Mint Condition
Raphael Saddiq
Eric Roberson
Frank McComb
Jonz
Prince
Lalah Hathaway
Dangelo

Graycap23 said:

All of your choices are on point, Graycap23, but these artists right here have released albums in the last 2 years. Saadiq in '04, Mint Condition in '05 and Prince in '06. None of them resurrected R&B, at least as a commercially viable genre.

Justin Timberlake
Joss Stone
Britney Spears
Christina Aguilera
Gwen Stefani

Draw your own conclusions.

namepeace said:

That's my point.

ThreadBare said:

That's terrible.

ThreadBare said:

Indeed.
[Edited 7/7/06 12:34pm]

Prince
Van Hunt
Alicia Keys

namepeace said:

I thought he meant.....that COULD resurrect.

namepeace said:

And THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT'S WRONG WITH R & B RIGHT NOW!!!!! Too much emphasis on "commercial viability" and not "artistic integrity & viabilty"!!!!! Music in general has become like going to your local drive-thru fast food restaurant. So the question I pose to all u org-ers is: SOUL FOOD OR FAST FOOD??? Cuz 90% of music today is ASS, DUDE!!!!!

woogiebear said:

Damn, woogie, I learned something today I never knew. Thanks.

Seriously, why else would we talk about resurrecting R&B when it is in fact alive?

I happen to believe it's doing fine. All of those artists Graycap mentioned made decent-to-good albums. Others, like Van Hunt, dwele, remy shand, Amel Larreiux, Ledisi, donnie et al. have made good r&b albums this decade. That doesn't include the releases by Jill Scott, D'Angelo, Badu and Maxwell this decade.

The fact that they don't sell or get heavy ro on TV is one of the main reasons we're having these discussions.

Which was my point, which apparently wasn't clear enough. R&B doesn't need to be resurrected artistically. Its only need for resurrection is in terms of public consciousness.

There's plenty of water out there. The horses ain't drinking it.

No helping that.
[Edited 7/7/06 13:14pm]
[Edited 7/7/06 13:15pm]

namepeace said:

I agree with you. I have several cd's with R&B flavor that are great 2 me. I only named a few 2 get the discussion started.

ThreadBare said:

Damn Thready, I just threw up all over my face

ThreadBare said:

Intersting list.....

namepeace said:

SO WELL PUT!!!!! I'm from the school of "If you build a bridge, they will come". I'm in a rock/soul band, and we are in the same boat as a LOT of the musicians you mentioned. If you stay true to you, enough people will FEEL THAT and therefore FEEL YOU!!!!!

woogiebear said:

I thought that was you in class the other day.

Happy listening.

No-this hip-hop shit has ruined it for us all!!!

Nobody can save it. The Barkays, Cameo, and War all had a decent album in the mid 1990s and they got little or no radio airplay. Hell, even Prince struggled to get airplay and the few songs I heard of his on the radio were slow songs.

If it ain't shit hop or ballads, radio isn't going to play it. A change for the better is impossible.

nurse said:

you sound like your parents when rock and roll came along.....

ThreadBare said:

I agree, Threadbare!!!! I once thought that most folks would be so tired of stuff like this, they would yearn for the real stuff...But it ain't gonna happen, because the record companies know you can never go wrong by appealing to the lowest common denominator....and they know that most people won't like something until they are told by the companies to like it.....



...
[Edited 7/7/06 14:20pm]

nurse said:

Agreed.

Graycap23 said:

.
[Edited 7/7/06 14:31pm]

ccollin88 said:

Double

ccollin88 said:

Rock and roll was NOT helping 2 DESTROY the image of a race.

Not really. It's the total opposite. People back then hated rock and roll because it was "fast, hip shaking, devil music". This shit today is too damn slow to shake anything too.

If it weren't for the explicit lyrics, grandparents would love today's music because it's getting back to their tempo. Although the cool grandparents had swinging jazz so they would hate today's music also.

Kids today are the ones that need to find a rocking chair to sit their slow asses in because in another decade or two, the retirement homes are going to be rockin'!

Graycap23 said:

Agreed x2. Back in the early '90s, there may have been some classic albums that melded hip-hop and R&B, but now the lines between the two genres have blurred so much that it's sucked the creativity right out of both, as far as the mainstream goes. All commercial R&B, in particular, is now is minimalist hip-hop production, sampling, and guest stars. Just pure shit.

Whoever the savior will be, they will come from the Neo Soul genre, trust me.

ccollin88 said:

Some hip-hop fans would agree to the extent that hip-hop has been co-opted by the industry to produce what is now R&B. Many if not most hip-hop artists have been willing participants. Even artists like the namesake of this website have tried to co-opt the hip-hop sound to sell records.

R&B was once a staple for hip-hop artists to mine samples. Now hip-hop is a staple for R&B "singers" to mine for hooks and catchphrases.

paligap said:

The image cemented in my mind is of Timberlake seated behind a keyboard, playing two chords that could easily have been handled by a doubled-up synth player, on his "Senorita" song. He was doing his best Stevie Wonder. And, he was practically treated as such.

No, honestly, if a blue-eyed resurgence is inescapable, I'd love for John Mayer to play a role in it. He seems to have a real feel for soul and blues, and I like the folks to whom he gravitates (Buddy Guy, ?uestlove, D'angelo).

Graycap23 said:

Does R&B really need a saviour? Or are most of the so-called R&B fans not seeing the proverbial forest for the trees? There's been some excellent R&B music put out this decade by the above artists mentioned, and I would add Heather Headley and Kem to that list as well, but the mainstream is too busy trying to get their crunk on to notice the difference.

I was reading an article in Harper's Weekly today about the success of "Blue Collar" comedy over the last few years and why it is making Hollywood squirm. It was in particular reference to the Blue Collar TV tour of Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy and how they are selling out arenas and selling near platinum status with their CD sales (which is unheard of for a comedy album), yet they feel that they are not getting the respect they deserve because their audience are a bunch of hicks and Southerners. I mention this because I see a parallel between that and the whole crunk phenomenon of the last few years, which is also based in the South. Crunk hip-hop has sold like crazy over the last few years; yet the production is mediocre at best, the tempos are really slow, and the lyrical content is all about partying, grills, "lean wit it, rock wit it" and "wait til ya see my dick." Even hip-hop purists see this music as not being substantive. The likes of Jay-Z, Nas and Snopp Dogg are being pushed aside for this, and it makes me wonder if the mainstream sees artists like Jay-Z, Nas or Dr. Dre as elitists.

Well anyway, I was sort of getting off topic there for a moment, but I think that R&B is waiting for its "grunge" moment. Not that I think that R&B artists need to start wearing flannel, but just that moment when people get sick of what the record companies have shoved down their throats and start looking for really good music. It happened in rock 'n roll twice; first, when punk came on the scene to push aside the bloated dinosaur rock of the 1970's, and second, when grunge did away with hair metal. Both R&B and hip-hop are due for this type of change.