namepeace said

Funkiness and Danceability are big for you, and rightfully so. Suffice it to say I think your definition of R&B is too narrow. But that's because I likes me some jazz.

:LOL:

I agree. I slept on those joints myself.

Agreed. Much of the new house/electronica is much groovier than the stuff on R&B. I'd also submit that much of the jazzier electronica is truer to jazz than the so-called "smooth jazz" which I for the most part abhor.

I'm gonna duck right now but I am a fan of Ashanti. I guess it's the ghetto princess thing. She's like the pretty good girl in the hood that's just a touch enough streetwise to know what she's talking about. I admit it, I've fallen for it. Her last cd was my summer album. Heavily sampled but by that time I was already a fan. Songs from her first album like "Rescue Me" and "It's Over" really won me over. That i borrowed from my friend, who ironically doesn't care for Ashanti anymore.


You know, it's all good. Everyone has their different tastes. I pesonally don't like her, especially after seeing her on Punk'd. Did anyone else see that, what a bitch! Anyway, when she first came out everyone tried to compare her to Mary J. but for me there is no comparison between the 2. Mary Rules!

where you been
R&B been tired!!!!!

I dont even listen to that "noise"

gimme soul ANYDAY over the lame r&b out now!

No, it isn't. You just have to look for it. To me, Destiny's Child and Mary J. Blige are pretty tired and completely boring. Alicia Keys has talent but is very unoriginal. Someone like Jill Scott should be on that list of exceptions.

Not really. My favorite rnb artists are Alicia Keys-Love her dearly and she's the person that I listen to hoping for growth. I think that Alicia can really go far if she takes more chances, Kelis-Love her style, Tasty was a very good album, Brandy-Love her vocals and her album.

I also like Anita Bakers new song, Stephanie Mills new one, and you guys have to hear a new artist called Lyfe Jennings-he's real nice, and I'm loving Van Hunt, and Jonh Legend.

Like someone was saying before, there are a lot of the surface rnb acts that are getting the exposure and people want to judge a whole genre by those few people and that isn't right. The music is out there don't be afraid to do a bit of searching. If people actually started buying the records of artists with actual talent then that would force the surface more popular acts like my girl Alicia Keys to maybe step it up a bit, which is something that I want to hear. It's easy to be comfortable and make money off that comfort, and I don't blame them, but the record buyers aren't giving artists out there a challenge in showing that real music sells, so we really can't complain.

Y'all are some hard people to please. I hope you weren't in the crowd in the early 90's who were crying for "real" musicians playing "real" music to come back. Let me talk about that "crowd" for a minute.

When Brand New Heavies came along, that crowd didn't buy their records, and The Crowd called them gimmicky for copping a 70's sound.

Jamiroquai drops their first 2 albums, and The Crowd called them Stevie Wonder/EWF wannabes notwithstanding the nice, listenable grooves they were churning out.

D'Angelo, Maxwell, Badu and Jill Scott come along, and The Crowd digs them all right, but criticizes them for not being prolific enough.

In the interim, Remy Shand, Res, Donnie, Dwele, Rashaan Patterson, Lewis Taylor and others come along and The Crowd doesn't pay attention, doesn't buy their records or take any initiative to support these artists. Or The Crowd dismisses them as wannabe Marvins, Stevies, Princes, etc.

Artists like india.arie (whom I don't really dig personally) win handfuls of Grammys, but don't sell in large proportions a la Beyonce. The Crowd doesn't buy the records.

Artists like Ledisi burble under the surface and The Crowd doesn't pay attention.

Legends like Ray Charles and Al Green release records and many in The Crowd don't buy them.

But listen to the radio and watch video channels, and on the basis of Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Mariah, Usher et al., The Crowd proclaims R&B dead and tired.

I'm not calling out anyone on this board, I am criticizing a mindset. We all whined about real music coming back to R&B. and real musicians come along to give us what we claim we want, and we don't buy their records because we don't take time to find out about them or dismiss them as copycats.

But we can say R&B is dead, right?

Guess who killed it?

Someone like Jill Scott should be on that list of exceptions.

VoicesCarry said:

i dunno. i can only hear the line "livin' my life like it's golden" about 300 times in one song before i fall asleep.

namepeace just knocked a grip of people the fuck out! In broad daylight no less! Damn, now that's you break a motherfucker's jaw! Say player, I hope u didn't hurt your hand!

Rythm and Bullshit

Y'all are some hard people to please. I hope you weren't in the crowd in the early 90's who were crying for "real" musicians playing "real" music to come back. Let me talk about that "crowd" for a minute.

When Brand New Heavies came along, that crowd didn't buy their records, and The Crowd called them gimmicky for copping a 70's sound.

Jamiroquai drops their first 2 albums, and The Crowd called them Stevie Wonder/EWF wannabes notwithstanding the nice, listenable grooves they were churning out.

D'Angelo, Maxwell, Badu and Jill Scott come along, and The Crowd digs them all right, but criticizes them for not being prolific enough.

In the interim, Remy Shand, Res, Donnie, Dwele, Rashaan Patterson, Lewis Taylor and others come along and The Crowd doesn't pay attention, doesn't buy their records or take any initiative to support these artists. Or The Crowd dismisses them as wannabe Marvins, Stevies, Princes, etc.

Artists like india.arie (whom I don't really dig personally) win handfuls of Grammys, but don't sell in large proportions a la Beyonce. The Crowd doesn't buy the records.

Artists like Ledisi burble under the surface and The Crowd doesn't pay attention.

Legends like Ray Charles and Al Green release records and many in The Crowd don't buy them.

But listen to the radio and watch video channels, and on the basis of Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Mariah, Usher et al., The Crowd proclaims R&B dead and tired.

I'm not calling out anyone on this board, I am criticizing a mindset. We all whined about real music coming back to R&B. and real musicians come along to give us what we claim we want, and we don't buy their records because we don't take time to find out about them or dismiss them as copycats.

But we can say R&B is dead, right?

Guess who killed it?

Y'all are some hard people to please. I hope you weren't in the crowd in the early 90's who were crying for "real" musicians playing "real" music to come back. Let me talk about that "crowd" for a minute.

When Brand New Heavies came along, that crowd didn't buy their records, and The Crowd called them gimmicky for copping a 70's sound.

Jamiroquai drops their first 2 albums, and The Crowd called them Stevie Wonder/EWF wannabes notwithstanding the nice, listenable grooves they were churning out.

D'Angelo, Maxwell, Badu and Jill Scott come along, and The Crowd digs them all right, but criticizes them for not being prolific enough.

In the interim, Remy Shand, Res, Donnie, Dwele, Rashaan Patterson, Lewis Taylor and others come along and The Crowd doesn't pay attention, doesn't buy their records or take any initiative to support these artists. Or The Crowd dismisses them as wannabe Marvins, Stevies, Princes, etc.

Artists like india.arie (whom I don't really dig personally) win handfuls of Grammys, but don't sell in large proportions a la Beyonce. The Crowd doesn't buy the records.

Artists like Ledisi burble under the surface and The Crowd doesn't pay attention.

Legends like Ray Charles and Al Green release records and many in The Crowd don't buy them.

But listen to the radio and watch video channels, and on the basis of Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Mariah, Usher et al., The Crowd proclaims R&B dead and tired.

I'm not calling out anyone on this board, I am criticizing a mindset. We all whined about real music coming back to R&B. and real musicians come along to give us what we claim we want, and we don't buy their records because we don't take time to find out about them or dismiss them as copycats.

But we can say R&B is dead, right?

Guess who killed it?

It's a lot of dynamics that's going on. Today, and pretty much all of the 90's, the general public cry for shit that they don't see, but CLAIM they want. The first minute they see it, they RESENT whichever motherfucker is doing it. So, they won't support it. How dare he or she have the guts to do what we have been saying we want somebody to do! On the flipside, so many artists are afraid of stepping out visually. That's a big part of being an artist. You've got to throw down visually. And truly act like you don't give a fuck of what people think! U can't look like and act like the motherfucker next door and expect people to get turned out. Doesn't work that way. Never has and never will. Especially R&B acts. If u have some live instrumentation in your sound, get a killer band and all of ya'll do something with your look. I'm not saying you gotta step out of a spaceship and shit, but looking like the average Yogi Bear is not what time it is either. It's the artists responsibility to give it up and not come off scared to throw down. Nobody would even be on this site if Prince didn't step out visually. It is the WHOLE package. People want to be entertained. They want to fantasize. They want you to take them some where. But if u look like u work at 7eleven... fuck it. So, it's two fold.

blackguitaristz said

On the flipside, so many artists are afraid of stepping out visually. That's a big part of being an artist. You've got to throw down visually. And truly act like you don't give a fuck of what people think! U can't look like and act like the motherfucker next door and expect people to get turned out. Doesn't work that way. Never has and never will. Especially R&B acts. If u have some live instrumentation in your sound, get a killer band and all of ya'll do something with your look. I'm not saying you gotta step out of a spaceship and shit, but looking like the average Yogi Bear is not what time it is either. It's the artists responsibility to give it up and not come off scared to throw down. Nobody would even be on this site if Prince didn't step out visually. It is the WHOLE package. People want to be entertained. They want to fantasize. They want you to take them some where. But if u look like u work at 7eleven... fuck it. So, it's two fold.

Y'all are some hard people to please. I hope you weren't in the crowd in the early 90's who were crying for "real" musicians playing "real" music to come back. Let me talk about that "crowd" for a minute.

When Brand New Heavies came along, that crowd didn't buy their records, and The Crowd called them gimmicky for copping a 70's sound.

Jamiroquai drops their first 2 albums, and The Crowd called them Stevie Wonder/EWF wannabes notwithstanding the nice, listenable grooves they were churning out.

D'Angelo, Maxwell, Badu and Jill Scott come along, and The Crowd digs them all right, but criticizes them for not being prolific enough.

In the interim, Remy Shand, Res, Donnie, Dwele, Rashaan Patterson, Lewis Taylor and others come along and The Crowd doesn't pay attention, doesn't buy their records or take any initiative to support these artists. Or The Crowd dismisses them as wannabe Marvins, Stevies, Princes, etc.

Artists like india.arie (whom I don't really dig personally) win handfuls of Grammys, but don't sell in large proportions a la Beyonce. The Crowd doesn't buy the records.

Artists like Ledisi burble under the surface and The Crowd doesn't pay attention.

Legends like Ray Charles and Al Green release records and many in The Crowd don't buy them.

But listen to the radio and watch video channels, and on the basis of Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Mariah, Usher et al., The Crowd proclaims R&B dead and tired.

I'm not calling out anyone on this board, I am criticizing a mindset. We all whined about real music coming back to R&B. and real musicians come along to give us what we claim we want, and we don't buy their records because we don't take time to find out about them or dismiss them as copycats.

But we can say R&B is dead, right?

Guess who killed it?

this all starts with the (possibly false) assumptions that "the crowd" was big enough to support those acts having a great deal of success and that it's "the crowd" who is complaining about those artists.

That's another problem with today's music. Everyone looks alike. They all look like the thug on the street. Gone are the wild hair and clothes, they were replaced with baseball caps, football jerseys, and baggy jeans. They don't dress like men, they dress like little boys. There is no fantasy anymore, they all are too concerned with "keeping it real" and they talk about anyone that has their own style.

vainandy said:

Exactly! Back in the day,artists and bands were easily identifiable because they all had their own unique look and stage appearance (P-Funk in the 70s...Prince and Rick James in the 80s...etc).Nowadays,you got male R&B singers (Genuine,R.Kelly,etc) dressing just like the rappers.You got alot of female R&B artists looking like either Beyonce or Aaliyah.There's not much variety anymore.

Lauryn Hill was the same way, too. She copied (lyrically) Stevie Wonder and copied (lyrically and the way the song was sang) Donny Hathaway, too. It doesn't make you a genius just because you copy. I was saying something like this in the other post about Dre3000.

Maybe that is why Lauryn Hill had a "breakdown" -- because she realized that she wasn't as genius as people were making her out to be. My friend (she analyzes situations as much as I do) even said, waaaay before Lauryn Hill did her unplug album, it's all going to come out in the open that Lauryn Hill isn't as talented as people make her out to be and when she realizes that she isn't as talented as, say, the people she is copying, then she'll be seen as a fraud and she'll be ashamed. And she was "ashamed." She went and tried to do her "own thing" with that unplugged album and it went nowhere. So she has to be sitting somewhere thinking, "Am I really a genius?"

Music is tired. Period. Everything is money-driven, from music to sports to television.

really, it's become unimaginative and boring with the accpetions of a few artists like.....

Alicia Keys
Mary J. Blige
Van Hunt
Destiny's Child
and a few more that i'm sure i'm leaving out.

What are your thoughts?