blackguitaristz said:

-----
...."it's a standard sounding TODAY r&b track."

Yes, a standard rip-off

lastdecember said:

Usher has no identity?
Put an ad in your local paper saying "Usher" is going to do a free concert. See how many people show up.
You REALLY underestimate some of the range of these "post Prince" artists. Usher, like Chris Brown, had talent when he started. He didn't start in a Beat It jacket, he started doing a mixture of R&B and hip-hop and has remained that way. As much as I dislike a lot of that mid-tempo material, I know how to look at an artist objectively and see what they actually have to offer.
Now I KNOW you are not going to sit here and say Usher never writes lyrics, vocal arrangements or anything? Even so, he got signed to sing and dance and that's what he does (although I think his time is about up, too).
Chris Brown is new plus he's a kid. The labels aren't going to give him control. Stop living in the 80s. NO ONE gets a lot of control these days unless they start out on their own label. The business is different now and you know it. Prince wouldn't get control nowadays either, regardless of how much talent he has to do so. People have their hands in the pockets of these artists before they even sign them and aren't taking them out until they are forced to do so. That usually takes a lawyer on the artists' behalf.

BlaqueKnight said:

-----
"Usher" is going to do a free concert. See how many people show up.


It would be free of course people would show up. If Usher got off his ass and toured more often maybe his latest CD would not be the big bomb of the year.

I am not sure why you don't see Chris going down the same road because he his getting the same over hype that Usher had.

Maybe artist do not get the creative control that they use to back in the 80's but most of these RnB guys never move in a different directions even after a few CDs they are all off selling clothes.

I also don't see why you are always going on about more people being aware of (the Rnb artist of the moment) and not being aware of Prince. Even the most clueless young person would have some idea of who he is.

Jesus it is not like P did not sell out all of his venue on his last tour. Get mad props for doing the Superbowl. Q2Concerts, and Coachellea. He does a good job of keeping his face out in the public without going overboard.

laurarichardson said:

You call almost everything a Prince rip off.
Chris Brown does what he is hired to do. He sings. He dances. He's not hired to go into the studio and play 6 instruments. Your thinking is dated. The real music business in 2008 doesn't work that way. Its not that simple and you don't seem to understand that.
If you think that there hasn't been any good music since Prince then you have no defense for being obsessed and you obviously have a limited perception of what good music is. "Crossover?" Rap IS what people are crossing over to. Where have you been? Shit has changed. There's noting any of us can do about it. Rap is international and sells more than pretty much any other genre. Its not what I or a lot of others would have liked to see but its trhe way it is. You seem to have problems with seeing reality. There is "out of the box" R&B. Its on MySpace and youtube. Go look for it; its not going to come to you. Hell, N.E.R.D. and Gnarles Barkley are out of the box. OutKast is out of the box. They're around; you probably just don't like them because they are not affiliated with Prince.

BlaqueKnight said:

Prince wouldnt be signed today, actually let me rephrase that PRINCE and stevie and others would be dropped today after one record that didnt go platnum out the box. You cant just accept status quo, thats my problem with RB for the most part, it excepts its status quo, there is no renegade out there kicking in the door saying im doing this shit my way. As far as Usher his time is up, because he was signed to be impressive to teens, now the day has come where he has to take the slumping sales and come with something new, not what everyone from that age wants, alot of problem is that these artists dont mature, usher,mariah etc..no maturity at all, in some cases they are going backwards. And once again, Prince does not have any control over anything he did, i dont know where this rumour started, but anything tied to WB or even in the vault that WB heard or received Prince has no control over, so the control freak as we call him, really is just a freak, cause he dont own any of that.

As far as underestimating this cat, im not at all, hes a pop artist case closed, he is severely limited in what he can do and what he will ever do. Is he a kid, sure, but thats the further issue, labels grab them up so young they are finished by the time they are 22. People are calling Usher old? Girls were saying when this new Usher cd came out that "he was making a comeback"? that is the mentality that is out there. Until there is a change in the sounds, the GUTS to break away from the Hipsters of the day production wise and do something DIFFERENT, than its nothing more than an assembly line of kids good for a year or two than NEXT.

And lets not also be exclusive with the PASSES we give out, i know tons of people like Hilary Duff that write and arrange their vocals, so do we erect a statue to them too? I mean theres talent in most of these cats and ladies but there are tons of limits and passes should not be granted just because the pool of artists has dropped.
[Edited 8/21/08 13:16pm]

BlaqueKnight said:

I could care less about Prince, i was one of the FEW who called him out for lowering his standards when he embraced things like RAP bullshit in his music to make himself seem young. Or working with crap like Eve, give me a break. And the term dated as i said before is DATED and dumb, i love when i hear that term when someone is commented on someones music sounding DATED, but in the same breath they put down someone older working with a new artist, well it cant be both ways. The only way to change things is to not buy into it, dont turn it on, turn it off. We know the business has changed, but dont even call this a "business" now, because its not. its a hustle, buying and selling nothing more. Every single artist we champion from Prince to Stevie to James to Earth Wind etc..would be dropped today, no questions asked, and most wouldnt even be signed. Myspace and Youtube arent the answers either, they are nothing more than the new WHORE in the room, lets stop saying thats where the TALENT is.

And this also is why we have people praising artists like Fall Out Boy and others in the "rock" genre, please already folks, sure times are different, but damn just dont accept everything as great because the rest of the room sucks.

lastdecember said:

There will be no breaks. Rebels don't get signed. Don't you get it? People have to work within the parameters they are allowed. There WAS more freedom for artists in the 80s and the very artists that profited the most from it (Prince, Michael, Madonna, George Michael, etc.) all burned the bridge behind them with power trips. That and sales slumps and technology changes all contributed to the accountant and lawyer-run business it is today. Corporations and conglomerates took over. There are 3 majors now. That is no accident. The musical revolution is happening on the internet and maybe you and Laura are missing out on it. You'll be forever eating McMusic waiting on a home-cooked meal from the industry. You can either look elsewhere or wait for the business to collapse, which it will eventually.
I still think both Chris and Usher have a degree of talent regardless to what you two say. Its just being misused. I don't worry about that; that's on them. I listen to a lot of music. I take in what I like and disregard what I don't. I don't have to like an artist as a person to like some of their output and I don't have to like the majority of an artist's output to recognize whether or not they have talent. There are many different talents and different degrees of such and I look at things accordingly.

lastdecember said:

No. Let's not. Millions of artists in one place and yo want to say that's "not" where the talent is? GTFOH. Damn near every artist under the sun has a MySpace page and that's not where the talent is? Yeah. I said THINKING is dated not anyone's music. I'm right. Regardless to what YOU call the music business, it is what it is and it exists. Its fucked up but it exists. People like you aren't able to break away from the routine of waiting for the radio to bring you something new and you just can't handle the truth. Instead, its easier to believe that it doesn't exist. It does and you're missing out. Get over yourself and catch up with the rest of the world. SEARCH FOR IT. You might be surprised at what you discover. People haven't stopped creating music; labels just stopped pushing anything that doesn't fit their goals.

lastdecember said:

Wait, I though The Jonas Brothers were the new chapter of the "rock" genre!

BlaqueKnight said:

THAT right there (in underline) is another reason why the American music industry is such a freaking joke at the moment. These major labels aren't allowing their artists to "break new grounds" at all. And even when they do allow it, the labels themselves will not give most artists the promotional push they need (like the way Clive Davis screwed Kelly Clarkson when she tried to do things her way with her 3rd career album). And to myself, it's like the labels want things to stay the same & honestly, it freaking boring!

BlaqueKnight said:

Actually i said all of that, plus said that they had their talent and many limits, because they are Pop artists, most of them do.The music industry already collapsed as Chuck D. said two years ago, but the business end will always exist because pimps always got something to hustle. The internet revolution i dont buy at all, sorry, because all its doing is copying what is already out there and making it even cheaper,is there something good,ok, but this FALSE dream that there is this goldmine or abundance of talent on the net, is just another lie to tell the children at night, its not there for the most part. And like i said they have talent, just as Amerie or Hilary duff or Nicole etc have, and have their limits too, and they are doing just as much of the creating as Usher is doing in fact more in most cases, so to that i champion their efforts, Amerie had the Best RB record clearly last year, and Ms. Duff blew away all the Pop females with her's, mainly because both were steps above the status quo's. You can be mainstream and still not be mainstreamed, its that simple. And as far as waiting for something from this industry? my top 5 albums of this year are


Venus in Overdrive -Rick Springfield (real rock)
A dot of black in the blue of your bliss- Magne F
Accelerate- REM
Rain -joe Jackson
Vagabonds- Gary Louris

What is "industry" about any of that

BlaqueKnight said:

Your totally missing the point, i dont care about seaching or fucking radio, radio is DEAD. But youre buying into falsehood. Sure everyone has a myspace page, thats meaningless, in the pool of a million of course you will get 5 or 10, but saying that theres tons and tons of it, is just not true. Sorry ive seen myspace bands and they are nothing more than "fall out boys" without deals. I dont have to search for shit because for the most part i just wanna sit back and watch the shit collapse like it is, i have enough artists that i like, im not a drug addict that has to have a new cd everyday, i dont really care about music that way anymore, been there done that, plus all my artists that i like still record and tour with new stuff, so every now and then someone like a Norah Jones or Ryan Adams will come by and im satisfied with that, because they are not part of the machine thinking of one album every 5 years and call me an artist. Im not hear to hip anyone to my music, people wanna listen to shit rock like Fall out boy or the Jonas Brothers all day, i could care less. Im not in the business of pushing artists on people anymore, i did that for two decades, and it aint worth it, like you said let them search for it, im not hear to hip them to Van Hunt, let them go find him in the millions.

TonyVanDam said:

Exactly.

I can't see or hear the clip but I am almost willing to bet that the drum machines on the song don't sound hard like Prince's drum machines did. I bet they sound like those weak shit hop sounding drum machines that barely tap, especially after reading blackguitaritz comment that it's a standard today sounding R&B track.

It ain't drum machines that I hate. It's the sound of the drum machines that have been used since shit hop took over. Believe me, they don't sound anything like Prince's old drum machines, the drum machines used in early 1980s rap, the drum machines in Miami bass music, or the drum machines in house music....all of which are much harder and powerful sounding than shit hop sounding drum machines.

vainandy said:

You might like a song or two on Michelle William's (from Destiny's Child) new CD. Its mostly up-tempo dance music.

Yeah, but what type of drum machines are on the tracks? Are they the "barely tapping" sounding ones that everyone else uses which I consider as the absolute definition of the shit hop sound? If so.....next! I don't like even a small hint of that sound. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!

TonyVanDam said:

What happend to to KELLY CLARKSON PISSED ME OFF!!!!! F U CLIVE DAVIS

kano1987 said:

Clive Davis is from the old school of "my way or the highway". To his credit, he has made some careers great, too. Clive's not the problem with the industry. Its all of these lawyers and accountants and marketing firms. Artists are just product to them. At least Clive was passionate about the artists he signed.

vainandy said:

Do not waste your time with this one. Once the instruments and voice kick in, you can barely hear the drums, and the drums barely tap.


Why can't these Prince biters try his uptempo style??

Why does everything have to be "Beautiful Ones"/"Scandalous"/"When 2 R In Love"/"Adore"?

Cinnie said:

Don't give the music biters choices!!!!

kano1987 said:

I liked "Promise" by Ciara though!

Is it CHANNELING or CHALLENGING?

Cinnie said:

In the late 90's, neo-soul artists were beat-biting Parade & Sign 'O' The Times. They never consider beat-biting Dirty Mind or Controversy at all.
[Edited 8/21/08 18:50pm]

Cinnie said:

And don't forget Britney's Slave 4 U (beat-biting Vanity 6's Nasty Girl).

rushing07 said:

WEB SHERIFF JACKED!!!!

hollywooddove said:

What cut was this?

Why does this thread have so many replies? LOL

This song is terrible, with lyrics way too sexually explicit for Chris Brown's 14-16 year old, highly ignorant, promiscuous, teenage audience.

Alasseon said:

Alicia Keys - Like You'll Never See Me Again
http://www.youtube.com/wa...-WZG-y2e9k