Both were great singers and musicians. Both were voices of the black struggle in r&b and soul music for the 90's and 00's Both had strong careers and lots of r&b hits. Both had strong impact on the pop charts , and also with staying in the media.

R. Kelly once said he was the modern day Marvin Gaye & Martin Luther. I wouldn't go that far... but he was a voice for a generation. So was D'angelo. But which was THE VOICE of our urban generation?

Opinions?

d'angelo.....theres is NO voice for this gen

luvsexy4all said:

d'angelo.....theres is NO voice for this gen

D'angelo had the voice and politics. So did R. Kelly! can't discredit them both. They did a lot fot black culture and dominated white and black radio.

Common festival

D’Angelo, Common To Spearhead New Neo-Soul Festival In Australia

Scott Fitzsimons

D'Angelo...did in 2 albums what R.Kelly did in...12...

.

Yet, R.Kelly is compelling...he has a depth about him...that can't be ignored.

For example 'Prayer Changes'...is one heckuva song.

.

(RANDOM: Does anyone have any ideas on what to do with juvenile haters who attempt to sabotage threads with irrelevant photos?)

.

Almost every D'Angelo track on those 2 albums of his...are classics...he actually shocked me with 'Greatdayindamornin'.

[Edited 3/18/14 0:21am]

Funkyandy-are you vainandy?

Guys, he's asking who's the VOICE not the music... Vocally I think R Kelly is better than D Angelo... but D is also a badass.

scriptgirl said:

Funkyandy-are you vainandy?

Do I sound like beloved vainandy?

.

Different names...different people...one of us is gay...the other isn't, I'll let you work it out.

.

You can talk about the thread now...if you wish.

Shawy89 said:

Guys, he's asking who's the VOICE not the music... Vocally I think R Kelly is better than D Angelo... but D is also a badass.

The voice?

There is no 'better' between these two artists...nor does there have to be...there is preference though.

I'm suprised y'all don't see the trolling in this thread. R. kelly the voice of a generation? voices of the black struggle? and the usual white and black talk from stonelove. Pretty sure this is a trolling thread as usual

Well, being D'Angelo has had very little output during his career, I'd have to go on R. Kelly on this one. One thing about American audiences is if you don't release product on a regular basis, you are quickly forgotten about, which is what has pretty much happened with D'Angelo. Everyone knows who R. Kelly is and, although I may not agree, both music critics and his fans continue to remind us of his musical brilliance. R Kelly is definately the voice of the last several urban generations.

Gunsnhalen said:

I'm suprised y'all don't see the trolling in this thread. R. kelly the voice of a generation? voices of the black struggle? and the usual white and black talk from stonelove. Pretty sure this is a trolling thread as usual

You got that right Guns!!

The threads from stonelove are just to cause shit and some people fall for them.

kitbradley said:

Well, being D'Angelo has had very little output during his career, I'd have to go on R. Kelly on this one. One thing about American audiences is if you don't release product on a regular basis, you are quickly forgotten about, which is what has pretty much happened with D'Angelo. Everyone knows who R. Kelly is and, although I may not agree, both music critics and his fans continue to remind us of his musical brilliance. R Kelly is definately the voice of the last several urban generations.

I agree that D'Angelo's lack of output has disqualified him. But he wouldn't be the answer even if he'd released an album a year for a decade.

No musician is the voice of "our Urban generation."

You could say Tupac, or Biggie, or Jay-Z, or Kanye, but no musician fits that bill.

d'angelo had like 2 albums and most people considered him neo soul while r kelly is one of the most successful r&b artists in history, why are you even comparing them?

I don't see D'Angelo as overhyped up anywhere else as he is at the org. History has damn near evaporated him in pop culture, yet here people don't wanna let him go and pretend like he's some kind of seminal star when all he is is a relic a 90s subgenre. Who ever heard of taking 15 years (and counting) to follow up a sophomore album? How long does it take to record 12 (!) songs? Let that go. He's done. His head just wasn't right for stardom and he's not the "voice" of any generation. He's not coming back, aside from a few random novelty performances every few years.

To compare him to R. Kelly, who is leaps and bounds ahead of him in career achievement and star power, is totally ridiculous. I'm not even a big fan of R. Kelly, but I can say that he's an icon while for all intents and purposes D'Angelo is a Clinton-era has-been (and by his own choosing.)

okay player love D and deservedly so.

It should be Van Hunt and Frank Ocean, but Namepeace is right: it's probably Jay-Z.

duccichucka said:

It should be Van Hunt and Frank Ocean, but Namepeace is right: it's probably Jay-Z.

Frank is great, but only has one album. Van Hunt though... dude has had a really good discography so far.

Artesian said:

I don't see D'Angelo as overhyped up anywhere else as he is at the org. History has damn near evaporated him in pop culture, yet here people don't wanna let him go and pretend like he's some kind of seminal star when all he is is a relic a 90s subgenre. Who ever heard of taking 15 years (and counting) to follow up a sophomore album? How long does it take to record 12 (!) songs? Let that go. He's done. His head just wasn't right for stardom and he's not the "voice" of any generation. He's not coming back, aside from a few random novelty performances every few years.

To compare him to R. Kelly, who is leaps and bounds ahead of him in career achievement and star power, is totally ridiculous. I'm not even a big fan of R. Kelly, but I can say that he's an icon while for all intents and purposes D'Angelo is a Clinton-era has-been (and by his own choosing.)

anybody who shows any sign of prince influence or if prince actually likes them they get blown up on the org. hes not on r kelly's level in any way shape or form. hes more bobby brown than r kelly, a couple hit albums then off to crackland, bobby was actually more successful.

lowkey said:

Artesian said:

I don't see D'Angelo as overhyped up anywhere else as he is at the org. History has damn near evaporated him in pop culture, yet here people don't wanna let him go and pretend like he's some kind of seminal star when all he is is a relic a 90s subgenre. Who ever heard of taking 15 years (and counting) to follow up a sophomore album? How long does it take to record 12 (!) songs? Let that go. He's done. His head just wasn't right for stardom and he's not the "voice" of any generation. He's not coming back, aside from a few random novelty performances every few years.

To compare him to R. Kelly, who is leaps and bounds ahead of him in career achievement and star power, is totally ridiculous. I'm not even a big fan of R. Kelly, but I can say that he's an icon while for all intents and purposes D'Angelo is a Clinton-era has-been (and by his own choosing.)

anybody who shows any sign of prince influence or if prince actually likes them they get blown up on the org. hes not on r kelly's level in any way shape or form. hes more bobby brown than r kelly, a couple hit albums then off to crackland, bobby was actually more successful.

But didn't Bobby go off to crackland too.

Artesian said:

I don't see D'Angelo as overhyped up anywhere else as he is at the org. History has damn near evaporated him in pop culture, yet here people don't wanna let him go and pretend like he's some kind of seminal star when all he is is a relic a 90s subgenre. Who ever heard of taking 15 years (and counting) to follow up a sophomore album? How long does it take to record 12 (!) songs? Let that go. He's done. His head just wasn't right for stardom and he's not the "voice" of any generation. He's not coming back, aside from a few random novelty performances every few years.

To compare him to R. Kelly, who is leaps and bounds ahead of him in career achievement and star power, is totally ridiculous. I'm not even a big fan of R. Kelly, but I can say that he's an icon while for all intents and purposes D'Angelo is a Clinton-era has-been (and by his own choosing.)

Sly Stone's been known to disappear too.

Damn that's cold going in on D'Angelo like that.

duccichucka said:

It should be Van Hunt and Frank Ocean, but Namepeace is right: it's probably Jay-Z.

I agree about Van Hunt. He's such a great artist. One of the best to come out in the past 10 years. too bad he's not that known though.

phunkdaddy said:

Artesian said:

I don't see D'Angelo as overhyped up anywhere else as he is at the org. History has damn near evaporated him in pop culture, yet here people don't wanna let him go and pretend like he's some kind of seminal star when all he is is a relic a 90s subgenre. Who ever heard of taking 15 years (and counting) to follow up a sophomore album? How long does it take to record 12 (!) songs? Let that go. He's done. His head just wasn't right for stardom and he's not the "voice" of any generation. He's not coming back, aside from a few random novelty performances every few years.

To compare him to R. Kelly, who is leaps and bounds ahead of him in career achievement and star power, is totally ridiculous. I'm not even a big fan of R. Kelly, but I can say that he's an icon while for all intents and purposes D'Angelo is a Clinton-era has-been (and by his own choosing.)

Sly Stone's been known to disappear too.

Damn that's cold going in on D'Angelo like that.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT Sly Stone had a good body of work not saying D doesn't. But the hope the orgers have for him is blind faith. He had 2 great albums and his legacy ends their. Waiting 15 years and still nada is not doing any favors.

Sly has a lot of great albums under his belt

Gunsnhalen said:

phunkdaddy said:

Sly Stone's been known to disappear too.

Damn that's cold going in on D'Angelo like that.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT Sly Stone had a good body of work not saying D doesn't. But the hope the orgers have for him is blind faith. He had 2 great albums and his legacy ends their. Waiting 15 years and still nada is not doing any favors.

Sly has a lot of great albums under his belt

The hope that several Orgers have for D'Angelo for more output is blind faith. My sense is Orgers mourn D'Angelo more than they actually hope for him.

But his 2 albums and other output qualify him as an icon for the generation. But not THE VOICE, which is a title best suited for an MC. Those 2 facts speak to the second-class status of R&B for this "urban generation."

I mean, 1st, 2d and even 3d generation hip-hop fans at least grew up when legendary musicians were still in the thick of their primes. Once you get to children of the 00's, hip-hop virtually stands alone. Even "R&B" is repackaged hip-hop.

For 1st Gen hip-hop heads (late Baby Boomers), you could say Marvin, Stevie, James, Sly, Aretha, etc. competed for that crown.

For 2d Gen hip-hop heads (Gen Xers), you could say MJ, Prince, Janet, etc.

For 3d Gen hip-hop heads (Gen Y), the argument could be made for Janet, perhaps MJ, Prince, perhaps Mary J, or R Kelly, but they were coming of age as NWA was hitting the scene and were hitting high school when Biggie and Tupac died.

For the current generation of hip-hop heads (Millenials), hip-hop had completely taken over by the time they were toddlers, and no musician this side of Beyonce really has a chance at being the voice of the generation.

[Edited 3/20/14 11:36am]