xlr8r said:

one of the most distgusting things (or images) ever posted on this board. shame on you!!!






question?
what was the rumour. if just that; or story about Rene being a ghost writer for Janet, especially for "TVR" album. any truth to that? because the song writing did seem to go down hill after they split.

VoicesCarry said:

so you didnt like the songs she did with them on 20yo, imo it was the best of the album. i didnt care for discipline at all, feedback was just ok. i like darkchild, especially the stuff he did with brandy and mary but i just prefer my janet with some jam&lewis

lowkey said:

20 YO was one of the worst albums she ever done IMHO. Only "Enjoy", "Take Care", "Love 2 Love U" and "With U" held my interest. "Discipline" had more dance flavor tho ("Feedback", "2Nite", "Rock With U").

CHIC0 said:

The correct answer is the smallest damn cup size they make.

Janet has always written with Jam & Lewis in the studio - and not Rene. Jimmy would NEVER let that guy into the recording studio with them. People look at All For You and say the writing went downhill after The Velvet Rope simply because she decided to do a fun, breezy, post-divorce album. It's funny, because ever since The Velvet Rope, people have been expecting her to make a Prozac ad with every album. She's always been - first and foremost - a pop star. Not Tori Amos.

Rene had his own problems - like James DeBarge, he was a drug addict. He has done absolutely nothing noteworthy in the industry since he left Janet, although in recent photos he looks like absolute hell.

After that, she didn't really collaborate with Jam & Lewis in the same way and on the past few projects I think she has been content to let other people write for her. But, I think the fire is back and I am encouraged that she is writing again and that Rodney is encouraging it.
[Edited 11/20/09 16:48pm]

CHIC0 said:

i dont see how he could be a ghost writer when he got credit on the album as a co-writer.

VoicesCarry said:

I didnt mean it that way. I meant that you may have grew up with Janet in the years after the Jam and Lewis era so you may have an affinity for her later-latest work as some of us have for her earlier work etc.

Timmy84 said:

right you named the jam&lewis songs, jd got credit for withu but that song is all jimmy and terry

lowkey said:

I think the thing is Rene got more input into stuff as time went on in their relationship. After "The Velvet Rope" their relationship crashed. I don't even think Rene had skills like that. He could've been suggesting song titles. Janet, Jimmy & Terry were always doing it together WITHOUT Rene anyways.
[Edited 11/20/09 16:49pm]

xlr8r said:

No, her earlier work is her best work and it will probably always remain her best work. The first album Janet album I purchased was in 1995.

I just have what I feel is a realistic perspective on Jam & Lewis' current capabilities. Everyone thinks lighting will strike again if they reunite, but I'm just not comfortable subscribing to that. I think she is better off trying new things now.

VoicesCarry said:

I don't think sampling takes anything away from the that fact that Jam & Lewis are brilliant producers. I'd rather have a sampled production over the shit Rodney does any day.

Janet keeps saying "It's classic me!" when it clearly isn't.

VoicesCarry said:

This could be Janet's Afrodisiac albeit more successful and w/o Kanye. Rene looked like a damn crack head last time I saw him.

CHIC0 said:

Whaaaa!?!?

Timmy84 said:

yeah that! thanks Timmy

VoicesCarry said:

Once you create four of the greatest albums in the world (Control, Rhythm Nation 1814, janet., The Velvet Rope), what else can you do? She seemed commonplace in her other albums but yeah something's brewing in her now. I feel it, felt it from the interview in some way.

VoicesCarry said:

@ smallest cup size!!

and thanks VC!

Timmy84 said:

The thing about Janet is that she has always had major self-esteem issues. The Velvet Rope was really a representation of her and Rene at the tipping point (she would leave him by the end of the era). She has always been easily influenced by those close to her. She and Rene still had a working relationship at the time, and she was working through it with him and in the studio with her collaborators.

Not to be morbid, but I think Mike's death may have woken her up a bit. There has been a noticeable change in her since June.

CHIC0 said:

You saw how he started to get directing credits for her video and shit? I think he was just chilling w/Janet initially but after "Rhythm Nation" he decided to have some "input" lol. I don't even think he was a ghostwriter. He didn't even claim any song he supposedly co-wrote (hell the other songs besides the ones on VR he co-wrote could've been Velvet Rope leftovers). After the divorce, Rene disappeared. He already looked drugged up and crazy when he was discussing the divorce in the media smh

VoicesCarry said:

Not me. I dont care if they make braoquw music. Just do something with them all the way. Hell...lets be honest. Lightning has not striked withut them. The fact remains that Janet has not made a splash or ripple since relagating Jam and Lewis to dman near sudio janitors status.

So much for outside the box, stretching, "innovation," using no samples...and all of that lol

VoicesCarry said:

I still wonder about "What About"... people say this was a song where Janet talked about her own abuse but it's not clear since she did marry the men she was with lol

xlr8r said:

Jimmy & Terry hadn't thought out of the box in a while if you checked out their productions w/Mary and Mariah.

midiscover said:

Fair enough. I just find it very lazy. I prefer Feedback to All For You because lyrically it's somewhat witty and the production is funky and original.



Well, technically she says it's classic her with a modern twist. But no matter what she does, her work - even if she were to reunite with Jam & Lewis - is never going to approach the four fantastic albums she released between 1986 and 1997.

I agree, VC. No artist ever matches again to what they did in their prime. It's a wish that they did but it'll never really come to fruition. "Make Me" is a 2009 version of some of her classics so to me it is classic Janet with a modern feel, it ain't "shit-hop" as some folks here like to call it.

Timmy84 said:

I'm more then positive she's singing about both James and Rene.


"What about the times when you said you didn't fuck her
She only gave you head" def. is Rene

Timmy84 said:

I didnt say they did. And neither has anyone shes worked with since either imo. I mean come on now. She hasnt exactly done a Ray Of Light etc. Its been more of the ame rnb production stuff. So whats the harm with going back with Jam and Terry? It isnt liek if she doesnt she is going to go insome daring experimental direction etc.

Timmy84 said:

Girl!

That's why I said Jam & Lewis need Janet just as much she needs them

midiscover said:

Working with each other with just slow ballads lol We have to see where Jimmy & Terry's thought processes are now, if they say some mess like they can't do uptempo music anymore because they wanted to slow down, then I don't know how they could be inspired again if they allow Janet to go with anybody. Least Rodney's latest production with her ain't got her acting like a hip-hopper.

xlr8r said:

Well is anybody in the mainstream really "experimental" anymore? You want something daring, check the indie acts (like Sir Psycho for instance).

xlr8r said:

Well, I personally don't think Jam & Lewis being slowly phased out is the reason for Janet's commercial failures. Janet's decline was much more abrupt and coincided with the SuperBowl fallout as well as the fact that she was approaching 40 - and in the notoriously ageist US radio market, these two turned her into persona non grata overnight. There are certainly tracks on the past 3 albums that I think would have been sizeable hits for her if 2004 had never happened.



Funny you should mention that, because I think Just a Little While is a great example of Janet trying something different - a sound she really hadn't explored before, with no sample and a new producer. For me, Jam & Lewis produced the more generic, boring material on Damita Jo. They are very capable of churning out standard stuff, and they proved it on that album and on 20 Y.O. It was no better - and actually worse - than some of the stuff that surrounded it. The best song on 20 Y.O. (Enjoy) was produced not by Jam & Lewis, but by their proteges.
[Edited 11/20/09 17:07pm]

midiscover said:

Now that one is true

im not even looking for her to surpass her classic albums i just want her to make some good music for her fans and stop trying to get the 106 n park crowd on board.personally i would prefer the old team of janet/jam/lewis, i still loved the songs they did together on 20yo.i think janet wants to work with them but the label has other ideas.