Rolling R&B Thread 2010

it definitely defines the album for me more than any other song, i think. it's just so exultant.

it's also to do with a healthy sense of self within a genre, and as it stands right now some old light from familiar stars don't make no constellation

lack of constellation doesn't mean the stars shine less brightly. idk i think this desire for a big, overarching narrative is exactly the excuse that rock crits have been using to ignore the genre post-timba/neps, so my answer to this nebulous "lack of sense of self" is still "so what?" - r&b isn't as localised a scene as dancehall or uk funky or whatever, so i don't think it's as dependent on that to satisfy - looking at its protagonists as individuals can be as rewarding as looking at their positions within the whole play.

it's not JUST old light, either - certainly there was much i found unexpected, if not actually "innovative" in the monáe sense, in r&b this year.

I agree with you lex, but... rock critics being into R&B at the beginning of the decade doesn't change how great that era was. It's not like timbaland/neptunes/rodney jerkins/etc. was some kind of indie critic conspiracy foisted on r&b and hip hop from the outside. It was really people who always focused on R&B who invented that narrative (albeit not the IDM comparisons) and rock critics latched on belatedly.

If anything the current state of R&B criticism focusing on artists rather than scene-narratives encourages lots of people - not just eternally-damned rock crits but even otherwise decent people - to divide the genre into auteurs/stars and others, to pay attention to The-Dream and Rihanna and Ciara but disregard all the inspired one-off singles that always make up 60% of what's great about R&B.

I see some of this in myself: I find it a lot harder to motivate myself to keep up with Keri Hilson, say, than it was to do likewise with, say, Christina Milian a few years back. I'll keep being invested in R&B regardless, but I wouldn't say no to a greater sense of excitement amongst listeners (R&B listeners) about the music generally.

yeah i do think prime timba/neps was a bit of a golden age obv, in terms of innovation as well - but there's no excuse for paid critics to drop the entire genre like they did when that ended.

i kind of feel that music across the board has gotten a lot more personality-driven, that you're a lot less likely to see random one-off singles (or if you do, they're because they flop and the trailed albums never emerge, eg richgirl). but idk, i don't really care about pandering to people's motivation - i think a lot of people expect hot r&b hitz to be delivered to them on a silver plate, and claim they have no time to go looking for them themselves, even as they go looking for music in all other genres. fuck 'em!

ummm lex don't fuck 'em, some of us work in jobs that aren't designed around hearing new r&b. hell, i'm currently working two jobs that aren't. i just don't have time to do anything other than read this thread and usually even then i get *months* behind on my bookmarks.

i get the righteous indignation that comes from having a toybox stocked with incredible playthings and everyone's all like "oh i don't play with those anymore". motherfucker, they're fun!

cannot overstate how key 'love you long time' on that jazmine album is - it may be far from the best song qua song on there but it comes at the precise moment when, just as your suspension of disbelief starts to flag and you begin to tire of the retro kiss-chase, the thing grabs you by the lapels like NO, REALLY REALLY THOUGH

― r|t|c, Sunday, December 26, 2010 7:26 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh absolutely, really felt the euphoria of that moment on my first listen of the album

wow @ this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxQj4Hs7v9E

reminds me of Surface "Happy" + Daydream-era Mariah.

WOAH WOAH WOAH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ys9zgnqzys

chase n. cashe is a dope producer

Drink my Pain Away is great!

yeah good looking on both of those bw, really feeling the keyshia

chase n. cache is one person?

say it out loud

ah

that always gets me in trouble

the cover of the keyshia album is abominable

song rocks tho

wait, Keyshia Cole released an album last week? i didn't even know she was, like, getting ready to drop an album or had a single out or anything.

yeah the single was a minaj feature that wasn't really very good at all

musta had to clean out a whole wig store to shoot the video for that

the minaj/cole single set up camp on 106 and park for the past month

aw man, I had no idea fantasia attempted suicide earlier this year :(

http://mp3waxx.com/jobfolders/lloydpattilabelle/blast-page.html

that is great, love the change he made to the chorus (instead of going for that high note when he says "HEAD" like in the OG, which was kind of grating as much as I like the song)

i kinda miss the yodel

that's dope and i din't care for the original version

i will pretty much rep for anything that uses "love, need, and want you"

yeah that incorporation is on point

this is great obv but i prefer the original, i love the og chorus, that shit just soars

can't really stand the og chorus tbh

yeh lloyd strains himself way too much on the og

cool rmx

original chorus is dope imo

can't find an mp3 of drink my pain away = i must be slippin

rip dirpy

seriously though, dirpy was a lifesaver all this year

been using some fallback services, but nothing so simple and workable.
anyways, just got it so

can you hook me up with the mp3? all the links I've found are dead :(

vote in my poll yall: best R&B radio hits of the year

i will pretty much rep for anything that uses "love, need, and want you"

― The Reverend, Thursday, December 30, 2010 4:24 PM (1 week ago)

i did not even recognize the sample in the og until right now!!!

the shame

I just realized what's so dope about "Bottoms Up" is that it's an R&B song that sounds like "O Let's Do It".

i don't hear any similarity at all between those songs

ditto; love bottoms up and hate o lets do it

hey forks did you get my email (sent awhile ago)?

i don't think so; regarding what? Wanna resend?

resent

thx!

hey what did y'all think of bilal's "airtight revenge" ?

there's some incredible things on that record.

Love that record, esp. "All Matter".

As far as "Bottoms Up" & "O Let's Do It". They both share similar a rhythmic thrust and sonic palette.