50 GREATEST R&B ARTISTS OF THE PAST 40 YEARS POLL

H.E.R.. over Mint Condition? huh

holy shit that honorable mentions list...Zapp....Teddy Riley...wow

Teddy is on there with Guy

2. Mary J. Blige

Too low.

lmao my reaction upon reading the list proper after seeing an honorable mentions list stacked with total icons was also "h.e.r.?"

honestly, h.e.r. has released some great tracks, including a small number that are basically masterpieces in my book, but it's totally bizarre that she's ranked while some of those others aren't

good list tho. i could justify voting for quite a few of these so i think i will sit on it a little longer

Well, this stuck out in their intro: "Only one artist received nominations from all 20 participants".

What are some of the more notable omissions? Frank Ocean and Rihanna presumably didn't pass the genre scan. Ciara? Miguel?

I'm not the biggest R&B connoisseur but wow Amy Winehouse's stock really has fallen a lot over the past ten years or so.

What are some of the more notable omissions? Frank Ocean and Rihanna presumably didn't pass the genre scan. Ciara? Miguel?
― gospodin simmel, Monday, November 15, 2021 8:53 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Also Kelis, Teedra Moses, Cassie, Tinashe, Kali Uchis, The-Dream, SZA, Kehlani, Estelle, FKA Twigs, Rhye, Gaelle, Amerie, Ashanti, Eve (depending on what it takes to be a great)...
I'm especially looking for the last ten years. Not that the early 80s are really represented (Michael Jackson, Evelyn King) either.

Jackson and King are disqualified because they debuted before 1980

Alexander O'Neal ?

voting for debarge, would’ve voted for teena marie but she’s probably not r&b enough for this list (not sure i understand this calculation myself)

well i’m voting for debarge but it really bc i can’t choose between anita baker, toni braxton, janet jackson, and sade so why bother

oh i see teena marie was disqualified bc she debuted in ‘79. this is an unfair and arbitrary standard

Including Raphael Saadiq's own albums, Tony! Toni! Toné! may get my vote.

My finalists in descending order:

Janet Jackson
Erykah Badu
Maxwell
Debarge
Sade
Jazmine Sullivan

no way this isn't sade. some really strong choices otherwise, but c'mon.

also chris brown still being considered on things like this makes me hate humanity. i'm gonna go for a walk now because that genuinely upsets me.

Running into Brown and R. Kelly’s names aside, the ranking of that list seems pretty decent at a glance.

6. Janet Jackson
5. Mariah Carey

too low. i've got major rnb blind spots so ymmv but below boyz II men, really?

My finalists in descending order:

Erykah Badu
Janet Jackson

usher is one of those blind spots. are people caning usher in 2021?

chart success seems to be a major criteria in the making of this list

usher is one of those blind spots. are people caning usher in 2021?

― Linda and Jodie Rocco (map),

I would totally smoke Usher.

In Usher's case, his biggest album is his best, but he's also got at least five or six wonderful singles. A huge influence on male R&B singing.

Just in terms of most-listened-to, my top 5 would probably be:

D'Angelo
Tony! Toni! Toné!
Erykah Badu
Beyoncé
Janet Jackson

Had he been included in this poll, Prince would be #1 by far

Other omissions I can think of:

Solange
Meshell Ndegeocello
Erika de Casier
Jamila Woods
James Blake
Justin Timberlake

At long last I have to ask: is there Vandross that I'm sleeping on? Because I have just never vibed with him at all and have never understood why people stan for his dishwater drab R&B.

listen to "never too much" immediately

If all you know is his material after his long-delayed pop crossover in 1989, I can understand that madness.

Never Too Much through Give Me the Reason is a marvelous run.

Thanking u, will do

Also: the two albums he produced for Aretha.

Such a jam:

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

we should a sequel of this for the 90's

A POLL Bizarre ~~~ It's the ILM 80's R&B TRACKS POLL ~~~ RESULTS THREAD!!!

that would be amazing tbh

yah id be in on that for sure.

i guess this is probably janet or maxwell for me.

gonna be old fashioned and boring and choose Lionel

fuck R Kelly

oh i see teena marie was disqualified bc she debuted in ‘79. this is an unfair and arbitrary standard

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Monday, November 15, 2021 8:33 AM bookmarkflaglink

otm

I want to say Luther Van, the man, but jazmine Sullivan is my sister from another mister, she's got it all....and more

Real answer is probably Janet, MJB or Maxwell, but I will go with Dru Hill or SWV cause they need more love.

No love for J-Lo? Guess she’s a bit too pop to be considered R&B.

her music sucks is the thing

“On the Floor”? “Waiting for Tonight”? “Get Right”? “Ain’t It Funny”?

her music sucks is the thing

Truth

Philistines

voted for Sade

J.Lo. doesn't suck and should have been considered. In general I feel there might be a kind of purism to r&b writing and canon making which makes the genre seem smaller than it is. The exclusion of Rihanna and Drake for example, but also Backstreet Boys and maybe BTS? Not sure if that's too broad a definition but I feel like R&B is as important and popular as ever but the "death of r&b" thinkpieces seem to keep coming.

I'm not the biggest R&B guy, but I'm going to vote for En Vogue because they were so incredible when I saw them live.

it's insane that ppl would look at this list and think 'you know who else did music like this/this good? j.lo!!' half the songs mentioned above have absolutely zero to do with r&b either stylistically or commercially, unless you also think of lady gaga's redone-produced hits as r&b. like, what?

i mean, i get it, i heard the "i'm real" remix play at a very diverse club a few years back and ppl were feeling it all this time later (despite it semi-infamously being 'the song where she sings the n-word'). nevertheless, in my conversations w/ friends/coworkers about her and her music in recent years (she's still pretty famous despite not having had a hit record in ages), jlo evidently still has a reputation for (a) having pilfered many of her hits from black artists, including chanté moore, mariah carey, usher etc., (b) having attempted to do the same w/ other songs that did actually end up being major hits for black artists ("1 thing"), and (c) heavily relying on what might very charitably be called 'background vocals' from ashanti on her own hits. this reputation is and was deserved.

perhaps instead of ascribing to 'purism' certain artists' lack of acknowledgment from those outside an audience that they largely aren't marketed toward, because for some reason they don't need to be to attain major success, we can acknowledge the dynamic that has always been at play here? the artists appear to get it and so do the fans (last block of the rhythm section column)

ftr, backstreet boys never had major success among the r&b audience, despite the obvious stylistic influence. the lou pearlman/max martin act that got the closest to that was nsync w/ "gone," which was a fairly sizable r&b radio hit and a #1 video on bet. not to mention justin timberlake's career as a soloist, which actually spawned some hits that were arguably bigger with the r&b audience than with the 'pop' one ("until the end of time", "suit & tie"), which not every pop-'turned'-r&b appropriator-appreciator can say

Oh I was just throwing names of artists in the pop/r&b realm (like Justin Timberlake) as leftovers for the runner-ups list. I actually think the list is very agreeable with some exceptions. Little to complain about in that top 10 - I don’t think Beyonce deserves the top 10 spot because I don’t find her as impressive a vocalist as everyone else in that top 10, but I get she’s in some ways a more complete artist and businesswoman than everyone else in that list.

ended up voting for sade lol. the highs with them are just .. no one else touches em imo. in a lot of ways they are a different beast than the american rnb artists in the top 10, right? though they're obviously hugely influential with the same audience.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

proper winner.

r. kelly getting more votes than aaliyah stings a bit, but all's well that ends well i suppose.

i think i didn't end up voting ;_; but i'm still not entirely sure who i would have picked so hm

terrific dyl post I missed

Top five in the list gets zero votes.

Big up to the other Luther voters.