I don't like Lionel Richie (sell-out) but I can't ignore Lionel when he works with a cat like Chuckii Booker.

Any thoughts on similar situations?

Hell, a lot of stars from previous decades sold out in the 80's. The Commodores, Lionel Richie, Jefferson Starship, Elton John, Bowie, Kool and the Gang, the list goes on and on.

bobsteezy said:

Whoa! when was that ? ... i missed it ... thanx 4 the notice .

100MPH said:

I guess Chuckii is on the new Lionel album. A website said ...new single “I Call It Love” – the first single from his new album ‘Coming Home’ which will be release by Island Records on September 12th.
Richie has personally written three new songs for the album, the title tune “I’m Coming Home,” “Outta My Head,” and “I Love You,” all of which he co-produced with his musical director Chuckii Booker, an accomplished songwriter and producer in his own right. Booker collaborated with Richie as co-writer/co-producer on three other tunes, “I’m Missing Her,” “Keep Me Up All Night,” and “Why” (the latter two co-written/co-produced with Sean Garrett, who has recent hits with Usher, Beyoncé and others).
[Edited 8/19/06 14:52pm]

bobsteezy said:

A LOT ! thanxAmillion ... finally some chunky jams from the Booker-shop .

It hit me like someone stepped on my foot. You can't make a song with the word dance in the title if you can't dance well.

Think about Lionel's, Dancing on the Ceiling, and Whitney's, I Wanna Dance with Somebody. ...Painful visuals.

I would say those two songs went a looooong way toward the backlash against LR and WH.

appearing on American Idol

lilgish said:

I just want to know what you mean by "sell out"? Isn't anyone who writes or plays for money a sell-out?

I heard Bootsy was a sell-out. Please tell me it aint so.

define "sellout"

by defenition anyone signed to a major label is a sell out

I'm not sure..is selling out simply a matter of where you go or is it more what you do?

If you appear on AI and do "your" thing, is it better or worse than putting out a cd doing somebody else's thing, a la Charlie, last name Wilson?

rappers at the time when Hammer was on top called Hammer a sellout because he was tv shows, movies, had his own cartoon, doll, etc. but soon as a rapper or r&b wanna be comes out they have to be in a movie, they have to have a fashion line, they have to have a commericial, etc.

so really i'm confused with the whole "sellout" thing...me thinks its overrated personally

I should have been more clear on what I meant by 'sellout'.

...I am speaking from a musical standpoint. I heard real soul in Lionel's early Commodores work (Just to be Close to You, This is Your Life) but I felt he abandoned that gritty southern funkiness he had when lame songs like Dancing on the Ceiling came around. The beat didn't hit. It appeared to me he was trying to gain a whiter audience on the heels of his 'outrageous' hosting of the (Grammy's or AMA's ? ) ...He became defunct of de funk.

Anyway - I just never thought I'd be excited about a Lionel Richie album again. But when he teams with someone I love like Chickii Booker - I have to re-examine.

With lional its different as he wrote his "sellout" songs. I just think he wanted to do something else.

bobsteezy said:

so you must remain one dimensional or you're a sellout? I've never viewed Lionel as a sellout because I thought he was capable of writing for various genres. I see it as talent not as being sellout.


Chamillionaire is a sellout.

Isn't that the thing about being an artist....expression.

I totally agree about Lionel Richie. He was capable of funk and then he got all dead and "adult contemporary" sounding. I still could deal with a few of his pop hits because, during the early 1980s, he was just one of very few R&B artists that made weak ass music and it wasn't really threatening because people were still making plenty of funk and not following his lead.

However, when Shitney Houston came on the scene in 1985, that was a totally different story. Not only was boring little miss goodie two shoes a huge success, she influenced and opened the flood gates for tons of boring ass adult contemporary sounding artists of the mid to late 1980s which totally ran funk out of style and set the tone for a boring "mellow" ass 1990s and today.
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[Edited 8/22/06 6:34am]

vainandy said:

just because YOU don't like the type of music doesn't mean its not good music.


and it has nothing to do with "selling out".

They should put a picture of Shitney Houston in the dictionary next to the word "sellout". I saw a documentary on her on one of the channels....maybe the "E" channel? Anyway, when she was recording her first album, her producer told her "Whitney, tone the voice down. You sound too black. You want a crossover hit don't you?" Hell, even if she hadn't toned her voice down, I'm sure the music behind it was going to be just as weak because they were intentionally going for a crossover hit with the very first album.

If she was so much of an "artist", she would have done as she pleased regardless if the producers, record companies, or even the public liked it. All she was studying was going for mass appeal and her music definately had the weak sound to prove it.

I don't even think she has a musical preference because she's never had enough of a mind of her own to have one. She's not a leader in any sense of the word. She's strictly a follower of what someone else tells her to do. Hell, just look at her following after her husband and doing drugs. Drugs was definately not little miss priss's image before she got with him (if it started out as her image, she probably would have had much better music).

Rhondab said:

I respect your opinion. ...I don't think you have to be one dimensional.

I guess I just want the root - or the base to be funky - which I didn't see from an obviously funky cat.

vainandy said:

Whitney wasn't a goody two shoes though. She wasn't prissy. That was all clive and the image arista wanted for her. Whitney has always been a hoodrat that went to church. She didn't follow bobby anywhere. She walked hand in hand with him into the crack house.

NOW at the same time, I still loved the music. Whitney sang some great songs.

If we're talking about integrity, ok, I'll give you that BUT that doesn't make the music in itself, bad. There's not thing wrong with adult contemporary. It has its place.

(shrug)

...and dont forget liberal pollitics sell-outs


..and what about those "humanity beyond races" sellouts?

Yeah, and she sold out to that image too so she would look like "America's Little Girl Next Door". If someone's a ho, they need to be a proud ho. I don't like fake people.




It sure does have it's place...on adult contemporary radio where it fits in and doesn't water down, influence, or contaminate the good stuff. Her shit should have never been played on R&B radio.
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[Edited 8/23/06 11:16am]