theres a good moment in chappelles block party movie where iirc erykah does a kind of eye roll while jill scott is on stage...
I remembered that as an approving eyeroll. Like a "can you believe she's this good" eyeroll.
― Eric H., Tuesday, 7 October 2014 16:52 (nine years ago) link
totally!
― jello my future biafriend (roxymuzak), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:02 (nine years ago) link
i feel like the schism we're talking about still exists -- a lot of great ballad-driven 'upscale' R&B coming out these days (Marsha Ambrosius, Toni Braxton & Babyface, etc.) but a lot of critics and music people only care about the hip hop-ish stuff like Ty Dolla $ign etc
― some dude, Tuesday, October 7, 2014 12:43 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I don't disagree with the former examples but the latter is your personal axe grinding, If he's getting critical attention it's basically from ilx ppl or a reflection of his pretty significant mainstream pop success. I mean he wrote one of the year's biggest songs, came up with the biggest producer in hip hop, and collaborates with a huge cross section of artists. Are you really surprised he's gotten more attention than artists without top 40 singles? And the notion that he gets blanket critical respect is pretty distorted too, fader cover or no it's not like his tapes have gotten blanket praise from critics, most of whom haven't been afraid to mention misogyny or criticize his reliance on guest artists
― deej loaf (D-40), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:17 (nine years ago) link
A better example of popular r&b with critical acclaim is Beyoncé or frank ocean
― deej loaf (D-40), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:20 (nine years ago) link
(Never mind that Ty is a producer/songwriter/singer, which gives him a level of auteur status none of those artists have but I don't even think that's translated to much crit love regardless)
― deej loaf (D-40), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:27 (nine years ago) link
I see where D-40 has hung his hat now that Gucci is in jail
― 💪😈⚠️ (DJP), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:32 (nine years ago) link
A lot of what's happening itt is, I think, insurgent critical perspectives have become institutional ones in a way they hadn't been. We now live in an era where Aaliyah is on the cover of wax poetics... I remember saying I liked Aaliyah in college and having r&b heads tell me I was crazy.
― deej loaf (D-40), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:32 (nine years ago) link
― 💪😈⚠️ (DJP), Tuesday, October 7, 2014 1:32 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
There are like 40 different artists this fka twigs fanboard has tried to say I was obsessed w over the past few years it is weird
― deej loaf (D-40), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:36 (nine years ago) link
How many bat for lashes stans tried to clown me for saying Gucci was an important artist that haven't pulled out "Daniel" in four years
― deej loaf (D-40), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:38 (nine years ago) link
anyway to get back on topic there was a rockist angle to a lot of the ways that ppl argued for neo soul at the time—return to 'soulfulness' obsession w/ the past fetishization of 'organic' sounds... at some level the critique was right. it's funny to hear:
back in the mid-late 90s, i think most critics here, would have been like 'its not real R&B' or futuristic enough (cos yknow, R&B and black music is only good for that). like when simon reynolds drew a binary rza (boring, trad, staid, etc) in the late 90s and what timbo and missy were doing.
― StillAdvance, Tuesday, October 7, 2014 4:52 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
like, i was coming to this board from the opposite side, and this focus on futurism etc was new to me and refreshing (not talking about chaki's post, obv)—the idea of listening to R&B from this pop POV was alien to most music writing I'd ever read ... you ask the average R&B critic what was good and they'd be like oh the classisist stuff ("cos yknow, R&B and black music is only good for that"). its a relentless chase for an authenticity that doesn't exist.
i don't doubt there are stereotypes at play whenever people are endorsing or dissing any partic R&B style (esp when they do it like THAT). But it's funny to watch this discussion yo-yo like this.
― deej loaf (D-40), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 19:40 (nine years ago) link
by 'the critique was right' i am certainly not talking about chaki's post nb
― deej loaf (D-40), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 19:48 (nine years ago) link
actually, i have to admit, back in the late 90s i was also on the 'neo soul is what more R&B artists should be making! why are people thinking timbaland is better than dangelo and erykah badu?! why doesnt k-ci make a whole record like if you think youre lonely now?!?!'. that wasnt so much rockist (and to put everything down as rockist actually just feeds rockism) as hip-hopist, that idea that 'real' musicians = 'real' R&B/soul (real basically meaning old/60s/70s) like what you heard on old samples etc. but in fairness, a lot of baduizm and brown sugar werent just revivalism, they sounded like the 90s. there were no samplers being used on 70s records. ali shaheed made brown sugar sound like a hip hop record. the idea that it was just like a black american britpop doesnt quite work as it always sounded of the time (voodoo and mamas gun came later, and were much more traditional, but who cares). so yeah, relentless chase for a non existent authenticity sounds about right. but hey, playing music tribes can be fun.
― StillAdvance, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 20:19 (nine years ago) link
erykah busking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQY8lqFScM
― festival culture (Jordan), Wednesday, 15 October 2014 16:53 (nine years ago) link
She's posted a soul mix over on mixcloud a couple days back here.
― Daylight M, Monday, 27 July 2015 09:24 (eight years ago) link
just came here to say that return of the ankh is amazing and is just making me feel really good right now, i love this album so much
― marcos, Thursday, 30 July 2015 16:12 (eight years ago) link
We're not officially in the longest wait between Badu albums since the beginning.
― Norse Jung (Eric H.), Thursday, 30 July 2015 16:14 (eight years ago) link
not NOW
thx for the heads up daylight
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 30 July 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
We're now officially in the longest wait between Badu albums since the beginning.
:(
― Credit: howtokeepapositiveattitudedotcom (stevie), Thursday, 30 July 2015 16:35 (eight years ago) link
she's touring tho
― chaki (kurt schwitterz), Thursday, 30 July 2015 16:39 (eight years ago) link
I thought she was just doing DJ tours
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 30 July 2015 16:40 (eight years ago) link
nah full live show at the warfield coming up soon, shakey!
― chaki (kurt schwitterz), Thursday, 30 July 2015 16:40 (eight years ago) link
waaaaaht
I kinda hate that place but that's tempting
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 30 July 2015 16:46 (eight years ago) link
https://soundcloud.com/erykah-she-ill-badu/hot-line-bling-but-u-caint-use-my-phone-mix
:D
― crime breeze (schlump), Friday, 2 October 2015 04:08 (eight years ago) link
singing colbie caillat on facebook remains the best badu jukebox moment of the past year imo
― some dude, Friday, 2 October 2015 05:02 (eight years ago) link
― i made a scope for my laser musket out of some (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 21:42 (eight years ago) link
god i love erykah
― i made a scope for my laser musket out of some (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 21:46 (eight years ago) link
that link is... 2 posts up
― just sayin, Wednesday, 11 November 2015 21:53 (eight years ago) link
hm, thought that was something different off the caint use my phone mixanyways, it bears repeating
― i made a scope for my laser musket out of some (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 21:57 (eight years ago) link
yes to the hotline bling refix (old news obv), not too sure about "phone down"
― art baengels (monotony), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 22:42 (eight years ago) link
sounds like a demo -- it's missing, I don't know, a verse, middle eight?
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 22:43 (eight years ago) link
I did not like "phone down" at all - thin, tinny, plus autotune, not playing to her strengths
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 11 November 2015 23:03 (eight years ago) link
jfc some grotesque shit posted itt way back, kind of fucked to know some of those people are still posting
― marcos, Thursday, 12 November 2015 00:02 (eight years ago) link
i said hella dumb shit in this thread. really stupid thinking back then.
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 12 November 2015 00:21 (eight years ago) link
i love how hypnotic "phone down" is
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 12 November 2015 06:18 (eight years ago) link
i need to take some time with thishttp://blaecny.com/music/mixtapes-albums/erykah-badu-but-you-caint-use-my-phone-mixtape/
― Eugene Goostman (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 28 November 2015 08:06 (eight years ago) link
SQUIRRRRRRLLLLLLLLL
― lex pretend, Saturday, 28 November 2015 09:56 (eight years ago) link
oh shit £10? itunes you are rinsing us britishers
― I don't have the time or energy to make a counterargument (stevie), Saturday, 28 November 2015 10:45 (eight years ago) link
got through it three times and this is frankly brilliant
― Eugene Goostman (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 28 November 2015 16:57 (eight years ago) link
i mean, as with all things, i still wish drake wasn't on itbut he's fairly benign here
― Eugene Goostman (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 28 November 2015 17:03 (eight years ago) link
it's not Drake, it's a Drake soundalike who is signed to Erykah's label, very weird corny publicity stunt
her voice is always a joy to hear and obviously this is a tossed-off minor work by design, but it really is little more than a "songs about phones" listicle aside from the Andre 3k song
― just knocked me cold and left me on the sidewalk (some dude), Saturday, 28 November 2015 18:13 (eight years ago) link
?mixtape lists tracks as "feat Drake"
― Eugene Goostman (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 28 November 2015 18:15 (eight years ago) link
also listicles can be brilliant too
http://pitchfork.com/news/62273-erykah-badu-mixtape-out-now-features-andre-3000/
― just knocked me cold and left me on the sidewalk (some dude), Saturday, 28 November 2015 18:20 (eight years ago) link
That IS weird. The guy on the track is tapping AS drake , like in persona, so I dunno what they were thinking
― Eugene Goostman (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 28 November 2015 21:31 (eight years ago) link
it's bizarre but pretty funny imo
― J0rdan S., Saturday, 28 November 2015 23:06 (eight years ago) link
this tape is super fun and great
― marcos, Monday, 30 November 2015 18:32 (eight years ago) link
drake impersonator is hilarious, wtf is going on there
also i think her hotline bling remix is legitimately great, this kind of detached slightly melancholic spaciness intrinsic to the song just works really well in erykah's style imo
― marcos, Monday, 30 November 2015 18:36 (eight years ago) link
not heard the new tape but i love the drake semi-remake/version/do-over/whatever. was weird to hear her on the zane lowe show though. not heard her speak for so long, so kinda shocking in a way to hear just how spaced out she is, talking about 'downloading life'.
actually more than hearing that she seems even more new agey than i remember (obviously i know this is a 'duh' moment, it was weird to think that erykah is getting *old*. i think shes on that cusp of sounding slightly out of touch. which i wouldnt actually mind. im up for hearing badu start doing standards and what not. lol.
― StillAdvance, Monday, 30 November 2015 20:34 (eight years ago) link