Rolling R&B Thread 2010

New decade, new thread right? So, yeah 2009 was kind of a lackluster year R&B-wise (especially in terms of female r&b, the males really stepped their game up though). A lot of the promising releases of the year were either huge disappointments or pushed back to 2010. So this year we have to look forward to new albums from:

Erykah Badu, Sade, Usher, Jazmine Sullivan, Cassie, Ciara, Fantasia, The-Dream, Keri Hilson, Lloyd, Maxwell, Omarion, Kelis, Jamie Foxx, Beyonce, Brandy, Electrik Red, Goapale, Teedra Moses, Raheem DeVaughn, Monica, Trey Songz, Toni Braxton, Jennifer Hudson, Amy Winehouse, Estelle, Ne-Yo, Nina Sky, Kelly Rowland, Chrisina Milian

And the notable debuts:

Ester Dean
Kevin Cossom
Josiah Bell
RichGirl
K. Michelle
Janelle Monae
Shanell

What are you looking forward to? Which trends do you see emerging in r&b circa 2010? Which trends do you hope die out?

damn not that half of those are actually gonna get put out this year but looking forward to 2010! 2009 was alright for me, a few great records, handful of very good and then a dropoff, at least for me

This thread is sort of getting off to a slow start lol, but here are a few things I'm feeling at the moment.:

Cassie "Sky Diver"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PD2X_1crtM

I know you guys are probably tired of all of these Cassie leaks that never seem to lead to an actual album but this one is pretty amazing. Produced by Chris N' Teeb (who also did Ciara's "I'm On") and written by James Fauntleroy... has the surreal epicness that I've come to really love about Fauntleroy's writing (not to mention that beautiful melody), he's pretty much the best songwriter in the game right now IMO. His concepts and harmonies are so distinct, you can always tell when you're listening to something he wrote. Cassie is in top form here.. I try not to get my hopes up for Electro Love to ever drop since it's been like 3 years in the making but then I hear songs like this and get excited all over again.

Dirty Money "Hair Down"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ovXU-MLZo

Between this and "Love Come Down" I'm oddly excited for the Dirty Money project, though Diddy is the worst part of both songs and I'd prefer if Dirty Money was just Dawn & Kalenna. This track, produced by Polow Da Don protege Hit Boy, really showcases why Dawn was the best part of Danity Kane - beautiful runs and harmonies.. you can really hear Brandy's influence here.

Mary J. Blige "Kitchen"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXM7ldB-Oto

So Mary's latest album Stronger with Each Tear has sort of been ignored, and while it isn't among her best work by any means there are some solid tracks on there, "Kitchen" probably being the standout (though "I Love U (Yes I Du)" with the Billy Paul "Circulate" sample is sick too). It's pretty much standard Terius, down to the stacatto toy piano and the ridiculous lyrics. Never let a girl cook in your KITCHENNNNNNNNN! Mary and Terius make a nice team, which you wouldn't think necessarily but this song and "Roses" from Growing Pains are classic Mary with a twist. Terius' quirkiness and sense of humor is a nice change of pace for Mary who can get a bit repetitive lyrically...

Alicia Keys "Love Is Blind"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDL2_qv4LPg

Alicia Keys is boring but she always has at least one great song on her albums and this is the one for me off of the latest one ("Try Sleeping..." is epic too, as well as "Unthinkable (I'm Ready)", not sure why they went with the godawful "Doesn't Mean Anything" as the first single but whatever). My problem with her is that she seems to play everything extremely safe, on this track she switched up her vocals a bit and there's some ENERGY and URGENCY in her singing for once.

Tamya Loren & Terius "Tipsy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLNv_yFapEw

At first I wasn't feeling this one - I want L.O.S. to switch it up a bit now - but by the end of course I was singing along so I guess I like it now? Repetitive chours, radio killa/gorilla rhyme, AYYYYYYYYY, stacatto piano, Linn drums, are all here lol so if you're not tired of all that stuff yet you should love this!!

J*Davey has actually released something!
http://bandcamp.com/files/23/78/2378449203-1.jpg
It's another mixtape but at least it's all new shit. You can give it a listen and a free download here. Stand out tracks for me are "Get Together" and "Crawl All Over. It's really spacey, dubby.. it's actualy a lot more experimental and noodly then I expected from them, I figured they were headed in a poppier direction since they dropped that "Mama's Back" single last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN6yMF6cRC0

Also really feeling that Usher "Little Freak" record... and "In My Bag" with T.I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW4kvgZ2me4
There's a new Usher leak every day it seems and most of them are pretty damn good, so Raymond vs. Raymond should be a return to form for those who didn't like Here I Stand (though I still contend that Here I Stand is a great album! Don't sleep! I guess it's too grown and sexy for most lol)

Also lex spoke about it a bit in the '09 but that Lloyd EP is awesome. He is terribly consistent isn't he? At this point I'll buy anything Lloyd puts out, here's hoping his next album does better than Lessons in Love. This is my cut off of the Like Me EP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GnbWxK59wU

epic post. gonna go through all these when i get home.

ditto - just want to reiterate how strong that lloyd ep is and yeah, "take it off" is my jam.

Omarion, "Temptation," 3:02-3:12.

that j*davey ep is really good, thx for the heads up brainwasher.

just got round to the robin thicke album - i really like it! weird, i was always kind of turned off by him before, but i LOVE his feather-lite vocals here.

really want to reiterate how great that lloyd ep is - gorgeous full-sounding production (looked it up and it seems it's by several different people, which i wouldn't have guessed), amazing melodies which just roll out with such confidence, really judicious use of hip-hop samples...lloyd is on top form too.

Another Usher leak:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yPHvHftYn4

Usher and Polow are on a roll

that lloyd ep is amazing. which of his albums is worth getting?

r&b heads don't forget to vote in the ilx poll!

dyao - i quite like both of lloyd's albums but tbh i don't recall either of them hitting me as hard and as immediately as this new ep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HciTQU8h-w

love this

that's good! think it's kinda old tho

Anybody hear the new Raheem Devaughan mixtape? I'm curious about it. He's also got a new official cd "Masterpeace" coming soon. According to this Chris Richards Washington Post interview he's gonna have some songs with Marvin Gaye/Curtis Mayfield style serious political lyrics-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012900268.html

much as i loved Raheem's last album "Text Messages" and "Bulletproof" were so shitty that I can't really muster much interest in his new stuff

yeah, bulletproof is so heavily steeped in those influences, but so devoid of their depth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6hq_zeZGoo

seriously what has happened to Usher's career? this shit is depressing

"daddy's home" saddens me so much -- i've got 'confessions' in the car cd player right now - RIP

yeah my mind just boggles, like "Papers" was #1 on the R&B chart, you don't call that a teaser and not make a video unless you have something amazing in the chamber as the real single, instead it's some shit with Plies that even Plies didn't bother to show up to the video shoot for

no thoughts on the new janelle monae single?

what's the name?

http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/13883-tightrope-ft-big-boi/

i LIKE
i wish the beach house guys on the left hand side would quit going up and down and miming intercourse

i dont really like the new monae, too saadiq-does-motown ish

she wishes

i don't mind her blatant ripoffs as long as the end result is a good time

she opened for saadiq at some shows, I think

i'm almost positive she performed that when i saw her ~9 months ago. it's aight i guess

really like the new raheem devaughn single - nothing he'd done before had particularly grabbed me but this is very nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMwNWoo3vpw

this is really nice -- what's it sampling tho? it's bothering me... (either that or the piano line & horns sound so classic that i can't believe they aren't sampled)

reminds me of a slicker version of 'take me higher' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfU0AM0-0I0 (KeAnthony, formerly Cruna)

ne-yo demoing an apparent future janet track - "rock with you"

http://www.zshare.net/download/72468852a9c393de

ne-yo demoing an apparent future janet track from two years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY7Qc_VMKmk

The Reverend (rev) wrote this on thread //////////////shawty got poll poll poll poll poll poll poll (part I: 2008 TRAX)\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ on board I Love Music on Feb 7, 2009

my tracks (ordered):

Juan Maclean, The - Happy House
Lil Wayne - A Milli
Erykah Badu - The Cell
Crazy Cousinz - Bongo Jam
Grind Mode - I'm So High
Hood Headlinaz F/ Jackie Chain & Jhi-Ali - Rollin'
Hercules & Love Affair - Blind (Frankie Knuckles Remix)
Janet Jackson - Rock With U
Young Jeezy Ft. Kanye West - Put On
Solange Knowles - I Decided Pt. 1
Hot Stylz F/ Yung Joc - Lookin' Boy
Enur Feat. Natasja - Calabria 2008
Jim Jones - Pop Champagne
Portishead - Machine Gun
Roots, The - 75 Bars (Black's Reconstruction)
Ne-Yo - Closer
Treasure Fingers - Cross The Dancefloor
Lloyd - Girls Around The World
Wiley - Wearing My Rolex
Jazmine Sullivan - Need U Bad

not really sure whether it sounds more or less completely totally gay with ne-yo singing it tbh

Usher mini-concert before the NBA Allstar game tonight was not impressive. "More" seems like he's been listening to power ballad singers and soundtracks to recent Disney things. Not a good look.

recent Usher is so u_u

Really? I like his stints on Fed Up and Spotlight and Little Freak a lot.

i can't tell if that's a selforksparody or not

u tell me.

i saw ne-yo live last night & he was awesome. sadly i missed ryan leslie due to, idk, not knowing what the time is or what time things start or minor details like that :( ne-yo was pretty awesome anyway.

anyway, ne-yo's valentine's day tips!!

what's not to like about little freak and want her body. they both good! granted what leaked as the raymond album is weak as hell but still!

Carolina Chocolate Drops cover "Hit Em Up Style"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKTXJUYiAT4

part of their regular set actually

dont u have a forks thread for this stuff yet

i kinda like "Want Her Body" but Usher doing a song with LA The Darkman kinda underlines the whole 'what the fuck is happening with his career' thing, it's like he's determined to collaborate with every half-famous bum rapper out right now.

deej dont u have a swag thread for your stuff yet

heh i quite liked that la the darkman cut just for the randomness tho, like if ursh is gonna underline his cluelessness then let it be a entertainingly squiggly line like that at least. (ignore all this if darkman is actually out there generating twitter mixtape heat or whatever these days.)

seems kinda weird to say it but usher is just too old/established in his virtues to be pulling off this young man hype shit again and make another 'yeah!' now. also slightly too much of a weirdo too - i think only other strange dudes who also happened to be recovering from a divorce from their moms were ever gonna feel the everyman realness of that 'papers' bullshit.

i mean i'm not saying dude has to aim at some maxwell/sade level now (not least cos that supposedly grown-up shit on here i stand was fucking terrible) but if he had any grace or self-awareness to throw some money and conviction into it there's a pretty wide expanse of middle ground he can quite easily inhabit, that the public (even *gasp* the kids) would happily follow him into - i'd have to check the record books but i think they used to call it r&b.

for a start how hard would it be to sweep up 14 of these 879 usher-ready cuts lying around gathering dust on ne-yo's mp3 blogleak cutting floor and give them a bit of hot producer slap n tickle? not very, i'm guessing. (remind me again what that particularly egregious one was that lex found tail end of last year?? that was pretty good.)

x-post

Carolina Chocolate Drops cover "Hit Em Up Style"-Whiney

I'll pile on--Whiney they were doing that cover in 2008.

i do agree with rtc that usher could definitely hit the same grown man but not old man 'niche' that ne-yo does -- it takes a certain amount of grace & charm and maybe usher just doesn't know how to convey those things anymore because everything he's done has been so ham-handed from "daddy's home" to "love in this club" to even stuff i like like "papers"

i mean he had a song called "moving mountains" ffs -- the lush sorta disco stuff that ne-yo does would suit well imo

yeah i'm not sure - to be fair usher is probably right thinking he's still in a (pretty unique) position where he can aim younger than ne-yo stylistically, or at very least can be going for something similar to 'closer' let's say. ideally he should be in competition with timberlake, but with neyoian song content i guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9PBlxVWQeE&fmt=34

this is that offcut i was asking about - sounds pretty explicitly like an usher guidetrack now i listen to it again, heh.

if you still wanna hear disco usher though holla back at a 1996!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GQiWmXhvok&fmt=35

*folds arms*

i like "Papers" but i guess sad as it is to say "Lil Freak" is probably the best chance he has of a real club record of any magnitude right now, and that song has Nicki Minaj reciting the names of Santa's reindeer in that middle-schooler-making-fun-of-retards voice and a chorus that always sounds to me like "see my little prick"

tom b's enthusiastic review of it was pretty bizarre -- it strikes me as such a bankrupt & DOA song -- it's hard to even get excited about polow anymore

altho the review did use the phrase "Ush's chiffon moan" which is a true triumph of tom b. vernacular, maybe my favorite that i've run across besides "bruised-growl retro-punk" in the gaslight anthem review that i re-read this weekend

(<3 tom of course)

Ne-Yo would be stupid give Usher shit for the simple reason that it would render likely Ne-Yo's ass irrelevent.

This is good recent-ish Usher disco:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrgZlZC-Q3A

it takes a certain amount of grace & charm and maybe usher just doesn't know how to convey those things anymore

ding ding ding

fyi, terius believes "moving mountains" to be his most underrated track o_0

lol

@MissKeri Baby currently trying to usher Polow out the studio so I can be productive w/ Danja...the sabotage.
6 minutes ago from UberTwitter

wtf does that mean?

Whoa, that Raheem Devaughn. Love the Ne-Yo version (which is basically bar-to-bar the exact same song).

feeling this j holiday - "pretty body". Los da mystro on the track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa6AuKi-NAs

yall this shit bangs fwiw

yeah this kinda works in spite of j holiday

ive warmed to his voice but he's pretty undeniably in control of it right here

oh how come nobody told me how dope untitled was? I'd just kind of avoided it (hadn't even heard anything but "supaman high") on assumption that it would suck the big one

i don't think it's great overall but like any R. album it has some jams, i love "Be My #2"

i got into it in January and while it's up and down, I think Exit is absolutely top ten all time for him

Also Echo (Yodelkells!), Bangin' on the Headboard, Go Low, Like I Do and definitely Be My #2.
It feels like an album where he's really reaching to try new things which is impressive, even if it didn't pay off everytime.

anyone heard the chris brown mixtape yet?

::races to google so fast he sprains a finger::

it's... gangsta grillz?

didn't think they could dilute that brand any further after pharrell and ron artest but congratulations drama! looking forward to the justin beiber gangsta grillz.

that would be the chris brown valentine's day mixtape o_0

willie taylor from day26 also did a valentine's day mixtape - called sextape lol - that i d/lded on @BinkieER's recommendation. it was ok.

<3 all of u deeply

its prolly excellent but i havent listened to it yet. still love CB even if he is satan or whatevs

omarion album?

"speedin" is the obvious standout on that album, I also like "wet" a lot... otherwise it's pretty forgettable

Haven't gotten around to Ollusion but wanted to chime in that Mario's D.N.A. from last year is being heavily felt lately. I liked "Break Up" but didn't expect there to be so much more to like. L.O.S. track uses Fray-like piano in conjunction with a pretty strong beat for a track that could have crossed over imho. "Before She Said Hi" is a 90s hip-house sound that doesn't get dusted off much these days. Tricky/Dream tracks are quality if not revelatory. Really only the Jim Jonsin track doesn't land. It's a solid album in a solid year for R&B.

ciara song is *shrugs*

sounds like soulja boy produced this tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qXNRljN3F4

it's really good

if not a bit thin

ha! it interpolates gucci's "photo shoot" -- also maybe the first waka verse to please meh

i was kinda hoping he'd just keep doing 'waka flocka flocka waka flocka waka waka' or whatever for an entire verse

has he stopped doing that now?

wow that chorus is pretty great

lloyd ft mystikal prod by bangladesh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a58lv71Jfo

beat is this big brassy/jazzy thing that sounds... uh like "bouncin back"

bangladesh can be so good when he doesn't recycle the same shit over & over!

i trust that someone will alert maura

it's so nice to have mystikal back, i've welcomed him

I like the beat but I dunno if lloyd's voice is a good fit for it

yeah you might be right -- it opened up to me on headphones idk -- beat actually has a lot of empty space

I'm always real resistant to anyone ripping off ray but this is okay on first listen.

i wish mystikal wasn't a rapist and had a music career instead :(
dude's voice has changed

lmao @ lloyd trying to sell lines like "i'm a beast, i'm a dog" and "i turn into a manimal every time that the moon is full". his voice is so damn girly that when one verse started i spun around thinking my wife was in the room.

on one listen i agree with dyao, i like the song and the beat is actually really great, but it's not the perfect fit that the lush pixelcloud arrangements on lloyd's last ep were (did anyone else d/l it in the end? felt as though i was raving into a void about it - doesn't help that i can't think of a great deal to say about it but it's really pretty special, and i go back to it all the time)

i thought it was v solid and of a high quality compared to most stuff that came out last year, but enough of a definite shift in content and production towards a more realistic(/generic) male r&b artist model to have killed his magic somewhat - for me anyway. i wasn't mad at it though, he gave the auteurish post-inc sound a good few years go and it wasn't getting him anywhere so fair play to him changing it up at young money now.

lloyd's ep was one of the great releases of 2009. if the-dream wasn't around I'd be claiming it was the prime rnb release.

i want more of that, to be honest. why couldn't that have been the foundation for an album? it's not like it screamed "INNOVATIVE" but it's damn well made it's still unique, the tone of it, the melodies. this one is 'decent', but it's nothing like what I want from Lloyd. I want the smoothness, the somber melancholy of "a night off"

baffled @ the two of you seeming to think the ep is on a par with the previous albums - i'm not saying there arent the odd residual resonances still lingering (which always will, with his voice) but that's all they really are to my ears.

I agree with you guys; that Lloyd EP was a revelation. I don't know why it was buried as a free download EP at the end of the year when nobody was paying attention... if he had added a couple extra songs, that would have been an amazing record. Young Goldie really had a cohesive tone that it carried throughout all seven songs, which was a refreshing break from the design-by-committee sound of too many R&B records.

I was really excited to hear Lloyd's follow-up full length, but this new song actually makes me a little less so.

ship had the best criticism in this in that it's a bit incongruous for wispy ass lloyd to be all "i'm a beast, i'm a dog" -- otherwise i think it's a great song

I said this on another thread but I really like the Raheem DeVaughn album. Excellent points: 1) He uses Dr. Cornel West as a hypeman on several (skippable but hilarious) tracks. 2) No "Text Messages." ("Bulletproof" remains, but I don't hate it. 3) The topical songs aren't earthshaking but they are heartfelt and sometimes kinda inspiring. Don't listen to the 8-minute posse cut "Nobody Wins a War" if you are into realpolitik or if you have a low tolerance for Jill Scott doing spoken-word pacifist slam poetry though. 4) Six songs more or less in a row about sex, including the soon-to-be-infamous "B.O.B.", which stands for...naw, I don't wanna spoil it. It's not "Bombs Over Baghdad." 5) Kinda gotta get the 2-disc version or you won't get the 11-minute house jam "Lose Control" OR the Bun B feature on "Wing and a Prayer." "Soldier Story" also goes pretty hard.

mystikal sounds pretty good on that imo

That Raheem DeVaughn album was one of the year's big disappointments for me. It has a couple transcendentally good songs, "I Don't Care" in particular, but a lot of the didactic political songs (not to mention the Cornel West interludes) are really intolerable. Raheem has a great voice, but nothing to say that isn't really trite.

lol at lloyd butching it up. good song tho

I need to play that ep again. it kinda went in one ear and out the other the one time I played it

agreeing with the others about the lloyd ep - so pretty and seamless, like a faberge egg

i really dig the mystikal verse on this

what makes the lloyd ep so special for me is, yeah, how coherent and thorough within its self-containment it is; there's a really strong sense of overcoming adversity throughout, whether re: lloyd's career or the various emotionally frozen women he sings to who find love impossible or unimaginable; or even the weirdly visceral extended drugs metaphor on "pusha" - and yet there's nothing strained or effortful about how these are resolved, lloyd makes it sound so pretty and graceful - he makes overcoming adversity sound alluring. the melodies throughout are always on point but i find the looped guitar samples on "think of me" and "everyday" particularly irresistible. and i never noticed how great the lyrics of the chorus are - "every cloud has its time before the sun" <3 <3

Lloyd's voice is also so damn weird, and so fragile that it's easy to drown out. The Young Goldie EP really complimented it in a way I've never heard before. In part because of the silky production, it reminds me of the first Al Green/Willie Mitchell albums. Before Willie Mitchell, Al Green was trying his best to sing out shouting soul-man anthems, which really didn't play to his strengths. Then Willie Mitchell created a softer sonic template that flattered Green's voice without overwhelming it. I think Lloyd is the type of singer who needs that attention.

I liked the EP but found it a bit forgettable.

yeah, i do like the new goapele
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WYggG0ercw

yonghost (4 days ago) Show Hide
im gonna fuck on this song, enjoy it , please my baby  and thank Goapele for it

not tryna be a pedant or anything but that song is from last year

o rly? my bad then. saw it listed as a "new single" in a show review.

not sure what's up w/ foxx's new album -- speak french was pretty bad but i like this a lot better -- uptempo, glitzy beat & his voice sounds really great -- this is a low qual rip but the cdq could end up being very nice - we'll see where it leads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW63Rp8bILQ

who knows what r les is up to -- can't imagine who would allow him to put out a new album after his 09 output, but i guess he's still making tracks -- this won't make any fans of people who don't dig the dude, but for stans it's a nice switch up -- sounds kind of early 00s to me, all stuttery, short guitar plucks & punchy drums that almost mimic timbo's beatboxing era -- not to make too much of it tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ3eCYHCi4k

& maybe this will find more of a home here than on the drake thread -- his new single with terius -- conflicting reports on whether or not this is the final version or not -- i would tend to say not considering terius doesn't really do much of anything with his verse (it's more of an extended outro than anything) & his vocals are mixed super low -- and even tho this wasn't produced by tricky or los it sounds like something that could've been on the back half of love/hate to me, it has a "purple kisses" vibe (or "bed," i guess -- minus los's popping drums) -- i think the chorus is really pretty tho, it hits that sort of sublime weightless falsetto that the second half of the chorus of "best i ever had" did i think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx0PUdVPgjA

So I know you guys aren't really feeling Usher this go-around, but have y'all gave the album a listen? 'Cuz there are some tracks on there... I mean, there were some leaks that I think should've made the album and it certainly isn't his greatest album but this track in particular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz05RzrcjYg

Is kind of next level. Produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis... intergalactic slow-jam, it's one of the best songs I've heard all year.

really great song, yeah -- it's nice to know that the three of them still have some chemistry

and yeah j0rdan that R. Les track is very early 00s, wouldn't sound out of place on a Jagged Edge album or something like that. It's kind of early for 00s revivalism isn't it? lol... The Drake track is pretty chill, he's much better as an R&B dude than he is as a rapper actually, he should stick to that...

few other tracks :

Monica "Stay or Go"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RTkjCgL6LU

haven't really gotten a chance to give the Monica album a proper listen but I had to post this track because I've been in love with it since I heard the demo, and Monica's version is great. It's kind of your typical Ne-Yo midtempo until the beat switches up in the chorus. Such a pretty melody though, and come to think of it Ne-Yo has been sort of quiet lately so it's nice to hear something he's written... he needs to come out with a new album soon.

Fantasia "Control Freak"
http://usershare.net/egzgx2a2hru7
Can't find a youtube for this one, but it's worth downloading... Fantasia could sing practically anything and I'd be in love with it, she's my favorite r&b vocalist of this generation pretty easily (well... her and Jazmine Sullivan). This song happens to be an excellent baby makin' jam in the vein of "I Nominate U" from her last album (which is a classic!)... production is very minimal, sensual... I can hear the sweat dripping practially. I hope this makes the album.

Kelly Rowland "Smooches"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8hucsspgcQ

There's some INTERNET DRAMA over this song since it was supposed to be Teyana Taylor of "Google Me" fame's first single and Kelly apparently "stole" it from her... the song is cool, I would much rather hear Teyana on it to be honest, Kelly isn't really convincing...

Marsha Ambrosius "She Don't Matter"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsuQyruhQto

This song was on LeToya's seriously slept-on Lady Love album from last year. It was one of the standouts on that album, and it's the standout on Marsha's Yours Sincerely mixtape (though the whole thing is great and worth downloading)... Marsha really is an excellent songwriter.

I'm kind of bored with R&B recently to be honest. We're in need of an R&B jesus or something, someone to save this shit 'cuz things are looking pretty lame :-\ I need Return of the Ahnk to leak now please.

really like that usher space jam

oh k-ro do you really think we're still in the age where "a milli" knockoffs are acceptable things to come with?

i need to hear the full usher album, but between mars/papers/little freak i still don't know why this album doesn't get some love. Daddy is admittedly horrible...

you'd think that people would have had enough of "a milli" knockoffs
but I look around me and I see it isn't so

all three jam & lewis songs on this usher are wonderful as fuck - so impressive the way they've dipped right back in with a perfectly-adapted modern style (although otoh who better to guide a dreamy revival perhaps). tricky stewart rises to their level with 'pro lover' too, a great and nicely judged beat he wouldn't have done for anyone else this side of like 2003 say.

pretty much like the whole middle section with all this stuff - 'papers' sounds much much better in this context, and 'foolin around' - which should be lol confessions shamelessness - actually no, it is exactly that, but very welcome and not as forced as it you'd think it oughta be. 'guilty' is cute but has the curious reflexive effect of making this part of the album suddenly seem like a dope cheerfully mackin 2nd jeremih effort. maybe just me eh.

all in all not a disaster; shame about the still-dire bookends and the clumsy danja cut.

it's not as if ursh+j&l hasn't been previously awesome

man j every time you say a song reminds you of "bed"/"pk" i wanna slap you but i'm feeling that drake joint

well uh los da mystro and the dream more specifically has plied that "bed" sound for a while now since it's came out

and this song is one of a few not produced by los that also seems to take cues from the general vibe & sonics of "bed" & its ilk

no i'm saying the comparison is valid this time!

yes, i'm saying that it's also valid lots of other times

& i don't disagree that dream/los (and others obv) have bitten "bed" to good effect in the past; more recently you mentioned it when describing "love king" and i didn't get that at all ("lk" has grown on me a bit btw)

i don't think i ever mentioned "bed" wrt "love king" unless it was to say that he uses those drums again -- i think i said "rockin that shit" x "i luv your girl"

well here's why "rendezvous" sounded so early 00s to us

ryanleslie ...saw that a few more records leaked recently. "Rendezvous" is 8 years old.

this track has really grown on me tho i guess it's not a good fit with the stuff itt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgFuY8gtAY8

huh that's a real chill video too imo

pretty much like the whole middle section with all this stuff - 'papers' sounds much much better in this context, and 'foolin around' - which should be lol confessions shamelessness - actually no, it is exactly that, but very welcome and not as forced as it you'd think it oughta be.

Glad to hear. I've liked almost everything I've heard from the new Usher album (save for "Daddy's Home," and even that only because the lyrics make me gag.) "Papers" is the perfect little single in my mind; it's such a pure sentiment, a nice change from some of his more over the top moments. I think it's Usher at his most earnest and sympathetic.

Also, that Jose James song is nice. A little slight, but it worms its way into your head, like a better version of the Dilla-esque, Stones Throw neo-soul singers who always forget to add hooks to their songs. What's the story behind this guy?

i know nothing about him! just seems to be a chill MOR sort of dude

haha i only have an untold remix of josé james (it's really nice though)

~just chillin at the studio, recording~

really like that usher space jam

― 丫 power (dyao), Monday, March 22, 2010 5:15 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha i just realized that the first track on the album is titled MONSTAR

http://watertownultimate.com/db2/00173/watertownultimate.com/_uimages/388797843_ac47b1b29d.jpg

Moodymann;s remix of Jose James' "Desire" from last year is also amazing.

xxp

never been into robin thick bar his spot on the carter iii b4 but loving his slightly disco brand of contempor&b on rollercoasta + estelle + yuptastic video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV8dJIglTyI

"sex therapy" was in my top 10 singles last year

lol boy just cannot dance. and where is my much-anticipated "shakin it 4 daddy" video!! "rollacoasta" is a great song though, i think the whole thicke album is deliciously light

robin thicke = 2010 rick astley?

"Shakin" was mercifully scrapped as a single iirc

airy falsetto = 2010 booming deep voice coming out of skinny little guy?

was referencing the music video tbh

but if you really want to hear a booming deep voice coming out of a skinny little guy in 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxnxr3J9Tak

such a dime

someone with more patience than me should really sift through all these leaks and find the best stuff: http://2dopeboyz.okayplayer.com/2010/03/28/shakes-sunday-soothing-session-take-54/#more-89385

Needless to say, the Electrik Red track is freakin' awesome.

yipes, needs a zip comp

new ciara/dreamer/tricky, caught it off rich fourfour's twitter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC3ZpHMOyYk

damn that is GOOD

Hey guys, I've been bored of r&b for a few months and not paying attention except for like Sade/Erykah/whatever. What's did I miss?

doesn't feel like many albums have even been released yet. the Raheem DeVaughn and Omarion were OK, only others I can think of that I haven't heard are Usher and Monica.

Essential tracks?

this is my fav r&b track of the year (besides "window seat"), but i actually have no idea in what year it was recorded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfySFLkRioM

i'm with Cibula on the tip that the 11-minute house track "Lose Control" is the standout from the Raheem, although the deluxe version it's on is the audio equivalent of tl;dr

there's an 11-minute house track on the devaughn album?!?! OMG. i loved "i don't care" but i didn't even realise the album dropped. still haven't even got round to listening to omarion and despite not hating "lil freak" can't muster up the desire to bother w/usher. cassie's "fuck u silly" is prob my r&b jam of the year so far (erykah, sade, teedra excepted).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCU5hZd4iz8

liking this new ciara/dream track! kinda...brassier than i expected.

the fact that she's put out a track called "Fuck U Silly" has me thinking that Cassie's looked at her non-career and gone into desperation mode

all of the three jimmy jam & terry lewis songs on the usher album are A+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNMOIeg5Lkw

it's cool that they sort of adapted their style to the more modern style r&b that ursh has been going for (as opposed to 'confessions' stuff) and still did better tracks than polow & danja & bangladesh etc

durpi & bryan michael cox w/ a dope one here -- would've sounded good on confessions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KipYHHfbDXY&feature=PlayList&p=D03BC5C3EA697FC7&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=8

gr8tly appreciate the last few posts, kindof out of the loop wrt music in 2010 but nicki minaj on that cassie track is just bad imo

i don't know if i can even bring myself to check out DNOMYAR V RAYMOND at this point, too many other new albums that i already like to listen to

it's a worthless album pretty much except for the tracks that i posted! (and "mars vs venus" which brainwasher posted)

i also gr8tly appreciate the last few posts, hard for me to remember what i already wrote a week ago sometimes

rich 4/4's usher rvw btw, featuring a v cute closing paragraph. (interesting faves too.)

sad that wiki lied to me about tricky producing 'pro lover'!! happy that it turns out j-lack of 'get it shawty' fame did 'okay' though.

Hey guys, I've been bored of r&b for a few months and not paying attention except for like Sade/Erykah/whatever. What's did I miss?

Very little, I think. The new Future of R&B mixtape (vol. 31, I think, with Jay Sean) has a lot of nice stuff on it. The Raheem DeVaughn I thought was a disappointment, though. Very schizophrenic. The new Usher album has a few more decent songs on it than I think this forum gives it credit for, especially in its final half ("Guilty" is almost up there with "Foolin' Around" and "Papers), but probably isn't worth buying.

I guess the onus is on the new Erykah Badu album to tide me over until Love King, and thankfully, it actually seems up to the challenge.

Anybody know anything about Dondria (http://www.myspace.com/dondrianicolemusic)? I've been hearing "You're The One" on the radio, and it's pretty charming. She has a very sweet voice.

Trey Songz "Neighbors Know My Name" is on repeat on DC radio every 20 minutes.

yeah, the Trey Songz overkill is neverending around here, it feels like. i mentioned on the TS thread that they're also playing the shit out of "You Belong To Me," which isn't even on most copies of his album.

the only way i can cope with "Neighbors" is by mocking the ridiculous way he says "knock knock knock" at the beginning of the song every time it comes on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F-eFITGzQ8

I checked this out because of the J. Cole feature and was presently surprised by this Miguel dude... he has a really nice voice, laid back production thanks to Salaam Remi... I'm about to give his free mixtape a listen:

http://www.zshare.net/download/50363548fced8a31

Anybody know anything about Dondria (http://www.myspace.com/dondrianicolemusic)? I've been hearing "You're The One" on the radio, and it's pretty charming. She has a very sweet voice.

― Evan R, Monday, April 5, 2010 7:40 PM (3 days ago)

She's pretty cool, I've been following her on youtube for a while now, since before she got signed to JD... she's recorded a bunch of singles ("Boy Stop" with Bow Wow was pretty cool) but nothing has really caught on.. I think "You're The One" could be it for her though, it's a great song. I don't know if signing with JD was the best move tho, same thing with Brandon Hines (who recently signed to JD)....

really digging this snippet from the next RichGirl single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihTmlOmxyOs

that's good -- sounds like a keri hilson song

btw ciara is the new electrik red

get excited

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4pg1CeHLQc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlmmJqOV2w

all three leaked tracks are amazing

"ride" is d-_-b

luda's verse is ^__^

"ride" is massive -- it's like "luv songs" morphed into a grinding trunk rattler

it also has that stuttering vocal thing from "she needs my love" (i think)

i love the screwed part at the beginning

catch me in the mall, you know i buy it out
g5 plane... yeah i fly it out
ass in the back look like lacs sittin on 28s
naw you can't get her if you ain't got plenty cake
atl georgia, booties look like this size
23 waist, pretty face, thick thighs

so.big.

whoa, ciara comin out on some hardcore rap shit, did not expect that but hot damn

the other song i'm not really feeling

i'm guessing that second ciara one's going to end up being two seperate songs right? even though the first rapp half is lol smh whatever, part of me almost wants them to stay that way just to further mine the weird swivel-eyed wounded paranoia vibe that 'i'm up in the bank' seemed to inadvertantly have - i can't really see myself much caring for any purely braggin cici tracks the same way i would with electrik red otherwise.

'ride' is just tedious imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlE91KIbPz0

feeling this!!

and i'm sick and tired of
being the bosphorus

oh shit this fantasia

you walkin round
with your chest out
like you the one
but if i don't do it
then it won't get done

i really really hope she's singing "bosphorus" not "both of us"

as for the cici x 2, i haven't made up my mind yet, but i will say that "ride" sounds a lot better in vaguely-hq than last week's leak. both make me want to listen to "high price", really.

"man of the house" is so...matriarchal. i can imagine the soca cover (by destra garcia or similar) right now

maybe "boss for us"? :/

HQ of that fantasia will be dope

damnnnnn @ "Ride" video!

I think this is the highest quality version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBtVGHgI7-w

And the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp6W4aK1sbs

i was sort of disappointed by that video tbh.

i like "ride" but it really doesn't feel like a lead single...like "go girl", it's the kind of song which could well wend its way into one's affections eventually (i mean, i do LIKE it) but it doesn't exactly jump out as a great song from the off, like "high price" did or like "speechless" does. it feels like an attempt to make up for fucking up "high price", and luda gives off a distinct air of "whaaat, i've got to help this chick out AGAIN? man."

"basic instinct" is funny though! works better w/the video. still reasonably excited about this project. at least it seems to be being handled with a degree of professionalism this time.

god i am STILL bitter about "high price" and "echo" never being singles, i literally have recurring dreams about the superhero x james bond x "die another day" video "high price" was surely made to have :*(

i thought they floated "high price" out as a single and it didn't really catch on so they scrapped it? anyway i think "ride" is just as good as "high price", superfluous luda verse aside -- i love the way the "ride" chorus just grinds itself into the ground

that video is aight -- ciara is WS hall of fame tho, good lord

i have no idea if ciara still has a viable career -- people who remember "love, sex and magic" probably don't even remember that it was her who sang it -- but "ride" sounds huge to me idk -- huge in a way that was huge in 2005, but still

at this point i'm just really excited about the album and hope that it gets released without 8 delays and her going into the studio with redone

no yeah Ciara is over and tbh i can't see this song changing that. really she never had any star quality or fervent fanbase, just a good run of singles that dried up a while ago.

btw i can't tell if RedOne is oblivious to the fact that w/o retarded capitalization, his name reads as "re-done" or if that's the whole point of the name...

fervent fanbase

ME

she went from triple plat to can't even go gold in 3 albums -- even ashanti needed 4 albums to pull off that kind of trajectory

i feel like for r&b artists platinum is the new double platinum and gold is the new platinum

what r&b artists even go platinum now? beyonce, keyshia cole, usher and ne-yo?

"high price" leaked way early and they panicked and scrapped it as the single - "go girl" was the single that didn't catch on. then "never ever" was the second single that didn't catch on. then finally "love sex magic" got it off the ground. but as you say, in a generic kind of way whereby no one actually cared that ciara sang it - whereas "high price" or "echo" as a lead single would have had so much singular force of personality that, even if they were divisive like "russian roulette" or whatever, they'd have made ciara as a pop star a much more viable continued prospect.

rihanna? i have no idea of sales figures any more

xp

"echo" never getting released as a single was a crime

if she was careful the around the way girl feel of her image from "1-2 Step" & "Goodies" she coulda co-existed more easily with the superstars maybe? i don't feel like she fell off super hard in terms of output. i think "Ride" is wonderful tho maybe not a "great single" idk, would love if it was everywhere tho.

"careful abt the"

what r&b artists even go platinum now? beyonce, keyshia cole, usher and ne-yo?

― artie flange (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:57 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

rihanna? i have no idea of sales figures any more

xp

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:59 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

and Mary J, Alicia Keys, Maxwell, Jamie Foxx, plus various people who had flops around the same time as Ciara but are much more likely to bounce back (R. Kelly, Mariah)

i would say the fall off from "Promise" to every single after it was a lil steep but i shan't since there are stans present

rihanna's album was considered a flop prior to rude boy, dunno if that's still the case or not

well, she kinda deliberately released 'difficult' singles and talked about not making another pop blockbuster, and it still went platinum, which isn't a big dropoff considering that the last album with a bazillion hits was only 2x plat.

rihanna is barely r&b in the way we're talking about it anyway

elephant in the room is Sade btw

but yeah, i know what you mean; Chrisette Michele is unlikely to go platinum

sade is more like the ghost in the room

xpost to some dude, i liked "Like A Boy" & "Work" and just presumed the stuff in between was kinda good tbh. i'm not really up on this stuff but def. have a soft spot for Ciara.

her last album had like 4 amazing songs

a few more than that!

high price/echo/i'm on/pucker up/turntables/lover's thing/work (original version)/when i/turn it up

^^would call all of these fantasy ride cuts and non-cuts "amazing"

keep dancin' on me/rattla/one favor/love sex magic/walk on the wall/the fit of love

^^only a notch below "amazing"

the demos are another story

go girl, click/flash, rattla, echo are all better than a bunch of stuff that ended up on the album (love sex, turntables, like a surgeon, g is for girl, tell me what your name is)

like a surgeon still makes me weeak in the knees

for sure

"turntables" is banging - i can't listen to it because of cbreezy though. why the hell wasn't he taken off? ugh.

for sure was to jordan! i don't dislike "like a surgeon" but the idea that it made the album (and was a SINGLE) ahead of eg "rattla" or "walk on the wall" or "when i" is o_0

What went wrong with that last Ciara album, anyway? Everything about it, from the crappy album art to the crappier "Love, Sex and Magic" cash-in single just felt so low-budget and desperate and just plain off.

"turntables" is banging - i can't listen to it because of cbreezy though. why the hell wasn't he taken off? ugh.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1610539/20090504/ciara.jhtml

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9KqQnUP06Y&feature=related

this song makes me want to simultaneously cry big tears and cross my legs like a little girl looking at dirty pictures for the first time.

smh @ R&B singers now having Drake write songs for them. also why the dash in the title? "unthinkable" is a word.

details, details.

yeah i don't dislike the song, just saying.

lovin ride instantaneously

<3

I thought Alicia Keys was dead.

rofl

hmm I like 'ride' alright but it doesn't really sound huge or world changing to me...it's kind of abrasive & not in a good way

yeah, and luda's verse does it no favors...so many lines with the same inflection as "i fill her up -- balloons!"

yeah luda is obv superfluous

but i can't blame them -- idk what rapper i would even call for a verse on an r&b song nowadays aside from drake (if i was a label exec/producer) and he obv wouldn't fit on that song

it's mildly astonishing to me that ciara and t.i. have never done an official song together

i was thinking t.i. but his guest raps are equally as middle of the road as luda's

there are so many rappers these days whose primary or secondary function in life is to appear on R&B songs. granted a few of them are in jail right now, but if all else fails there's always Fab.

tip murdered that new diddy/dirty money song imo

yeah, he's done a fair few classic guest verses - obv so has luda, but the ciara/luda combo feels a bit stale now.

i don't feel like there was a whole lot of thought put into color schemes, warddrobe, and esp lighting in the ciara video, but the dancing is absolutely incredible!

The "Ride" video is not available in my country and seems missing from Youtube

I'm reppin' for "Ciara To The Stage" from Fantasy Ride.

"i fill her up -- balloons!"

this laziness is getting tiresome.

yeah, i'd like to take those kind of lyrics and bag them up in some kind of...bag.

Kelis live and new album in July...hmmmm

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/arts/music/23kelis.html?ref=music

i think i'll be ripping off that "what kind of weird" line from caramanica

cuz in this case, the answer is a derivative and boring kind of weird based on acapella

ppl who hate on "Acapella" are the worst kind of disgusting savage imo

"4th of July" off of the new album is like... Sheer ecstasy, waaaaay better than "Acapella" (which I like)

listening to a david guetta beat is like getting beat over the head with a brick

sometimes I like being beat over the head with a brick.

just sayin sometimes unsubtlety is absolutely the right and needed thing

late pass but did we ever talk about fix me up?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6bKVx21m1E

not really feelin his falsetto

been listening to this long-lost 90s danny boy (of 'i aint mad at cha' fame) album on death row that's belatedly come out now - understandably not quite as good as you'd breathlessly expect something mainly produced by quik and devante to be, but still some really good vintage stuff on there. check the 'it's all about u' epic lullaby realness:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/7544510127a2c4a7/

this is his classic joint btw, inexplicably hilarious video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VTRMW2iaTE

this isn't exactly current r&b, but y'all should check out Little Ann.
http://soul-sides.com/2010/02/little-ann-going-in-deep.html
More available on youtube and interwebs or you can buy the LP
http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=9kgpddrnbt

(xp well ok not inexplicable, it's the groovin on water in his big winter coat at 1:18 and painstaking sandcastle craft at 2:28)

The Junior cover sounded exactly like I thought it would.

xposts

I know we've spoken about the mind-opening "Ride" video, but have we spoken about this anywhere?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u3iLdLTRgQ&feature=channel

Although it seems a little bit like two different songs put together, I love that despite the obvious budget constraints this is the first video I've really noticed Ciara with a personality.

i just saw the ride video and my mind was fucking opened. talk about personality

i market it so gooooooooooooddddd

i just saw the ride video and my mind was fucking opened. talk about personality

― la senora (surm), Monday, 3 May 2010 06:19 (45 minutes ago) Bookmark

^this. DAYYUUMM GURL!!!

i market it so gooooooooooooddddd

― The Brainwasher, Monday, 3 May 2010 06:24 (1 hour ago)

^^^^^YESSSSSS

ciara looks like she's auditioning for street fighter IV in that ride video

lol totally

i market it so gooooooooooooddddd

― The Brainwasher, Monday, 3 May 2010 06:24 (1 hour ago)

^^^^^YESSSSSS

― the gay guy from vampire weekend (Tape Store), Monday, May 3, 2010 9:00 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what are you guys even talking about

that line in ride. honestly you should have seen my face when that line happened, and she was in that coat thing

i like dropped my sandwich

honestly you should have seen my face when that line happened, and she was in that coat thing

― la senora (surm), Monday, May 3, 2010 3:39 PM (25 minutes ago

YASSSSS I was screaming at the computer screen lmao.

http://vimeo.com/11465235

love this video

has someone posted Blauw with the ciara leaks?

O_O at video

this is funny! 'dance with you' by the futhamuckas - like an early low budget black eyed peas, except they can't dance. found while browsing thru electrik red's back catalogue and shonky phone camera videos .. it probably belongs more in a rolling pop thread but i dont go on that. don't bother with their earlier songs by the way! but this one is sort of impossible not to like (someone will probly hate it within the next 30 seconds)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T6CDK7MGSQ&feature=related

electrik red has been doing shows w/ the futhamuckas, and the one song i heard of theirs - "the bitch" - was literal dog shit

they're like the r&b version of the teriyaki boyz

ok, I think I need to watch the actual "If It Isn't Love" video now to recover

haha! oh well i laughed.

i actually like this song okay -- the one dude is too gay to be singing about girls and the other two are not gay enough to be dancing like that tho

lol

i think i get the same kick out of it as when i used to help my friend capture her little brother and make him over - can see why dudes might not find it as adorable as me!!

:-D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68AjKlILBmw

dying here, cici is on fire

lolling hard at the deeply average and same-old new amerie song being from the forthcoming album CYMATICA: VOLUME ONE

^^^was just thinking this

loooollooool

Not to be mean, but why would you want an alter ego when you don't even have a recognizable personality to begin with?

my straight friend zach was at my apt the other day and the Ride video came on. he stood up and stared and couldn't stop staring, and singing the song. i was like, proud. he goes "i've never heard of this ciara before" and i was like, now you have.

this k.michelle mixtape!!!!! http://randb.about.com/b/2010/06/01/free-mixtape-k-michelle-whats-the-901.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS1myhxQM7o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa-CA1Mx5Kk

wow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH21KcQzI1M

~this might be too real for the radio~

jesus how many people have songs out called "where they do that at" now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70o9wBziLok

this was once a dope underated los album cut on sean garrett's album marred by that idiot's foul voice and a weezy cameo, now astutely resurrected as a launch single for some new chris brown replacement on def jam - A+ good look imo

haha wow you weren't kidding with "chris brown replacement"

FN A!!!

uh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7D5fZw26io

hahahahaha

lolz at kells trendriding over midi horns; Danny Ray go get r. his cape

full version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtDoTC-CMCY

pretty great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDlY-TQTIU4

^^total sex imo

damn

i wonder if robin thicke had anything to do with this -- if not it sounds a whole hell of a lot like him

Didn't think of that when I heard it, but yeah, that would make total sense.

I spent the first minute or so thinking it was Ne-Yo.

otm w/ the robin thicke comparison -- that fauxsamba thing is sooo 'evolution of...'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IsDKEeex_Y

Normally I would post this in my k-pop thread where nobody looks at it, but considering his album recently reached #1 on the Canadian itunes R&B chart and #3 on the US equivalent maybe it could appeal to others. And it IS lovely, almost impossibly restrained and patient rnb croonery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_5ZgQTRx6I

I like Kells going way old-school <>ducks<>

itsmeAmerie
Reading "Hyperspace (A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes,Time Warps,& the 10th Dimension)" by Michio Kaku...verycool about 4 hours ago via UberTwitter

this album's gonna be more like flatland amirite amirite

would marry that bia

New FuthaMuckas, y'all. I honestly don't know if I love this to death or hate it and want to HULK SMASH it to pieces. "The Bitch"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56OZZpFfJ8I

Have decided I love it to death. That might just be middle-of-the-night lack-of-sleep euphoria talking, though.

who the hell are these clowns

kinda beats the hook into you but for real those are some of the worst verses i've ever heard

I just noticed them upthread (Rolling R&B Thread 2010), went to youtube, and saw they had a newer single. I'm sort of fascinated by how offensively ridiculous they are, and at the same time rocking out to the hook. Really does remind me of shit that was around during the time they're obviously trying to recreate.

i know who they are -- it was more of a rhetorical -- on the other hand, i really do wonder if they're signed/to which label etc etc or what

feeling the new trey songz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baLJVoCzAhg

and hey nicki minaj has another new voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kACSiujB0No

...

"bottoms up" is kind of super generic even for trey songz but i could see it growing on me

that r. kelly is kind of a disaster -- bangladesh is a great producer obv but lately he's kind of got too clever for his own good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7PVhQPaFNY

this is dope but j. cole has no reason to be here

That's also how I would describe "who dat"

naw, "who dat" is dope all around imo

this needs a song cause i am totally feeling the sounds on this shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viu4iw-46y8

lol @ this being blocked in my country, izibor is from dublin

irresistible new orleans r&bounce that has "this year's vistoso bosses" written all over it <3 <3 <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hob_FNnOBgk

<3 <3 <3
yesterday this girl was like, "this is totally random, but i heard you like pop music, is it true?" and i was like "yes," and she was like "then you need to hear this kourtney heart song"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxU91eFOVBw

I fucks with this song. YABBA DABBA DOO!

that dude looks just like TI

yep yep, i'll have that

all hail the post-schulz/jeremih widescreen spacious newbreed imo

SHUT UP stargate produced this?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBOI8DBLN4s

something about this track reminds me of the uk urban sensibility a lot, can't quite put my finger on it

or maybe just cos he looks like tinie tempah in that vid

Whoa! Demi Lovato said her next album is going to be R&B, not rock.

"whoa"

Haha

"irl lol"

jk

no regrets, just love

ive really been feeling the toni braxton single, surprised no one has mentioned it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JpVynh9HWU&feature=avmsc2

can i just

More good news: Elliott Yamin album in May, single will be released this month...

― Someone Still Loves You Evan and Jaron (Tape Store), Monday, February 2, 2009 8:07 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

(announced producers for Yamin album: Stargate, Jermaine Dupri, Midi Mafia)

― Someone Still Loves You Evan and Jaron (Tape Store), Monday, February 2, 2009 8:10 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

No one's asking you to care about anything by anybody.

Suggest Ban Permalink
― The Reverend (rev), Monday, February 2, 2009 12:47 PM Bookmark

some of us talked about it elsewhere: http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2402

xpost

you care about usher in 2010 xpost, stfu

and demi has released two really great pop-rock albums in the past two years (both way better than the two paramore albums i've heard). i don't see why her releasing an R&B album is irrelevant to this thread.

i love her albums too but tbh i have a hard time imagining her voice/delivery working in an R&B context, could be like that Ashlee/Timbaland album or something. so i mean, it might work, but until it does I'm not getting my hopes up.

also looks like she said "more R&B/pop," which makes me think she's not going to have Ne-Yo or The-Dream write a bunch of slow jams or anything.

tbh i have a hard time imagining her voice/delivery working in an R&B context

"behind enemy lines" is my favourite lovato song, so i could definitely imagine how it could work

also looks like she said "more R&B/pop," which makes me think she's not going to have Ne-Yo or The-Dream write a bunch of slow jams or anything.

― some dude, Monday, July 26, 2010 4:08 PM (5 hours ago)

Pretty sure she's said that she wants to work with The-Dream. Anyway she was on to some Mariah type shit at times (bridge on got dynamite) on her last album so more rnb is perfectly logical.

you care about usher in 2010 xpost, stfu

― I have an iTunes playlist called "That Feeling" (Tape Store), Monday, July 26, 2010 6:43 AM Suggest Ban Permalink
Bookmark

what? i haven't even listened to his album.

this is the best circa-2007 t-pain song of the year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqCJvRyB_Hc

what a recommendation?

this is my only post containing the word "usher" this year:

The Reverend wrote this on thread Rolling R&B Thread 2010 on board I Love Music on Feb 15, 2010

recent Usher is so u_u

so if you are going to try to counterzing me, get yr fucking facts straight yamin-boy

circa-2007 t-pain is obv beyond classic

tbh i dont get the initial zing

this is my only post containing the word "usher" this year:

^wait, that isn't true (forgot to sort by date), but afaik it's my only post commenting on his 2010 output

recent Usher is so u_u

Do you still stand by this? The more I listen to it, the more think there's a great album to be constructed from Raymond Vs. Raymond if you cut out a little bit of the pap (and maybe the songs that make Usher sound like a total asshole, like "Lil Freak") and replace them with some of his recent non-album material featured on some of the recent Future of R&B mixes.

i love Lil Freak

I think it's OK, but Glenn Lewis already used that Stevie Wonder sample to much better effect, and I think the song makes Usher sound like more a bad guy than he intends it to. On Confessions, he played the roll of the flawed by lovable cheat really well, but on Raymond Vs. Raymond he's not nearly as sympathetic. It's hard to take pity on him when he's barking sexual orders at easy conquests. Other songs depict him as a slave to his libido, but on this one he's totally in control, bullying a woman into a threesome she doesn't seem comfortable with. It just seems remarkably mean-spirited.

let's talk about the git fresh song instead

has anyone got round to listening to the k michelle mixtape yet?

has anyone got round to listening to the k michelle mixtape yet?

Are you talking about What's the 901 or is there a new one? I've been enjoying What's the 901. I don't think anything tops "You Should've Killed Me," but every track that pairs her with a rap artist (Gucci, Missy, Three 6 Mafia) really works; she has the brassy presence to hold her own against all of them.

Anybody know if she has a real album on the way? Same goes with Miguel and Dondria; I keep reading about vague album release details for them, but can't find any concretes.

Been at work too often this week to play K. Michelle a lot - NSFW, duh. But giving it a second spin now and digging it very much.

Do you still stand by this? The more I listen to it, the more think there's a great album to be constructed from Raymond Vs. Raymond if you cut out a little bit of the pap (and maybe the songs that make Usher sound like a total asshole, like "Lil Freak") and replace them with some of his recent non-album material featured on some of the recent Future of R&B mixes.

― Evan R, Monday, July 26, 2010 1:32 PM Bookmark

I just posted that I hadn't heard his album.

But the singles have mostly been terrible. (Kinda f/w the Algernod joint tho.)

1. I don't think anything tops "You Should've Killed Me,"

i think "where they do that at" is probably the song that jumps out the most. love her cover/response to "nothin' on you", too, and as discussed on some other thread elsewhere, "hit em in the mouth" is totally wild.

lulz at T-Pain's Diner

jesus how many people have released songs called "where they do that at" in the past year

jesus how many people have songs out called "where they do that at" now

― some dude, Tuesday, June 8, 2010 8:10 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

(i still haven't heard any of them apart from k michelle)

lol the chorus of latest youtube posted itt contains "where they do that at" as a lyric

k michelle's wtdta is so great, i love the way she slides into the "where they do that at" after you would have expected there to be nothing left in the chorus.

yeah the whole thing just flows so naturally, reminds me of deemi's "soundtrack of my life" from a few years back. love the way she enunciates "video hoes", all those flashes of anger amidst the sadness.

this is a mario winans joint, i had high hopes but it seems to be completely missing a hook?

trey's second single fwiw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v731w6aoEpE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXyO3K-SOFk

fucks with this... fantasia would've killed it tho

kind of an odd choice for a lead single, but I'm glad she didn't go for "knock me down again" or "still turnin me on," this is classy and soulful but still modern, reminds me of Mary J. Blige's "Kitchen"...Keri's strongpoint is her midtempos anyway, "Where Did He Go," "Quicksand," "Slow Dance" etc.

my bad I meant to post this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1j-f1WVuhs

"last time" is a great song tho, love that melody

other new shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnAbCzmeOXw
(This song is cool but I'm not sure about this more aggressive vocal from Lloyd, part of what makes him so great is his smooth, sweet, laid back voice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IgguIzNQzM
(I need to listen to the Fantasia album... it's sounding kind of classic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuSrP5tUAIw
(jam)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llFYolZQZsA
(is it just me or does ne-yo suck now)

ne-yo sucks now

yo i heard some dope shit on the radio that sounded like jazmine sullivan but i don't think it was -- it was maybe brianna??

Keri's strongpoint is her midtempos anyway, "Where Did He Go," "Quicksand," "Slow Dance" etc.

― / (The Brainwasher), Thursday, August 19, 2010 10:22 PM (58 minutes ago)

word, and "alienated"

man that keri joint you posted sounds just like a timbo job, it's nice too

yo i heard some dope shit on the radio that sounded like jazmine sullivan but i don't think it was -- it was maybe brianna??

― be my anchor baby (J0rdan S.), Thursday, August 19, 2010 10:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

jazmine's new single is getting pretty big so it could be that, i'm not really into it, though

lol guys i'm probably gonna be interview Trey Songz next week -- gonna try to come up with the funniest questions possible without coming off mean or disrespectful

interviewING

hahaha awesome

"breaking point" is really gorgeous, damn - and it is timbo i guess, his best beat i've heard in a while

MY LOVE HAS A LIMIT, MY LOVE HAS A LIMIT

still think that trey songz mixtape brainwasher posted way back is dope. dont really get why hes so superhated

i wouldn't say he's superhated -- he's an object of a lot of jokez among mostly me and Rev and J0rdan, but i think most R&B fans like at least some of his songs

xp to myself i have no idea why i was surprised it was tim, he's worked with keri before

wasn't really keen on that lloyd track :(

i note that los has a production credit on the fantasia album! off to d/l.

if the mmts mixtape deej refers to is anticipation, that's the one that turned me round on him to an extent - i was shocked that it was good at all, let alone as good (and interesting) as it was

i note that los has a production credit on the fantasia album! off to d/l.

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, August 20, 2010 11:02 AM (8 minutes ago)

oh shit me too

lex you'll like this keri i think

yeah i've heard it, liked it but it hasn't sunk in yet

new cee-lo is pretty awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAV0XrbEwNc&feature=player_embedded

yes, this fantasia album is great!

Loving that Fantasia.

digging on fantasia and this cee-lo.

ftr, i do like some mmts songs, even did at the time i discovered how enjoyable a pasttime clowning on him is, but he is still a mans of alarming inconsequence

he is like the rick ross of r&b in terms of the "how the fuck did this guy become a star?" effect

that cee lo is great an it sounds like its from the past

i don't know about that, demographically speaking Trey seems kinda like the perfect midpoint between Usher and Chris Brown that his stardom seems somewhat inevitable. even when he was an also-ran for a couple years he was steadily on the rise, it's not like he was the 5th most famous guy on Slip N Side for almost a decade like Ross. (xpost)

dunno about that, feels like his first two albums both made zero splash and by the time of the third r&b had sunk low enough that he was the only guy of his ilk around. gucci and drake spots sealed the deal.

he does seem to be getting better with fame though tbf.

i've listened to "breaking point" like 10 times now, i think it's her best song

where are yall on this

"breaking point" is kind of... lurching, but i also think that it's pretty great

fantasia song is great too

ne-yo ain't bad, it's just really sappy in a way that i can't get past

yeah the song i was talking about is the new jazmine -- i like this a lot, much more than any singles off the last album aside from "need u bad"

yo

http://nahright.com/news/2010/08/21/drake-what-if-i-kissed-you-fullno-tags/

"breaking point" is kind of... lurching, but i also think that it's pretty great

ha sure but so is like, "pony" - i think it's classic timbo

http://nahright.com/news/2010/08/21/drake-what-if-i-kissed-you-fullno-tags/

havent listened yet but 'what if i kissed you' -- how neurotically 'perfect' (wack) for the drake persona

it's a good joint

it's a reference track anyhow

also it has some classically dope stargate production

fantasia has a new album coming out ,what!!

flicking thru the fantasia alb and it sounds like it might be pretty good but maaan i forgot all about 'man of the house', let alone how much i loved it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Nxpes6wgM

fave r&b song of the year i think?

looks like it's gonna be the 2nd single as well

I hadn't even heard that before! It is great.

nice

most important thing i learned from MMTS is that the ad lib that i thought was "C'MERE" is actually "C'MON." also he said that the new album is more like Anticipation than anything else he's done, which some of y'all should be happy to hear.

i kind of like that i can hear mmts working really hard to overcome his inconsequentiality these days

"bottoms up" is pretty good -- the problem is that it's just as generic as "say ahh" but not as fun

writing a sidebar thing about Trey collaborationz, got "Girl Tonite" and "Successful" and not sure what the 3rd i wanna talk about is

oh man

might be funny to do a "why is he in the Turk spot on the Hot Boyz reunion cut" type thing

i assume you mean ones that are good?

i'd say "girl you know" or... uh... "sex room"?

maybe the hot boys reunion one? don't even remember if it's good tho

lol yeah

i mean mainly ones that are popular or noteworthy or interesting to talk about in some way.

idk if it counts but i think his verse on the "lemonade" remix is one of his most interesting, or at least one of the few times that a mmts verse made me sit up and pay attention

maybe the one off the new bun album w/ the disembodied verses of pimp & pac

yeah i'm thinking prolly one of the weird mixtape/remix tracks, like i loved his verses on the "Addiction" and "I'm The Ish" remixes.

I know I'm eons late on this, but What's the 901? is really something. 'You Should've Killed Me' and 'Self-Made' are great. Ditto 'Bad 4 My Health'. And 'Hit Em in the Mouth' is sort of perfect.

I could take or leave the track with R Kelly and Number One, but yeah. K. Michelle is the real thing. Sorry, Lex.

I keep seeing Keyshia Cole and Mary J comparisons, but that's not quite right. Is there another precedent for this kind of thing that I'm missing?

Breaking Point is pretty great!

i'm saying!

"Breaking Point" apparently destined to join "Bed" and "Sex Therapy" in the pantheon of songs k3ller freaks out about that seem like nothing special to me.

haw

MTV gave some details about Miguel's upcoming album:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1646404/20100824/miguel_1_.jhtml

Now, with his debut, also called All I Want Is You, tentatively slated for a February release, the singer hopes he can win over even more fans with his mix of edgy R&B and inspirations as eclectic as David Bowie, James Brown and Queen.

"I think the operative word as opposed to bringing R&B back, my intension is to take it forward," he said. "So as we push boundaries, boundaries are there for a reason. They have their anchors, they have their foundations, and pushing those away or trying to move them is gonna take effort. That's OK. That's what we as artists are here for: to push those boundaries and explore outside and push things further.

Sounds pretty good to me. Also: H/T to Janelle Monae for making it cool for R&B singers to cite Bowie.

somehow i really don't trust a major label saying a marginal figure's album is going to drop in february when it's august

Also: H/T to Janelle Monae for making it cool for R&B singers to cite Bowie.

ugh, no

lex doesn't like bowie?

~HATE~

and certainly hate anything of that prissy, arch, clever-clever, too-cool-for-soul approach being brought into r&b

I missed Miguel when he played live in the park but the crowd seemed really into him

and certainly hate anything of that prissy, arch, clever-clever, too-cool-for-soul approach being brought into r&b

For decades, R&B singers have been teasing influences by citing influences way more eclectic than the ones they actually draw from, so I'm sure the record will be more Confessions than Aladdin Sane.

How big of a hit is "All I Want is You"? It's one of my favorite singles of the year, but I haven't heard it on the radio yet, so I have no sense of its reach.

i like this drake song!

been listening to the fantasia album quite a bit. it's great

yeah the fantasia album is pretty great. been obsessively listening to 'falling in love again', even though it's quite maudlin, just for the part where the beat drops out and it's just fantasia and the synths

video for "when a woman loves" http://www.vevo.com/watch/r-kelly/when-a-woman-loves/USZM21000084

i feel like he might be able to rope me in to anticipating an album that harkens back to the 'chocolate factory'/'happy people/ era

this stuff is pretty U Saved Me but not very Chocolate Factory imo

yeah... i guess i just mean not doing anymore autotune songs or joints with kid rock

i feel like he might be able to rope me in to anticipating an album that harkens back to the 'chocolate factory'/'happy people/ era

Ditto. I liked TP3 and Double Up alright, but in general his newer albums have been really uptight, like he's singing with clenched fists and about to pop a blood vessel in his neck; they almost put me on edge. He had this wonderful, breezy vibe going for him with Chocolate Factory and Happy People. I'd love to see him tap that again.

http://www.myspace.com/treysongz

mmts album sounding proper so far. def more anticipation than ready, although weirdly enuff i gotta admit i was more in the mood for the former.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU6-oJj3G4U

let's get the lloydian spacejam out the way first shall we

woah

that is some zero gravity baby making music right there

what about this one then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCdpTIzk7-0

incredible imo

ok right now i'm convinced this is the best song he's done

'already taken' is great but is kind of 'break up' (mario, garrett + mane) part 2 in that it makes me feel a bit ill

Yuuup!

odd comparison, warm Polow keybs don't remind me of seasick Bangladesh beats at all

it sounds v. slightly out of tune to me (like break up)

"when a woman loves" is kind of O_O

sometimes i forget that kells is like... a deity of singing

i've had to listen to it at least 4 times in a row now

yeah man

Just catching up one some old stuff from this thread and hit play on Alicia Keys "Love Is Blind". Scrolled down, totally zoned out for a bit, and completely forgot who I was listening to. Loving it, trying to think who the heck I'd consciously decided to listen to less than a minute ago, and didn't realise/remember it was Alicia Keys until I scrolled back up and checked. So basically this is great because it sounds nothing like her.

old news but
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOVeDwFLd1Q

cross post to WS for saratune

random question: did anyone listen to the sean garrett mixtape & did it have any worthwhile jamz

it has a weird ass cover

*crickets*

'she geeked' was good but just for the gucci verse

i could not take a mixtape's worth of sean garrett's voice.

i can barely take a chorus's worth of it on a song i really like tbh

sagenod.jpeg

i like 'you just need me' off the songz

songz album is sounding kind of boring/bland

maybe i'm just not in the mood 4 it rite now

i have yet to listen to the songz except for the middle part which i really liked -- skipped around a bit & it seemed boring -- his last album was like... a 6.5 or 7/10 which i think is prob his peak

yeah i'd agree anticipation/ready is most likely his peak

after one listen I'm really feeling the PLEASURE portion of this ("red lipstick," "unusual" and "doorbell"), the rest is quite generic/boring besides a few songs ("can't be friends," "made to be together"), and his r. kelly impersonation is kind of obnoxious on some of these tracks

Did mmts become super successful just by cutting his braids off? That's the theory I'm gonna run with

Fennessey compares mmts to judy garland in his wapo review, LOL :)

The characterization of his last album was a bit generous... "I invented sex" isn't exactly a zany song by any means

so i've found this whole john legend/roots project really *eyeroll*-worthy, but I'm loving this remix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T14XjntKIA4

"I Invented Sex" is a pretty fuckin' goofy song, man

idk i've always seen trey songz & trey songz songz as incredibly generic, some just happen to be really good

the goofiest part about him is prob his ad lib

and his goofy-sounding vibrato

yeah he totally sounds like a cartoon character