top R&B artist of all time. Fuck you Billboard, and a huge middle finger against Prince from their side. "/.../is the propelling force behind such seminal albums as 1999, Purple Rain, Sign O the Times and Diamonds and Pearls." So everybody in here can shove Lovesexy and The Black Album up their asses. They don't count as credible albums just so you know. Ask Billboard, they will tell you and you just witnessed it first hand.

[Edited 11/30/15 13:03pm]

Prince is many things but definitely NOT an R&B artist so this list is straight racist BS. Maybe he was R&B in 1979, for like 2-4 songs, but other than that, he was pop.

[Edited 12/1/15 17:14pm]

funksterr said:

Alexandernvrmind said:

funksterr said:

Prince is many things but definitely NOT an R&B artist so this list is straight racist BS. Maybe he was R&B in 1979, for like 2-4 songs, but other than that, he was pop.

[Edited 12/1/15 17:14pm]

Good Lord you guys are a bunch of idiots on this board Do Me Baby, Insatiable, How Come You Don't Call Me, Head, IW2BYL, Adore, Erotic City, Kiss, AnotherLoverHoNyoHead....I could go on and not to mention the stuff he wrote for the Time, Chaka Khan Prince most certainly is an R&B artist, he was also a pop and rock star and many times he took on all of those personas in the same song Just a bunch of dopes on this board lol

Yes, YOU ARE THE SMARTEST PERSON ALIVE.

Everyone else is simply plain DUMB.

No actually, you ARE the idiot, because you listed the 3 songs I said he released around 1979 that were R&B. Kiss isn't R&B. Erotic City is questionable. Adore is his one true R&B hit past the early part of his career, and one R&B hit shouldn't get you a #8 ranking. The Chaka Kahn cover version of IFFY, he had nothing to do with. By your reasoning Dolly Parton should get a spot ahead of Whitney Houston on an R&B list because she wrote "I Will Always Love You"?

The rest of the songs you lsited were not really part of the R&B scene. That's where I'm coming from. Prince was not and never shall be an R&B act. R&B is Babyface, Gerald Levert, R Kelly, Luther Vandross, Kenny Latimore, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Phylis Hyman, Teena Marie, etc...

Prince's 'Play That Funky Music' sell-out azz was not performing R&B music during his hitmaking period. He was too busy tryna be white. No big deal, we loved him, but.... How he gonna be #8 R&B when so many people, of his era mind you, were much more crucial to the R&B scene.

If I think 80's R&B, or even 70's/80's/90's R&B there are tons more true R&B acts that come to mind deserving of that recognition. Prince at most dabbles in R&B, and even then he mostly misses because he doesn't have the voice and his music isn't rooted in the gospel tradition which is the foundation of R&B.

good god////hes pop/r&b/soul/rock/

luvsexy4all said:

good god////hes pop/r&b/soul/rock/

Genre-blenders are generally pop. No need for the other labels.

I have no problem with Prince's ranking, and everyone ahead of him should be ahead of him...except for Mr. Jackson. Michael Jackson #1? BOLLOCKS. Also...R. Kelly is ranked higher than Sam Cooke.

funksterr said:

funksterr said:

I think Prince never ranks well on any lists because his music is too Diverse... They can't put him in only one category... And that's a great thing! lol

On the MJJ boards, they were all like, yes Michael deserves to be number one and he is truly the greatest. I put up a post saying James Brown and Stevie Wonder should be at the top followed by Marvin Gaye and nearly got booted off the site.

.

I think prince should have been #4 or #5, behind Marvin, Stevie, James Brown and Sly Stone, not forgetting the pioneers like Jackie Wilson, Fats Domino and the originator and creator of R and B and rock and the first man to go "whhhhooooooooooo" - The Amazing Little Richard, where is he. Prince is my favourite artist, but even I know that R and B does not begin and end with him. Jacko (Calling him that on MJJ can get you warned and banned) should be at #15 at most.

Wolfie87 said:

So Thriller is ranked as the best Top R&B artist of all time. Fuck you Billboard, and a huge middle finger against Prince from their side. "/.../is the propelling force behind such seminal albums as 1999, Purple Rain, Sign O the Times and Diamonds and Pearls." So everybody in here can shove Lovesexy and The Black Album up their asses. They don't count as credible albums just so you know. Ask Billboard, they will tell you and you just witnessed it first hand.

[Edited 11/30/15 13:03pm]

You might want to relax just a little bit. Were you expecting them to list Planet Earth, or albums the majority of their readership might actually recall?

funksterr said:

Prince is many things but definitely NOT an R&B artist so this list is straight racist BS. Maybe he was R&B in 1979, for like 2-4 songs, but other than that, he was pop.

[Edited 12/1/15 17:14pm]

Calling it racist is more than a bit of a stretch. Who's to say they won't have another list for pop or rock artists where he won't also rank? He's clearly recognized for his crossover appeal in any number of circles. Calling it racist is your own thin skin showing.

That list was a snoozefest full of 1990s and 2000s "artists".

Adorecream said:

On the MJJ boards, they were all like, yes Michael deserves to be number one and he is truly the greatest. I put up a post saying James Brown and Stevie Wonder should be at the top followed by Marvin Gaye and nearly got booted off the site.

.

I think prince should have been #4 or #5, behind Marvin, Stevie, James Brown and Sly Stone, not forgetting the pioneers like Jackie Wilson, Fats Domino and the originator and creator of R and B and rock and the first man to go "whhhhooooooooooo" - The Amazing Little Richard, where is he. Prince is my favourite artist, but even I know that R and B does not begin and end with him. Jacko (Calling him that on MJJ can get you warned and banned) should be at #15 at most.

And for a good reason his name is Michael Jackson, you're an asshole.

[Edited 12/2/15 13:48pm]

SoulAlive said:

I think Stevie Wonder is the greatest R&B artist of all time.

Isn't Stevie a soul and funk artist? or what's the big difference between soul and r&b, and pop as a genre, well may i say that i do not consider it as a music genre?. To me the word applies more, when you're talkin about whatever is popular in certain time. Movies, music, shows or whatever.

214 said:

Adorecream said:

On the MJJ boards, they were all like, yes Michael deserves to be number one and he is truly the greatest. I put up a post saying James Brown and Stevie Wonder should be at the top followed by Marvin Gaye and nearly got booted off the site.

.

I think prince should have been #4 or #5, behind Marvin, Stevie, James Brown and Sly Stone, not forgetting the pioneers like Jackie Wilson, Fats Domino and the originator and creator of R and B and rock and the first man to go "whhhhooooooooooo" - The Amazing Little Richard, where is he. Prince is my favourite artist, but even I know that R and B does not begin and end with him. Jacko (Calling him that on MJJ can get you warned and banned) should be at #15 at most.

And for a good reason his name is Michael Jackson, you're an asshole.

[Edited 12/2/15 13:48pm]

Wow, hate from both forums for my opinions on this, even if it is just from a troll, whom I do not take seriously at all.

.

Before you get all hot and flustered, realise that I am a big Michael Jackson fan too, but I still feel Prince is a way better musician than MJ ever was, although MJ was the best performer, singer and dancer.

Adorecream said:

214 said:

And for a good reason his name is Michael Jackson, you're an asshole.

[Edited 12/2/15 13:48pm]

although MJ was the best performer, singer and dancer.

I listen to Adore and Insatiable (D&P Beginnings specifically) and don't agree with everything you say on singing (consider his deep, dark voice when he speaks). I see the Lovesexy concert and all I see is top notch performance. Dancing is another topic though. Even if I don't think all the Prince moves are all that easy to do in fucking high heels.

QueenofPurplePalace said:

Lawwwwwd.....Billboard keep fucking up lol. But in all honestly this kinda makes sense. Prince continues to top the RNB hip hop charts so I can see why they ranked him that. And lets be real Prince keeps being skipped over along with Janet Jackson, Otis Redding,etc when these Greatest anything comes out. And for those complaining about Michael being on top....it's Billboard and he's Michael Jackson. ...the names are synomous with each other. He has more hits and on Billboard that's what matters. It doesn't make it right but hey it is what it is.

Exactly, this list is more "Who among those quality acts who topped our charts are the best quality/sales ratio? (And who else can we squeak in to appeal to our overal demographics?)"

Aerogram said:

Adorecream said:

214 said:

And for a good reason his name is Michael Jackson, you're an asshole.

[Edited 12/2/15 13:48pm]

Wow, hate from both forums for my opinions on this, even if it is just from a troll, whom I do not take seriously at all.

.

Before you get all hot and flustered, realise that I am a big Michael Jackson fan too, but I still feel Prince is a way better musician than MJ ever was, although MJ was the best performer, singer and dancer.

No problem, i am not arguing about that, just respect the man, he is not jacko, that's not his name; if you're a big fan as you say, you already should know by now.

SoulAlive said:

I think Stevie Wonder is the greatest R&B artist of all time.

and yet they played him on a rock station ...

LittlePurpleYoda said:

funksterr said:

Prince is many things but definitely NOT an R&B artist so this list is straight racist BS. Maybe he was R&B in 1979, for like 2-4 songs, but other than that, he was pop.

[Edited 12/1/15 17:14pm]

Calling it racist is more than a bit of a stretch. Who's to say they won't have another list for pop or rock artists where he won't also rank? He's clearly recognized for his crossover appeal in any number of circles. Calling it racist is your own thin skin showing.

I say it's racist because his credentials are superthin as an R&B act. I can see Prince as like number 50 ALL TIME R&B. If it was a POP category, he celarly deserves at least a TOP 20 ranking.

I say the high ranking is race-based, because he is a popular POP act, who just happens to be black, but his appeal among R&B audiences has always been lacking and suspect.

There is a reason why he plays EUROPE so much, and the US so little. He isn't really popular among fans of R&B or within black culture in general. And he never was, except 1982 through the release of Purple Rain, and that was all over when he came out with ATWIAD, then Parade and UTCM.

Like, who else on this list? Lenny Kravitz? What's he number 20? Darius Rucker? No 50? THey probably got Michael Jordan on there somewhere too, lol.

Alexandernvrmind said:

funksterr said:

Prince is many things but definitely NOT an R&B artist so this list is straight racist BS. Maybe he was R&B in 1979, for like 2-4 songs, but other than that, he was pop.

[Edited 12/1/15 17:14pm]

Good Lord you guys are a bunch of idiots on this board Do Me Baby, Insatiable, How Come You Don't Call Me, Head, IW2BYL, Adore, Erotic City, Kiss, AnotherLoverHoNyoHead....I could go on and not to mention the stuff he wrote for the Time, Chaka Khan Prince most certainly is an R&B artist, he was also a pop and rock star and many times he took on all of those personas in the same song Just a bunch of dopes on this board lol

For You, Prince, DM, Controversy, 1999, Parade, SOTT, Lovesexy, D&P are ALL R&B albums. Do they mix rock and funk...of course they do. But put simply he is an R&B artist.

And a funk pioneer

And a rock star.

All in one. Dat's my Princey Poo