late-90s/early-2000s female r&b (tlc, destiny's child, aaliayh, pink, dallas austin, darkchild, kevin briggs etc)

alright, so some of the best music ever

but i pretty much only know the singles from this era (aaliyah aside). what are the best albums? writing's on the wall? fanmail? etc -- i'm sure i'm forgetting tons of shit & any suggestions that are in this genre are welcome

kelis obv - kaleidoscope is classic and wanderland is pretty good

hey what about that nivea album? the one with laundromat and don't mess with the radio on it? i used to love it a lot lot, and always listened to it when i was mopping the floor. i haven't listened to it since though. even now i can still remember there was some filler. also: toya. it had this weird fake artful dodger song on it but also: 'i do!!

inoj album is great but slightly different than what youre talking about i think

stay away from the blaque album, it's terrible and they sound terrible on it except for 808 and one song with n'suync. fanmail is good

you know, other than the Aaliyah self-titled, this is prob my least-fave period for mainstream r&b

Pink's Can't Take Me Home is fabulous. Mya's Fear of Flying (the version that has "Free" anyway) is pretty great too.

Re Toya, I remember not really getting with her album, but alongside "I Do", "No Matta What (Party All Nite)" and "I Do Part 2" are also great.

Is the first Cristina Milian album good? Anyone?

i just put the nivea back on and it's definitely worth listening to, i love that woman. and what about the 1st amerie album? i think that came out in 2002...is that too late? that one is amazing all the way through

I think of Amerie's album as the beginning of a post-millennial phase in commercial R&B (/ponce)

My favourite Nivea track from her first one is that one that's like "29 Reasons" (insert correct number plz) where she's reciting all the things that makes her love her man but she just gives up towards the end. There's a looseness to Nivea that I think is very appealing. My favourite Nivea track though is "Parking Lot" off her second album.

yeah of course i love that album too! did you ever hear the 3rd one? i never did. i was looking for new nivea stuff on a whim the other day and what i saw was pretty disappointing. has she done anything with thedream since they divorced?

track rather than album, but "What about us" by Brandy / Darkchild is still amazing and sounds very 2010ish

gah doing this thread the week before my r&b listening club week!!!!!!! :D

http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/200903/10/06/e0147206_1362455.jpg http://www.hiddenbeach.com/images/album01_450.jpg

These are my favourite rnb albums from that era. They both have a pretty smooth and classic sound, none of those Timbalandish digital dancehall beats, but I was never the biggest fan of that sound anyway. With Meshell especially, the content is nothing like smooth though. ("Barry Farms" is probably the only rnb song ever where the female protagonist accuses her bisexual female lover of coming to her only because she's better at eating pussy than men.)

gah doing this thread the week before my r&b listening club week!!!!!!! :D

― tart w/ a heart (a hoy hoy), Friday, May 7, 2010 8:31 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

sorry -- if this is the subj of your listening week i'll be v pumped

surprised no one's yet mentioned the first two kelis albums, which are about as good as peak-neptunes r&b got (her third album is amazing too but not quite the same thing)

kiley dean's unreleased timba-produced simple girl album too

tweet's southern hummingbird and selected guts off it's me again

ginuwine's the bachelor and 100%, definitely

janet jackson's velvet rope is my favourite janet album too

lol *cuts

Er, the Kelis albums were mentioned in the second post.

weirdly there are no good utubes of this but this album is pretty awesome by and large, maybe a bit too early timbo for y'all

i mean, nicole wray - make it hot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMUwXExS5fw

album is pretty patchy but the highs r pretty high imo

dont think ginuwine counts bcuz uhhh hes not a woman

my fav singles from this era are probably 'rock the boat' and this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgZz4L1UmxE

made for some good house remixes too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX4hRuazYPo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va1Y6uAgNJY

i remember thinking hat monica was the better option bc of her int. design choices

'smoking cigarettes' off the tweet album is dope. wasnt that toya record an ilx poptimist classic or something too

I think Sterling Clover repped for Toya generally and perhaps the album in full as well - might make it an "ilx poptimist classic".

En Vogue's post-Dawn Robinson album from this period is an overlooked gem as well. Here's one of my favourite tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-_TiWcmw_4

Also relevant given Tuomas trying to derail the thread with Me'Shell/Jill Scott is Lina's perhaps-too-early attempt to fuse commercial R&B with nu-soul on her first album. She must have been pissed at how later Blu Cantrell stole her arrangement ideas and Mya stole her vocal style. It doesn't appear to be on youtube but search "Watch Your Mouth (Baby Blue)".

Love this 2000 Mya classic, really sums up Mya's whole sex-as-a-weapon vulnerability schtick. The Trackmasters remix with Jay-Z is also great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOcrHI1fL64

love mya. mostly bcuz she is <3 <3 <3 but she had some jams too. "Fallen" was good. and that song that sampled shuggie otis

i play the 'free' instrumental when i dj sometimes -- really interesting track construction on that one

ha had no idea that was a jam & lewis production ... i love that those guys are still churning em out (they did that usher venus & mars track out now)

"Free" is brilliant. Also don't sleep on the earlier "It's All About Me":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rTqLa2IKCE

i cant believe, btw, that some of this stuff is as old now as, like, 'freak like me' was when i started to post to ilx

heres the shuggie otis one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG4Xz4EWwJA

trick me before trick me existed kinda

Awesome track. The whole of Moodring is great IMO.

since we mentioned ashanti, this was by farrr my favorite ashanti single ....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFtgBg5X7EM

this beat is just ... awesome in an old school 90s rap way. that little melodic hook reminds me of pete rock & cl smooth's 'lots of lovin'

Love "Happy" too! There's actually half a dozen Ashanti tracks I unreservedly love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj82ggMAV9M

This is overlapping heavily with my opulent R&B mixtape, but I gotta post "It's All About Me":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rTqLa2IKCE

overlapping heavily with your post 5-6 posts up~~! iirc

this was later but i liked it too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGxTlho12c

Kandi: "Don't Think I'm Not" - former Xscapee rewrites her "No Scrubs" with a sorta Latin freestyle chorus

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

Res: "Golden Boys" - this sounded like "take over the world" material at the time :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_gkoKnaDc0

Sunshine Anderson: "Heard It All Before" - the album was sleepy making this ace single prime Napster bait (anyone hear her tardy follow up?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ0fqHEvT6M

golden boys sounded like 'wow this is unusual' but im not sure i get take over the world from it

this thread is d-_-b so far kiu you guys. bobby mcferrin is absolutely repulsive though

Blaque: "808" - The pre-chorus "And now take me for instance babe" really hurts. You can hear the doubt in her ploy/brag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfkF977UhRo

R. Kelly featuring Sparkle: "Be Careful" - kinda cheating but a great pre-Trapped in the Closet soaper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x86tostIKE

Nothing I've posted comes from must-own albums, including these, but:

Kelly Price: "Friend of Mine" - an odd song that closer you listen, with weird phrasing and backup singers foregrounded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfaMtXB8kG4

Monifah: "Touch It"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CL89fxfGZI

Must own album that sorta fits the thread criteria: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

what??

Yeah, how does that fit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU9HnOgwhOo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ujbpTytBHk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chL-fKaW5QM

And I did say "sorta."

Better let this genre rest in piece. Those people benefited a lot from adding a lot more electro and a lot more melody in the late 00s.

definitely second the mention of lina but

Mya stole her vocal style

??? - lina's quasi-operatic soprano vs mya's coy, breathy liteness? don't get the comparison!

lina would have fit in really well with the solanges and janelle monáes of this world - ahead of her time in so many ways.

<3 <3 mya's "things come and go"

If you were talking, say, "Playa No Mo" versus "Fallen" I'd absolutely agree... BUT most of the time Lina actually does a breathy jazzy thing (see e.g. "God Loves Me Too", "I'm Not The Enemy", "S.O.S. (It Ain't Me)" etc.). There's a clutch of tracks on Moodring where Mya cops this sound exactly - see "Late" in particular.

re "Things Come & Go", my sentimental favourite bit is Sean Paul clobbering the backing vocals with his "bup bup bup bup ba-daaaa-da!" like a dopey labradoar.

might get stick for this but i have a major soft spot for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5nZi75h_1s

No stick (?) from me. Fantastic song but again, the album...not so much.

is it alright if i go youtube crazy right here? or should i hxxp it?

Ruff Endz - No More

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiFhG905fRo

Profyle - Liar

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJALFnaBjeI

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaig Daaaaaaaaaaavid - Walking Away Ignorants Remix

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilfC61trRJ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4oY7tgEa78

or is this already too late?

if be careful is here then this should be too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUPQx-7oUro

also should have a thread for great forgotten garage remixes of r&b hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XriH_qproMQ doesn't even have the name of the producer but

#
timfoxxy The tune reminds me of a Zelda or Mario video game music :P 2 2 months ago

have we said allure yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYrmFtR5zAM

i <3 these chicks but not sure how well this kinda stuff has held up right now

this was the golden age of hook girls btw

Mystikal featuring Nivea - Danger (Been So Long)

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncd4YY6JTPQ

Nivea - Don't Mess With The Radio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-n5V0Y1Og

should really do a guy version of this thread so i can post 'caught up' by 112

Always and forever this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDR5Yso7r44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbD9PM_qNro&feature=fvw

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

A few years late, but the right sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frtm7qrcG8U

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

this fukkin song

d-_-b u aint neva had no love ((like this))

"writings on the wall" is pretty much perfect

wow no fear, i didn't even know that it was possible to find the inoj album these days. i oughta track it down, i loved her two hit covers and her voice is kinda thin but pleasant for sure

"Don't come up in my millenium talkin bout 'Guuuurl, this mah song!" This soundtrack has some gems, man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnU4PqMym9o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MIO5E0CGLg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijD5WLTGnYY

How about videos from the veterans catching up to the newbies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpaR3wzTlvo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9QYv9XBMHI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC7V9dn1rC8

I forgot about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR4Jan8duO4

this is a static track that feels like it could be from the time period but isnt, not on any of their albums for some reason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikvOn7GKwks

I was going to post the Faith Evans track. It is the definition of artistic apotheosis.

is 'the boy is mine' album good?

or 'full moon'

Full Moon is good, maybe about 7 great tracks - basically the metallic Rodney Jerkins numbers, the creepy break-up ballad "Apart" and the lovely bittersweet "Missing You"/"Irreplaceable" style false-optimism of "Wow".

im a pretty big full moon fan personally

is 'the boy is mine' album good?

― pascal's swagger (J0rdan S.), Monday, March 7, 2011 4:41 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest

yeah it's a pretty good album - "street symphony," "first night," a great cover of dorothy moore's "misty blue," - though it is not Monica's best.

full moon is a classic.

(welcome back deej!)

Was sorta counting "Full Moon" among the metallic Rodney Jerkins numbers, though yeah that doesn't really work does it.

No specific thread for Blaque but this seems to do -- some very sad news:

http://www.vibe.com/article/natina-reed-girl-group-blaque-reportedly-killed-hit-and-run-accident

:(