Rolling R&B Thread 2008

I'm in. Sounds fun.

so is the J-Hud album still a thing? it seems like she or someone really dropped the ball by not releasing that, like, a year ago.

finally got the Amerie album, which is pretty good, but I guess that has no chance of getting a full U.S. release in '08 at this point, does it (wiki says it was released in...Wal-Mart only?).

Yrah, reportedly Clive Davis scrapped the album she recorded before because it was "too Broadway". They really did drop the ball with this release, J-Hud hype is pretty much dead now - but she does have a few big movies coming out next year - Sex In the City and Winged Creatures, so that'll probably create a bit of buzz. I do wonder what direction they're trying to make her go in - the reported first single is called "Pocketbook", produced by Timbaland and featues Ludacris.. I just can't see that working for her. Just Blaze said that he did a few tracks for her in the "Usher - Throwback" vein, very excited to hear those.

And I have no idea what's going on with Amerie's record, I heard she was scrapping a US release and re-recording, then I heard that she's releasing a remix of "Crush" over here as the first (fourth!) single... who knows.

Yeah considering that Hudson was practically the most popular black entertainer in the world for a few fleeting months there, they really lost that momentum. I mean, I barely remember anything about that Jamie Foxx album, but it was released less than a year after his Oscar win and went double platinum. They could've just had her do a couple singles with Ne-Yo/Stargate and pushed out the album, and it probably would've been huge whether or not the rest was "too Broadway."

stargate did a good job on that new johnta austin as it goes; his album may or may not end up worth the wait. also looking forward to cheri dennis, tiffany evans and solange. i-15 too if zone 4 push the boat out. scherzinger looks to be doomed. am ready to pounce on lazy hilson boosterism. so ready.

read some stuff about the usual big name producers being all over cassie's album - BODES BAD. maybe we will get a ryan leslie solo out of it, but wemarkable pwoduction aside the guy has not been much of a vehicle for anything thus far so i dunno.

anyone else been straining to form an opinion on that usher/polow snippet that's about? can't seem to resist these kinda fools errands :(

Yeah, that clip is such poor quality that I can't really tell. Sounds nice enough, but it doesn't sound like a record-breaking smash or anything... is it supposed to be the first single or is he doing the "two singles at once" thing (the other one being "Dat Girl Right There").

Nicole Scherzinger's project is hilarious, I think it may be the biggest flop ever in the history of music.

And yes, Tiffany Evans' album should be awesome. "I'm Grown"!!!

ohhh yeah, Johnta Austin, another one caught in perpetual label purgatory. I really liked "Turn It Up," not so much the follow-up w/ Fabo (or was it Unk?), and so there's a newer Stargate one I should hear? didn't know about Usher/Polow, was still holding out hope that the weird song w/ Luda would take off.

Usher/Polow/Dream - "Make Love In the Club" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18llUN7XfDk

usher/polow has the makings of something i think! beat seems nothing special but i like the way usher comes at the verses. no point in studying it overmuch though. and i still can't fathom how the luda's gonna get me, but these things happen unfortunately.

aaaaaanyway:

'i'm grown' - NO GOOD.

soulja girl collipark remix - RIDICULOUSLY GOOD, ZOMG.

can you be more RONG, "I'm Grown" is the shit. "I'm bringin' things to life like I'm Geppetto!"

Soulja Girl rmx is hot tho.

http://a802.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/10/l_8b3fbb04c1b4185175a51aae2635cb81.gifhttp://a802.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/10/l_8b3fbb04c1b4185175a51aae2635cb81.gifhttp://a802.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/10/l_8b3fbb04c1b4185175a51aae2635cb81.gif

the gif that keeps on etc

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/snouts/ryanlezza.gif

ew remember when r-les thought he was this precious? wheeeeee!

anyways can the soulja girl rmx get some more love from you suckaz, or what

we on the phone like da da da da da daaaaaa daaaaaa

cos otherwise i will have to flood the thread with DANGEROUSLY CUTTING EDGE NEW MUSIC, run for yr lives

is that dear jayne 'rain' thing actually getting big then? amazingly useless song.

u know, what is happening with rain? it's definitely experiencing a rebirth as a dramatic symbol

random, untenable, i like it! more examples plz

more examples of rain? i dunno there are like 5 songs on the new mary j that she's singin about rain, and of course the production o nthe album reminds me of Umbrella, so it started this thought process

so now when would you say rain was at its lowest ebb, creatively

could do like a pamphlet on candy-kiddy rnb writers (like the-dream, the monolithic critical generational gap for whom still kinda bothers me) revogueing the old universal elementalisms and such like

i am THIS bored

cos otherwise i will have to flood the thread with DANGEROUSLY CUTTING EDGE NEW MUSIC, run for yr lives

LOL. She totally looks like MC Lyte, it's uncanny.

I have been playing that song a lot recently though even though it's trés bland and unecessary it's catchy.

dear jayne "rain" is great too.

haha r|t|c i like ur line of questioning i feel like i'm in school again =P

I have been playing that song a lot recently though even though it's trés bland and unecessary it's catchy.

haha i know right! i feel so pathetic when i put it on.

also when i hear her sing "whyyy? whyyy? just tell em that it's human nature" and the sample comes in it's like bitch don't take the piss!!

surprised she didnt go the whole hog and slowdance the video with the son of mc skat kat

ok finally got around to the "Soulja Girl" remix, it is pretty great. reminds me of the awesome Collipark remix of "Slow Jamz," also good to hear him do something worthwhile in too long, since he seems to be very behind the scenes w/ his new signings, got completely overshadowed by Phunk Dawg on the production for the Hurricane Christ album.

Paula Campbell came up briefly on the 2007 thread (short story: from Baltimore, had some big local hits in '03-'04, signed to Sony and hooked up with Ne-Yo's production company and had a video directed by Ciara but as yet has gone nowhere commercially) -- her MySpace page has a couple new Clutch-penned songs, "Hitlist" and "Upkeep." not sure if one or the other is officially a single yet, kinda liking the latter but the former is marred by a silly radio edit (where she pronounces "f'd up" literally like "effed up"): http://www.myspace.com/paulacampbell

Hurricane Christ

o_O at my own typo there

uhh "effed up" is a term, that people use! i don't think that's a radio edit dude.

what is up with a video for this old rashad ditty all of a sudden? getting a rerelease? glad he might be getting another push anyway, i think he's excellent.

i like how they've made it look like a generic summertime banger when the song itself is all cynical evil hypnosis

i know people say "effed up," but it still sounds silly as hell in a straightforward R&B song, and i'm just assuming (hoping) there is a dirty version where she says the actual word.

it does seem like a clutchy thing to sing.

mmmmmmmm, listen to rashad's other songs

http://www.myspace.com/grandhustlerashad

the guy is class

if you liked 'way it is', check more

if you liked 'detroit love affair', check just lay

(i know i put up 'just lay' last year when pixelcloudz was a thing but it got no response - still think it's amazing, so whatever)

am looking forward to the mariah / t-pain single a whole lot more since i read it was gonna be called MIGRATE!!

thinking it will have be a "my anatomy is birdlike" line for 2008 maybe

lol @ Hurricane Christ.

what do you dudes think of the new trey songz song?? i hear it on the radio all the time now. i think it's pretty good. too bad they released it in the dead of winter. i thought it was a ne-yo song.

yeah, i can't be bothered to resist it. i saw some video last week where trey fucked a dude up akon-style in the middle of performing it, of all songs

god i even quite like that chris brown "hearts all over the world tonight" tune as well

fuck you stargate!!

we talked about "Can't Help But Wait" a bit in the 2007 thread, or is there a newer Trey Songz single that's being referred to right now? i think Stargate is still dead to me, "Tattoo" is the only thing they've done in like a year that I've enjoyed even a little bit and even that one I can't quite take seriously.

rtc I'd never heard Rashad before - "More" in particular is great. "Just Lay" is that genteel shit that would become my secret third favourite track on the album after six months, but I suspect it will struggle in a contextless iTunes wasteland.

The "Soulja Girl" remix is excellent.

yeah i was talking about "can't help but wait". i hadn't heard it up until last week or so. i liked the original "soulja girl"

i don't know why but you don't LOOK like someone who would be into pop/rNb, jordan... ::shrugs::

the r&b i listen to is really usually stuff that crosses over to pop radio, and i can't remember the last time i actually listened to an r&b album (i.e. "be without you" was one of my fave singles of 05 but i never heard the album [not sure why that is]).

i look like a typical indie kid, and my favorite albums are usually pretty much crit-loved indie (lcd, jens, for isntance this year) but i listen to pop radio all the time and for the past 2-3 years have started listening to pop albums.

have ppl listened to the-dream album? i like it a lot but don't love it. a bunch of really dynamite songs on there though. "falsetto" should be blowing up right now, but idk why it's not (radio can't handle a dude doing a female orgasm??). i saw that love/hate was #1 on the julliane shepherd list that rtc linked to in 07 year end list thread.

As I said in the last thread, Trey Songz already made girly sex noises on Twista's "Girl Tonite" and that was a pretty big hit. Maybe the problem with "Falsetto" is that it's unlistenably awful, y'know, just a theory.

ah. just posted on rolling charts that you should listen to Mary's new album, but if you don't do albums, you don't do albums!

you do look like a typical indie kid! haha =P but i guess a typical indie kid wouldn't be talking about Be Without You like that.

(i'm assuming you meant to post this here and not in charts thread)

jordan you should hear some of the other mary j songs on that album that are even better than Just Fine.

the thin thing --> not too much synth on a lot of tracks, but the beats/bass is not thin at ALL. really packs a huge punch.

-- Surmounter, Thursday, January 3, 2008 10:52 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

yeah i think im going to pick up that mary j soon. i really love it when she unleashes her voice but obviously that wouldn't really work on a track that's supposed to be so care-free and steady and even keel.

i actually posted it there cuz you were talkin bout Just Fine there methinks

omgosh you have no idea though, she definitely unleashes elsewhere on the record, and even the slinky/steady tracks are KILLER

secret third favourite albums songs after 6 months are usually the best, are they not?

think i basically said this on the 07 thread, but what i mainly like about rashad is just his potential as a credible male singer type figure finally, one not necessarily beholden to being a puppet for writers and beats and so on, who is masterful with the slow jams. also the thing about him as an extension of the ti persona(s); almost every artist on grand hustle has had a facet or other at play, so like young dro the jumper-wearing colourswatch weirdo, boosie the tear the club up thug yammerer, and rashad perhaps the slyly persuasive loverman. (he looks pretty average and round-the-way in the video though, so really i doubt that's how it will play out.) basically i'm hoping ti masterminds an attack of the clones from the comfort of his couch this year, if he isn't too busy helping out with tiny's travel xscapes that is (lolololol CLASSIC)

danity kane - damaged (or were lex and I the only ones who loved this?)

thirding (or fourthing or whatever) Damaged. the danity album has taken a while to grow on me, but Damaged is immediate and brilliant. the harmonies and the a-a-a-are you? etc.

I am kind of shocked by how much I like the song "Damaged" considering I really, really, REALLY hated everything else I heard by them.

I like the last minute of "Damaged" when it goes all lush slow-jamology, but the rest is so chintzy and bad.

It's really the only song of theirs I've heard where I've really enjoyed their vocal arrangement (and where I feel it's justified having 5 of them).

Andy Kellman OTM about Anthony Hamilton, I have had it for less than 12 hours and I AM IN LOVE WITH IT 100 PERCENT. I almost started a thread for it because we've had threads about all his other albums but let's talk about it here if anyone wants to. Songs are better than on "Ain't Nobody Worryin'," arrangements are more complex and fascinating, his voice has actually gotten more beautiful, and HOLY CRAP A BONUS TRACK PRODUCED BY HEAVY D!

Also hearing David Banner rap about inviting the white friends over to drink Miller Genuine Draft = LOLPOCALYPSE NOW.

cant wait to hear this!!!

yeah i kinda feel like i could just live the rest of my life listening to "Charlene" and nothing else from AH, but i might have to check that out.

the Jamie Foxx/Lil Wayne/Just Blaze song is so balls out awesome that i really have no idea whether the toss it into my year-end lists at the last minute or just hope it's a massive hit in '09.

yeah that song is bonkers

the verses are like if fox was parodying 2008 rap for an snl catch except it turned out to be awesome

parody includes lil wayne saying "if you're gay i can be your marvin" of course

there's something very wacky about the fact that Foxx's album has a song with The-Dream that samples "Can't Believe It" and a song with T-Pain that samples "I Luv Your Girl."

haha yeah

and then a "remix" of a ne-yo song - should've called his album "now that's what i call hitching my wagon to r&b superstars in the most obvious way possible"

weak zing im tired though

yeah...they really shoulda just not bothered ever billing that as a remix of "Miss Independent," i think i'd like it more without having that unavoidable point of comparison.

xpost i was not going to critique your zing but yeah

plus if you try to zing jamie foxx and don't go all the way, you know he's gonna come at you with some "i'm your conscience" shit

another important point to make about the anthony hamilton album: there is an eight minute long song and/or medley called 'prayin' for you/superman' that is all churchin' southern gospel-style blues, dude BURNS IT DOWN

this other stuff you guys are talking about sounds great too but Please. Don't. Forget. About. This.

what's the production like, leaning more modern drum machine or trad live band or what?

both -- some of it is that organic mark batson sound that he usually does, some of it is neo-soul (vidal & dre); the title track is ridiculous funk produced by the avila brothers; salaam remi's cut 'i did it for sho' is very smooth click-track minimal modernism; all the kelvin wooten stuff sounds like deranged ne-yo stuff. so, yeah, a mix -- and thankfully so!

ah so rev has been repping for the foreign exchange album here! discovered 'daykeeper' through the soulbounce.com EOY lists, and the album is just gorgeous.

i got the anthony hamilton album in today's post - will make sure not to sleep on it.

Happy to finally see someone else rep for the Foreign Exchange album.

Wait -- finally? http://blog.allmusic.com/2008/10/13/the-foreign-exchange-leave-it-all-behind/

J*davey beauty in distortion/land of the lost (just me & rev?)

Love about half of it.

i like "Energy" ok but i didn't get the sense that it was loved by many or that it deserved to be much bigger than it was

Thought it was good and then kinda forgot about it. I do have this weird feeling that, at some random moment in a couple years, I'm going to get this incredible itch to hear it.

Matt Cibula OTM re: new Anthony Hamilton album.

Keyshia Cole album IS good but either hot or very cold.

#2 song behind "Livin' a Lie" that should have been released as a single this year: Cheri Dennis, "Dropping Out of Love" () -- the "Complex Simplicity"/"Take Me as I Am" glum uplift track of the year (not that she could have possibly done wrong with that Bobby Caldwell sample).

Keep forgetting about that.

And it just dawned on me that when the good Rev spoke of repping FE, he was probably referring to the thread. My bad.

Definitely gotta check the Anthony Hamilton. Loved his last two. And yes his gospel-y material is normally fire. See also "Pass Me Over."

As I side note, I was flipping through the radio the other night and caught the last minute and a half of "Trading Places," just before the guitar solo and stumbling on it just out of the blue made it sound massive. Really changed my take on the song.

yeah...the way that song rises and falls is pretty spectacular.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1601418/20081216/t_pain.jhtml

28 In '08: Commercially Released R&B Singles

1. T-Pain (featuring Lil Wayne) - "Can't Believe It"
2. The-Dream (featuring Young Jeezy) - "I Luv Your Girl" remix
3. T-Pain (featuring Ludacris) - "Chopped and Screwed"
4. Ray J (featuring Yung Berg) - "Sexy Can I"
5. Usher (featuring Young Jeezy) - "Love in This Club"
6. Lloyd (featuring Lil Wayne) - "Girls Around the World"
7. Beyoncé - "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
8. Ne-Yo - "Closer"
9. John Legend (featuring Andre 3000) - "Green Light"
10. Keyshia Cole - "I Remember"
11. Alicia Keys - "Like You'll Never See Me Again"
12. Chris Brown - "Take You Down"
13. Ryan Leslie (featuring Fabolous and Cassie) - "Addicted"
14. Keyshia Cole - "Heaven Sent"
15. Ryan Leslie (featuring Kanye West) - "Diamond Girl"
16. Jennifer Hudson - "Spotlight"
17. Kanye West - "Love Lockdown"
18. Estelle (featuring Kanye West) - "American Boy"
19. Mariah Carey - "Touch My Body"
20. Rihanna - "Take a Bow"
21. Slim (featuring Ryan Leslie and Fabolous) - "Good Lovin' "
22. Ne-Yo - "Miss Independent"
23. Gnarls Barkley - "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"
24. O'Neal McKnight - "Check Your Coat"
25. Alicia Keys - "Teenage Love Affair"
26. Beyoncé - "If I Were a Boy"
27. Jazmine Sullivan - "Need U Bad"
28. Mariah Carey (featuring T.I.) - "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time"

It's kinda weird how "Can't Believe It" has become the canonical default T-Pain song of '08 (also topping a few Pitchfork writers' songs lists, etc.), I didn't realize people liked it that much.

pretty cool that all 3 big Ryan Leslie songs were included, though

26. Beyoncé - "If I Were a Boy"
27. Jazmine Sullivan - "Need U Bad"

And it just dawned on me that when the good Rev spoke of repping FE, he was probably referring to the thread. My bad.

Suggest Ban Permalink
― Andy K, Wednesday, December 17, 2008 7:05 AM Bookmark

Yeah, I'd seen your allmusic review, but I was talking about on-board.

4. Ray J (featuring Yung Berg) - "Sexy Can I"

!!!

Working on a list of 40 favorite charting R&B singles and I doubt half of these will make it.

Am I the only one here who thinks that other than "Me & U" Ryan Leslie's shit all sounds total feeb?

It's kinda weird how "Can't Believe It" has become the canonical default T-Pain song of '08 (also topping a few Pitchfork writers' songs lists, etc.), I didn't realize people liked it that much.

Suggest Ban Permalink
― BIG BROOS aka the steenspringer (some dude), Wednesday, December 17, 2008 8:04 AM Bookmark

WELCOME TO WISCANSIN

yeah...my top 100 singles is at least 1/3rd R&B, and only has about a dozen songs in common with that list.

xpost

RL's voice is definitely kinda feeb but do you not like the productions!? "Good Lovin'" is the bomb.

i mean rtc's "yuppie-with-a-laptop" description of his beats way upthread was otm, but they still sound pretty good.

Haven't heard "Good Lovin'", but I get too much of a later-era Neptunes vibe from most of his productions.

i can see that, but i mean "Addiction" takes the whole hand drums and spacey synths thing and does it much better. check out the Slim record, though, it's almost like some lush g-funk shit.

this isn't bad

YO LEX.... New Teairra Mari:

And it's really, really good. Cute, I could see this being a bit hit.

Still getting clowned in public for putting her album on a P&J ballot.

(She was getting ready for her prom when she got the "You've been dropped" call.)

lol that is so fucked up

I wonder if she ended up going to her prom or if she stayed home and cried :(

andy u were totally right to put that teairra album on a ballot and those clowning u are clowns themselves.

'hunt 4 you' is pretty good but i miss the angry lil' mama* that teairra used to be. doesn't seem right for her to be jumping on the epic bandwagon after even the milian.

*on which note, i never saw the 'no daddy' video at the time!

i hope yr pihrana bite

solange killing it and looking v fine on NYRE this morning. ne-yo was on too

i couldn't hear her (was at a bar, sound turned off), but she did look fabulous

utube?

I haven't looked for a youtube but saw the performance. I had to convince my relatives that yes she was Beyonce's sister, and yes they should not change the channel just because she had a fluorescent yello yellow painted on unibrow! They stuck with it and liked her, except for the eyeliner.

Ne-yo doing "Ms. Independent" later was real nice. Robin Thicke was not so good. He can't really dance .

Thicke's singing was ok to good.