CalhounSq said:

Heffas do this when nobody's checking 4 them, ain't it the way it goes? I mean this is the same bitch who pointed her finger at Foxy Brown when she did her infamous pose in VIBE's cover 7/6 years ago saying that she'll neva lower herself to that level and now she's in it.

I can also see Alicia Keys walking down this route slowly after she dissed the living hell out of "half-naked hoes" from her mouth.

Thats why you end up as a fuckin' HYPOCRITE,,,,by judging people at the 1st place

You know whats even funny? They call this (the whole image) as "GROWING" some excuse they got

Harlepolis said:

Growing....right out of their bras!

VinaBlue said:

I'm seeing a whole new side of Vina today

SassyBritches said:

Exactly - she looks like she's waiting to get bukkaked

Harlepolis said:

I hope AKeys doesn't take this route - she's one of very few that maintain some dignity up in this peace as far as I can tell

psykosoul said:

Yeah, um... that wasn't me.

(As if I've never taken a bad picture... )

and this was the sista who did "i wanna be down"...holy flaming hohners, what a difference a few years makes.

CalhounSq said:

I feel ya.

And I don't wanna hear anybody say, "Well, the cover DOES say 'hip hop meets porn'!" Every artist has a choice to make - I don't care that she got the cover (which is all she probably cared about), it's still sad to sell yourself out as a porno hoe for the sake of being in line w/ the theme

This is shameful: Janet Jackson with that crap she calls music and now Brandy just freaking advertising her wares as if she standing on a street corner. Gosh i can't wait for anita Baker's new cd...

hilton02895 said:

Really? When's it out??

hilton02895 said:

Didn't Suge Knight sign her to Death Row?

Remember when they had voices?

Because Brandy doesn't really have a very good voice, despite all her accolades. She coasted on the wave of her goody-two-shoes Moesha image for a few years. Her albums were average, but her profile was high. She had a few distinctive singles that seemed catchy then ("Have You Ever", "The Boy Is Mine", "Almost Doesn't Count"), but in retrospect, are clichéed tripe with a production gloss that is typical of late-90's R&B pap. Her albums were overlong (another problem with modern R&B records), with indistinct songs that tended to blend together.

So then Brandy decided to grow up after a four-year absence. Her teen audience had moved on, so they tried to turn her into something elegant and sophisticated, a sort of Earth Mother (how much did she plug her marriage, pregnancy and new child during the press rounds?). Full Moon was simply more of the same, but topically, the songs were deemed "adult" by critics, despite the fact that they were atonal and blasé ("What About Us" is one of the most tuneless, stuttering singles of the past decade) and really had nothing new to say. Same old crap.

The new album is called "Afrodisiac" - her sex album. Want to bet it will be a glossy, overlong modern R&B record with indistinct songs and mediocre value?
[This message was edited Thu May 27 16:27:38 2004 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

I think her voice is cool on record (can't speak for the albums, don't have any) but whenever I've seen her sing live on a show she doesn't project - it's like some low, whispery shit you're struggling to hear. It's fucking lazy singing - how boring!

R&B is just SO boring these days (has been for years now, I know). The fact that Mario Winans can make noise w/ what has to be THE most boring song ever made is proof. Even on American Idol last night when Ruben came out to sing his new (?) single I was thinking, "Are people dissappointed that he started w/ so much promise but is dishing out the same lame R&B tripe??" I am

Whatever, lemme go back to my new/old ReeRee cd's

psykosoul said:

Say whaaaaa????

CalhounSq said:

i aoplogize for the duplicate postings but my computer (never the user) has lost its mind! I got this article from Launch at Yahoo.

Anita Baker Begins Recording New CD
(AP, 03/03/2004 9:24 PM)

By Nekesa Mumbi Moody

After 10 years in musical seclusion due to family turmoil, Anita Baker is returning to the spotlight. The Grammy-winning R&B songstress has signed a deal with Blue Note Records to produce at least two albums, and expects to release her first project before the end of the year.

"I'm so excited," the singer told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday. "I do see that there is a demand for what I do, and my fans are still there."

With a deep, sensuous voice that recalled Sarah Vaughan and a classic soul sound, Baker became one of R&B's premier artists in the late '80s and early '90s with hits like "Sweet Love," "Rapture" and "Giving You the Best That I Got."

But she dropped off the music scene nearly a decade ago after releasing the album "Rhythm of Love" in 1994. At the time, Baker, who is married, had two young sons (now 10 and 11 years old); a mother suffering from Alzheimer's; and a father dying of bone cancer.

"I couldn't focus on the music at all. I tried, but each time I tried, that door was closed to me," she said. "My parents were dying, and I couldn't write."

So she took a break to take care of her family in Detroit, where she lives. Baker never considered hiring anyone to take care of her family so she could continue her career.

"She took care of me, she didn't hand me off to someone else," Baker said of her mother. "I'm really happy in retrospect that I did it that way, because she breathed her last in my arms."

Baker's father died in 1998; her mother died in 2000. After her mother's death, she felt could pursue her career again.

"It was almost like I was given permission when she passed."

Baker had a deal a couple of years ago with Atlantic Records after being wooed by its legendary founder, Ahmet Ertegun, but an album never materialized. "I couldn't fulfill my obligations to him and I really regret that, because he's a wonderful man," she says.

Baker began touring, but she doubted whether people would buy CDs of her smooth, adult R&B in today's marketplace.

"For the past five years I had been channel surfing and all you see is MTV and kids. The demographics became very very young. I figured I was relic and my time has passed. And I figured I had something to offer in the jazz arena," Baker said.

But when she contacted Bruce Lundvall, head of Blue Note Records, about recording a jazz album, he told her he'd be interested in an R&B album from her as well.

"She is one of the great artists, no question about it," Lundvall told the AP. "There's not another voice out there like hers, it's instantly recognizable."

Baker has already written songs for her new album, which she says "has the same elements of R&B, jazz and gospel influences throughout, because that's just me."

But Baker says she's interested in working with new artists, such as Alicia Keys or bluesy guitarist Robert Randolph, who wowed the Grammy audience last month with his performance.

Baker says she's not going to conform to today's musical scene: "Even at the height of my career, I was always not quite with it, I was always off doing my own thing."

And she says fan response to her recent concert performances show there's still an interest in her own style.

"I didn't know that anybody would give a hoot," she laughed. "I'm pleasantly surprised."

This pic isnt too bad
[This message was edited Thu May 27 18:28:28 2004 by nesseone]

VoicesCarry said:

Just like Janet then, who's stripped off for every album she's released in the last 11 years. It may turn out to be her lasting legacy to music.

Shapeshifter said:

Yeah, that describes Janet too. Your point?

CalhounSq said:

i agree,today's R&B music is just so boring now.Maybe that's why I'm not overwhelmed with Brandy's new single.I like her and I think she's really talented,but I just wish that more R&B artists would take chances and work with other producers/songwriters besides just the "trendy" ones.

nesseone said:

much better. but dangitt her eyes are still really far apart.

there are so many things that I'm crackin' up about on this thread....ya'll are awful...lmao!!!


get'em calhoun girl

CalhounSq said:

Question: am I the only one who hears Mario's intro on the radio and thinks it's Lauryn Hill or Nas and then figures out that it's just Mario and then gets real disappointed?

mochalox said:

Whats behind Brandy? Hopefully me! Nice pic!

mochalox said:

No, you're not. And yes, definitley the latter...that part about being "real disappointed."

DavidEye said:

but I quietly dig Monica.....and Faith Evans.....

It's a sad and scary thing, to see how she has devolved from a quasi-church girl growing up in R&B to this weird, hoe-ish woman. Is the music biz itself evil? It's obvious that what it often does to young women is evil, but do they really see whatever is being (falsely) promised to them as worth it? I'm decrying the lack of self-respect, the lack of accountability among artists and their respective camps, the absolute faithlessness and the apparent endless stream of pornish singers (and their influence on our children).

mochalox said:

You are not alone on that note. The first time I heard that stupid song, I totally thought they were showing the Fugees' "Ready or Not" video. I was pissed to hear this drivel.