When this kid, although we almost same age, came out I knew he would be something special. I even told people he will be around longer than Tevin campbell even though Tevin was getting endorsed by Micahel Jackson, Quincy Jones, and your favorite Prince. USHER u are the man and continue with your good work. Seen your new video last night for first time and so dam proud of you. You are now a top 5 male artist in my book behind Michael Jackson, Prince, Lionel Richie, and Stevie Wonder!!
[Edited 5/7/08 10:14am]

talentless m.jackson wanabee who has to take his shirt off in videos to take the attention away from his crap songs and pig like face

peppeken said:

peppeken said:

Kind of. His success is attributed to adapting the right image (bad boy), marketing, and hip-pop producers.

he's not all that, though I can see his influence in addition to mj's on ne yo and chris brown.

usher blows, sorry

I would like to see how many orgers agree with you that Usher is in the same class as Prince, MJ, Stevie and Lionel Richie.

sextonseven said:

Not me.

Vocally challenged.

And the Roast begins!.....

Graycap23 said:

Well, I guess we wouldn't know based on the types of songs he sings.

peppeken said:

USHER NOT AN UGLY MAN. Usher has talent!! I don't know what you crazy people on here problem is with him!! He has been one of the most consistent artist around when music turned awful along with Aaliyah bless her soul!! I think you jealous cause he young and all the people you all stuck on are in their 50's are done!! Then again you clowns on here rag on Madonna too, the best female artist of all time so i think you all just haters. USHER you go boy, and you are a cute man and i am straight. SO NAH.. I am not disrespecting no one or talking to anyone in particular on here.
[Edited 5/7/08 8:32am]

I guess he’s good for the kids and he’s somewhat talented but I’ve never been into his music. I definitely don’t think of him even on the second-tier in comparison to the greats.

sextonseven said:

16 years and still going strong in a time music took the turn for the worse!! R Kelly and Usher knew how to grow up with todays music!! Usher will go in the hall of fame so you all mines well start your protest NOW!!!

Garbage !!!!!

He is not bad, he just need more mature (and better) material on his albums. His concerts I have been to have always been outstanding.

JackieBlue said:

I don't either.

I still enjoy some of his songs though, and I like watching him dance. That old "any kid from my neighborhood can pop and lock like that!" argument gets tired to me. It's still entertaining. Nobody's saying he's the only one who can do it.

peppeken said:

Speak the truth

I like Usher. I think he's talented and I enjoy a lot of his music, but lets not get crazy now lol. He definitely aint on the level of MJ, Prince, Stevie or Lionel and he never will be.

no offense ... but between USHER and Mariah ... i cant name 2 songs by EITHER of them ....

would NEVER have guessed he has been goin "strong" for 16 yrs ... and would have NEVER thunk Mariah has more no 1 than Elvis? what is the world coming to !!???

Usher is good. I just hope Baby Face and L.A. Reid don't rip him off like they did TLC. Hopefully he has a better contract.

cheeseburger said:

That's definitely a matter of opinion. He is one FUGLY man. He's got a great body, but that's it. His head is flat as hell.

phlix said:

Nobody ripped off TLC. They signed "bad" (meaning new and naive artists) contracts with their manager, Pebbles. They were in hock after that.

phlix said:

I'm sure if they were going to do that, it would have happened by now. I do remember reading that Usher re-negotiated his deal after My Way hit big (which was about the same time that TLC were having their problems with LaFace). However, I think LaFace is pretty much just an imprint now. It is owned by Jive/Zomba. Not too many people are on the LaFace imprint anymore. I think there is Pink, Ciara, Usher and Donnell Jones.

Adisa said:

That's true. I think Pebbles screwed them more than La and Face (which they were reaping the benefits from it also). Mighty funny that Pebbles' career ended not too long before TLC hit it big.

You know, Usher's career has been going longer than 16 years. He started (professionally) in 87 (according to him). That's why his 3rd album was entitled 8701 (1987-2001 for the years he had been in the business at the time). He got his big break when he did "Call Me A Mack" for the Poetic Justice soundtrack. That would make it 21 years.

Call Me A Mack:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rbj9sopfW4k
[Edited 5/7/08 9:51am]

daPrettyman said:

Disagree about LaFace screwing them. They signed an old school type contract with Pebbles where she was reaping most of the rewards, the argument being that she groomed them and had the contacts with major labels. She even had publishing rights to TLC's songwriting credits.
LaFAce, the record company, essentially signed the deal with Pebbles as she basically legally owned TLC. Then they hired Dalls Austin and Jermiane Dupri as the main producers, neither for cheap. Smart move considering TLC was basically a novelty act, a female BBD. So TLC never saw a dime for royalties, and whatever money they made touring, well, the lion's share of that went to Pebbles too.

They never earned a dime and were still under contract with Pebbles. LA and Face, the human beings, paid a grip to Pebbles just to get them out of their contract with her. Still earning very little recording royalties though, which is not uncommon for artists, they were at least able to earn money from touring and to venture into other ways of earning money without forking it over to a management/production compnay like they had to do with Pebbles.
[Edited 5/7/08 10:09am]

daPrettyman said:

So 8701 wasn't for the album release date? I remember him as a little boy but couldn't recall the song for the life of me. I didn't think he was going to be around.

Does Usher have a signature song?
[Edited 5/7/08 10:28am]

PurpleCharm said:

Yeaya