CalhounSq said:

Yes madame, I've heard some of his stuff. I like "Down Here In Hell With You".
I dig what's going on there, but songs like "Dust" (although good) just don't blow me away much.

OdysseyMiles said:

Well hell, I'm not crazy about "Dust" either I do think he's got some very good songs though & they'd catch on w/ a little time in people's ears

OdysseyMiles said:

I dont think it's so much that he wants to be a star as he just wants the success that comes with being such. Much like Lenny Kravitz, I think there's a part of him that really wants that, but another part that would think it was bullshit.

BlaqueKnight said:

Hip-Hop artists are given more license to experiment than R&B artists these days. The former set the trends; the latter are expected to follow them. Look at artists like Lauryn Hill, OutKast, and more recently, Gnarls Barkley. They innovate and get praised. R&B artists like Van try to branch out and get completely ignored.

So, Blaque, you're right on point there. Even Prince was ridiculed for much of his experimental work (ATWIAD, Parade, Lovesexy). Some of it the label refused to allow him to release due to the sheer volume. As rigid as they were in '86, they're even moreso in '06 with the black musician.


[Edited 7/13/06 9:24am]

namepeace said:

It's finally starting to sink in for me now. Labels can afford to allow hip hop artists to innovate because they have so many others to fall back on. R&B doesn't have that cushion right now. Maybe if most of the R&B from the 90's wasn't so derivative, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

OdysseyMiles said:

Well, that's because if hip-hop sells as R&B, you're gonna keep more rappers and less musicians. And producers (from Dallas Austin to Dupri to Pharrell to Swizz Beats to Just Blaze). If those musicians want to drop a remix with Pharrell or Kanye in there.

Pharrell performs "Being A Girl" and it's No. 1.

Van Hunt does "Frontin'" and it languishes everywhere but on the iPods of devoted fans.

go get some style...learn to move on stage...learn to wail on guitar (at the very least since you are being sold as a multi instrumentalist) then make some funk on princes level and some rock/funk on lennys level and then maybe you can talk about being a star !!!!

prettymansson said:

prettymansson, he's already a better writer than the very entertaining, occasionally brilliant, but vastly overrated Kravitz.

and why must he play funk on Prince's level. Lenny sure enough doesn't. And he's a "star."

The only thing you have to do to be a star is sell records.
[Edited 7/13/06 13:40pm]

I love Van Hunt's music. But I think he'd better accept the fact that he probably won't hit the pop charts too soon. Although at 29 he's still young, Pop music likes its artists in their teens (Or Barely out of them) And talentless. If I were him I would just make the best music I possibly could, And whatever happens, Just happens.

Rhondab said:

i dont either, his song "you" bores the hell out of me. love van tho

prettymansson said:

...Not sure what Star Quality means. Perhaps from an industry standard - you are coming from - and I agree he will struggle to be a major seller. But then before Outkast blew up - I liked their stuff but never foresaw them being so HUGE.

I do KNOW I like Van Hunt's music. I think his choice of performing "Being a Girl" on all the major TV shots he got (Letterman, Ferguson, Leno?, ETC...) was a poor choice. The song is so laidback and cool I could see how folks might think it boring.

I disagree with the comment that Van 'can't hardly play'. I care not if he can dance.

...Anyone who is not hip yet should download these songs as a "101" on Van Hunt...

SECONDS OF PLEASURE
DOWN HERE IN HELL WITH YOU
IF I TAKE YOU HOME
HELLO GOODBYE
AT THE END OF A SLOW DANCE

B.

BlaqueKnight said:

yeah, but i'm not feeling Raheem DeVaughn that much. His stuff is starting to sound like the same song reworked over and over again. His lyrical flow is nearly identical in every song that I have heard of his (i haven't heard that many though).

Van Hunt is sooooo banging that it frustrates the hell outta me that radio is not playing this dude.

There is only one station in my area that I have heard a cut of his on and it was "old-head" radio. THey played "seconds of pleasure" a lot and to me that is his weakest joint.

bobsteezy said:

In a way I think "Being a Girl" was a good choice b/c it's one of those songs that appeals to you pretty much instantly.

For folks who know his music, maybe "Hot Stage Lights" would have been a better choice but that song was a grower for me. A HUGE grower (I love it now) but it's more upbeat, yet slightly "off" enough to make the average viewer go

I dunno...

CalhounSq said:

if i take you home would be a good single

namepeace said:

I wrote that because the music he's doing is always compared to these two people...and they both have "IT" more than he does...Trust me im not a lenny fan but i recognize why he stands out !

prettymansson said:

"It" is relative.

It took Prince and Lenny 6 years before they truly had "it," that ability to command on stage AND sell records in the process.

It will take Van a while too.

namepeace said:

i dont agree...
lenny was a star with let love rule...his style and hair and choice of music stood out in 89' and Long before prince became PRINCE !!! everybody i knew back in the days was talking about his pretty hair...girlish looks...the fact that he sounded like a woman...and his genius talent to play all his own instruments...im talking about 1979 (his 2nd album) !!

prettymansson said:

Everyone has "it" in hindsight.

Fact is, Let Love Rule was ripped by many, for being a blatant Prince/Beatles ripoff.

He had a couple of hits off of Mama Said, but Are You Gonna Go My Way was his real "jumpoff" point as a viable star.

Remember, for the first few years of his career, he was "Mr. Lisa Bonet."

It was really in the late 90's that he cemented his status as a certified star.
His Billboard charting is not exactly elite.

http://www.billboard.com/...mId=626755

Charting doesn't mean everything, and I like a lot of his stuff, but objectively, how can one say that Lenny had it from day one whereas Van does not?

As for Prince, yes, he was a unique talent, but he didn't have "it" from day one. The consensus was that it took him years to develop a stage presence. And he really didn't sell that many records. For his first several years, Prince was, on balance, slightly more successful commercially than Van is now.

And, coming up, Prince never had to deal with a market that focuses almost exclusively on hip-hop when it comes to black music (in fact, even Prince's declines in record sales can be closely correlated to the rise in hip-hop as a best-selling genre). He blended elements of the popular AND trendy genres of the time (r&b, funk, new wave and rock) to create a catchy, identifiable sound.

Even then, it was hard for Prince to sell records. With the exception of 1999, most of his prior efforts only went platinum AFTER Purple Rain dropped.

Hindisght is always 20/20. Whatever their respective abilities may have been, Prince and Lenny weren't certifiable superstars from day one. Period.
[Edited 7/17/06 12:20pm]
[Edited 7/17/06 12:28pm]

BlaqueKnight said:

Many thanks.

I don't doubt for one second that Lenny has certified star quality. I'd be a fool to say otherwise about Prince either. I simply think Van's up against some things neither of them ever had to think about.

namepeace said:

You know I know. Prince didn't really go mainstream till 5 albums in and Lenny had a leg up because his parents were famous. In interviews, Van has said that he STILL doesn't have full creative control over his project. The majors aren't "effing" around anymore. Sell a mill or get dropped. As it is, they want all black music to be hip-hop because its cheap and easy to make. People need to recognize what's going on. Artists like Van are becoming rarer and rarer. From a label's perspective, there's no reason to back a Van Hunt when its so easy to back a Rick Ross, two Lil's and a three "Youngs" and maybe a couple of Chris Browns instead.

CalhounSq said:

Me too! I might have to give the bamma a chance.

Although of what I've heard from his new album he still sounds like Curtis Mayfield and that bothers me.

i dont think van LONGS 4 the spotlight
i think he was just answering the questions that the interviewer asked
?'s such as how does it feel 2 not be recognized?
etc.etc

imho,van hunt is the so-called second coming of a.....prince-like musician
his own sound is intertwined w/his influences
he may not have the persona but he sure has that formula that made me fall in love with prince's musicianship

now with that said,will he have a chance 2 blow up like prince? hell no
the gatekeepers will not allow it.
will he make some brilliant music 4 us 2 enjoy? hell yes

my vote 4 a single would be the thrill of this love--they play the hell outta that song at the gap!!!!

Moonwalkbjrain said:

Before you write him off, peep out his song Cadillac.