your favorite r&b beats of the 2000s!!!

try to aim more for "personal favorites" than INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT BEATS THAT SHIFTED THE" blah blah blah
also LINK youtubes! preferably w/ producer name included

couple of mine to start:

aaliyah - it's whatever (prod static major)

i adore plenty of the productions on this album (obviously "resloution") but this is the one i've decided is my favorite song the older this record gets. i love how everything seems to be so carefully and thoughtfully placed, especially those few keys that come in every few bars. the percussion sound is one of my favorite ever too, there's so much force behind them but they're still delicate - it even sort of sounds like a kiss.

the-dream - purple kisses (prod los da mystro)

could have chosen among a handful of Los production jobs tbh but this has always been my favorite - i love the way he uses drums to breathe life into songs and what's always struck me about this one in particular is that if you listen closely the drums almost mimic one of the main melodies of the song.

Both of those are absolute favourites of mine as well.

The first of these is probably 1999 but I think for the purposes of this discussion that should be okay?

Destiny's Child - Bills Bills Bills (Trackmasters Remix)
Mya - Best of Me (Trackmasters Remix)

I discovered these similar and similarly awesome Trackmasters remixes at about the same time in 2000 and both were a real revelation for me, their simultaneous density and fragility, the melancholy shimmering chimey effect on songs that aren't actually very sweet at all, so it's more of a kind of depressive coiled tension, in the arrangements as well as the vocals. A very hip hop sensibility, but in a much more organic and subtle sense than in the more typical crossover banger. Love them both to death.

Keeping it delicate and shimmering...

Lloyd - Get it Shawty (2007, produced by J Lack, Usher's brother says Wikipedia)

Love the airiness of the harp-like keyboard arpeggio with the "oh oh oh" background vox bouncing back and forth from channel to channel. Much tastier with the gruff Yung Joc verse than the clean all-Lloyd version.

As I thought of them:

Sa-Ra - Glorious
Shafiq Husayn f/ Bilal - Cheeba
Amerie - Why Don't We Fall in Love (Rich Harrison)
Sade - Soldier of Love
Rahsaan Patterson - Pitch Black (Patterson and Keith Crouch, I think)
Aaliyah - Rock the Boat (Keybeats)
J Dilla f/ Dwele - Dime Piece (Dilla)
Tweet f/ Missy Elliott - Oops (Oh My) (Timbaland)
Erykah Badu - Honey (9th Wonder)
Kaidi Tatham & Dego - Got Me Puzzled
Mýa - Fallen (Ron Fair?)
Yummy Bingham f/ Jadakiss - Come Get It (Junius Bervine and Clay Sears)
Omarion - Ice Box (Timbaland, King Logan, Sir John, Lord and Lady Douchebag)
Ryan Leslie - You're Not My Girl
Cassie - Me and U (Ryan Leslie)

No clips:
4hero - Hold It Down
Bugz in the Attic - Consequences
Donnie - Atlanta Child Murders
Spacek - Eve
Waajeed f/ Tiombe Lockhart – O'Bloody Days, O'Starry Nights on the Bowery

Lord and Lady Douchebag

the fuck?

Yeah, that part was made up.

The-Dream - Put It Down

Lord and Lady Douchebag

teairra mari - make her feel good (prod. co-stars & sean garrett) (the proto-"me & u")
janet jackson - all nite (don't stop) (prod. janet jackson & bagge arnthor birgisson) (ew, a swede, i didn't know that)
ciara - hotline (prod. bangladesh) (the fkn high-end on this!)

oh i have a ton more but i'm going to listen to them first, next hour or so is gonna be goooood

Cristina Milian ft. Fabolous - Dip It Low (Remix) (Paul Poli)

Barely different from the regular version except that some of the beats are removed, changing this from a supple push'n'pull dancehall groove into an incredibly intense exotic showpiece - not sure how this transformation works but it does. In either version this is beautiful, the descending sitar arrangement so relaxed and barely tunefuk but given a pulsating life by the gorgeous vocal arrangement (take a bow teedra moses) and that slamming kick.

i hadn't realised the fabolous remix actually changed the beat (never really listened to it - hate fabolous generally and especially on that song)

bobby valentino - slow down (prod. tim & bob)
cassie - 2 the morning (prod. bryan michael cox)
letoya ft. paul wall - all eyes on me (prod. jr rotem)
brandy - i tried (prod. timbaland)
kelis - stick up (prod. dame grease)
amerie ft. nas - man up (dunno who produced it, wikipedia doesn't say and i can't be arsed to dig out my cd)

702 - I Still Love You (Neptunes)
Donell Jones - Spend the Night (Mike City)
Diddy f/ Keyshia Cole - Last Night (Mario Winans)
Timbaland f/ Keri Hilson, etc - The Way I Are (Timbaland/Danja)

Destiny's Child - Perfect Man (Eric Seats, Rapture Stewart)- still remember my mind being blown hearing this at the beginning of 2000

Bobby Valentino - Give Me A Chance (Tim & Bob) - panpipes!!

Kelis - Popular Thug (The Neptunes) - not sure if it's the beat or Kelis' performance that I'm really crushing on here tbh.

The Backstreet Boys - The Call (The Neptunes Remix) - a party staple for me. The Neptunes' most disco moment?

brandy - should i go (timbaland)

teedra moses - backstroke

Monica - Knock Knock (Prod. Kanye West & Missy Elliott)
Keri Hillson - Quicksand (Prod. Danja)
Destiny's Child - Is She The Reason? (Prod. 9th Wonder)
Jonell - Round & Round (Prod. Hi-Tek)
Natasha - Hey Hey Hey (Prod. Darkchild)
Isyss - Day & Night (Prod.Tyrice Jones)
B2K - Girlfriend (Prof. R. Kelly)
Day26 - So Good (Prod. Bryan Michael Cox)
3LW - I Do (Prod. CD Hawkins & Diddy)
Fantasia - Surround U (Prod. Swizz Beatz)

Monica - Knock Knock (Prod. Kanye West & Missy Elliott)

YES.

probably my fave Kanye West beat actually! Definitely in the top 10... I could listen to that instrumental on loop for eternity

ciara - pick up the phone

Tyra B. - Country Boyz (prod. PrettyBoy & Bradd Young)
Asia Cruise - Boyfriend(prod. ??)
LaToiya Williams - Fallen Star (prod. Michael Angelo)
Rhea - Choreographer (prod. ???)
Tweet - Call Me (prod. Timbaland)
Usher - Throwback (prod. Just Blaze)
Toni Braxton - Take This Ring (prod. Rich Harrison)
Kelis - Aww Shit (prod. Bangladesh)
Mario - Kryptonite (prod. Oak)
J*Davey - Private Parts (prod. Brook D'Leau)
Joe - Why Just Be Friends (prod. Stereotypes)
Lloyd - Hazel (prod. J. Lack)

just out of curiosity, what do we consider the "INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT BEATS THAT SHIFTED THE" blah blah blah? "Promise"? "Addictive"? "My Love"?

That's a bit difficult to determine, isn't it?

yeah definitely, though there are one or two that come to mind instantly - it'd make for an interesting discussion though

just out of curiosity, what do we consider the "INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT BEATS THAT SHIFTED THE" blah blah blah? "Promise"? "Addictive"? "My Love"?

― The Brainwasher, Wednesday, January 12, 2011 9:27 AM (1 hour ago)

ha yeah i couldnt even think of a consensus one which is why i didn't include an example like deej did

nivea - 'laundromat' (prod r kelly)

this isn't a game-changer or anything but i'm big on r kelly's "drip-drop phase" - as i think either dan perry or shipley called it - and this is my favorite of those and it's a sound that i love seeing retried by dudes like schulz nowadays

Damn most of you posted what I would've posted. So here are some other notable ones:

These two are basically the same instrumental (one reason I give Darkchild the side eye at times)

Fantasia - It's All Good

Destiny's Child - Lose My Breath

Omarion - Obsession

Rihanna - Sell Me Candy

Prince - What Do U Want Me 2 Do?

Aaliyah - More Than A Woman

Brandy - It's Not Worth It

Have to post more. The late1990s/early 2000s was too good of period for r&b/pop.

Also forgot my one neo-soul contribution:

Jill Scott feat. 4 Hero - Gotta Get Up

kaidi tatham & dego - got me puzzled

andy what the hell is this!! so good

Deej do you not have the Bugz in the Attic Fabric mix???? One of my absolute favourites. Also includes the Bugz remix of Vikter Duplaix's "Looking For Love" which needs to be on this thead too.

Also Focus - Having Your Fun (4 Hero Mix)!!

You would love it deej.

ha i have heard it before, i dont think i gave it much of a chance tho ... i was mostly just playing 'consequences' over & over!

toya - i do -- sounds like some lost country grammar ish

brandy - who is she 2 u

always loved this -- leon ware sample from 'musical massage'

thnk u brainwasher for posting 'round & round'!!

yeah you guys have made this thread a success!

still needs some rtc

pretty ricky - on the hotline

i might be crossing the line into just liking the song on that one
its weird i have more trouble separating the two in r&b than i do in rap ... maybe bcuz my fav R&B beats are so functional, moreso moreoften than in hip hop

i guess their beat for tipsy is more weird/exceptional

yeah that's tough for me too - i definitely have a "type" of r&b song i'm drawn to and almost always the beat is similarly up my alley

xp

its weird i have more trouble separating the two in r&b than i do in rap ... maybe bcuz my fav R&B beats are so functional, moreso moreoften than in hip hop

In particular I think that the combination of a good vocal and a good beat can seem really symbiotic to the point where it's not always clear where one stops and the other begins.

This happens in rap too but I think it's easier to separate them out into "good beat" and "good rapping".

I didn't actually post any Teedra even though I think some of the productions are amazing because her singing on those tunes ultimately is a bigger part of what makes those tunes for me.

always thought the lush philly soul style production on this john legend was really exceptional

R&B is also a genre i never nerded out w/ in a cataloguing way the way i do w/ rap so its like ... i rely on my memory like a 'regular person' on a lot of this stuff lol ... like associate the music w/ places & times in my life instead of building some kind of canon in the clouds

surprised tim f hasnt dropped the kiley dean bomb itt

i was thinking of dropping some kiley but couldn't decide which one - weirdly i think the only beat i like for its own sake rather than her singing is the very out-of-character "stay away from my boyfriend"

i still have a lot more to post itt but as kiley said "i'm busy now"

'keep it movin' seems like a good 1 for the beat

Brandy - What About Us

This beat still twists my brain.

that's the one i expected tim would post. it's a good beat.

xp

Oh yeah "Keep It Moving"!! Love that one. I'm so predictable eh.

I just did a search and there's like 5 posts by me enthusing about that tune with multiple exclamation points. :-/

goddamn someone needs to break into timbaland's vaults and let out the HQ kiley dean mp3s. the low-bitrate era of the early 00s was so primitive

eh what the hell

kiley dean - stay away from my boyfriend (prod. timbaland)

Tweet - Call Me (prod. Timbaland)

love this song so much - couldn't decide whether because of the beat or tweet more

Toni Braxton - Take This Ring (prod. Rich Harrison)

FUCK YEAH

"take this ring" is like am inverted, darkside, alcoholic "1 thing"

tlc - dirty dirty (timbaland)

deej, do you know DKD - Future Rage (also on the Bugz Fabric mix)? I think I'll always have time for vocal broken beat, even 4hero at their most Stepney/Mizell slavish.

Teedra Moses - Complex Simplicity

I totally get where Tim's coming from, but I'm pretty sure I could listen to an instrumental of ^^^ for an hour straight and never tire of it.

Just now getting around to sifting through '00-'09 R&B and realizing that I had only some notion of how many great singles were released (despite covering most of the major albums from '03-'09 and hearing just about everything else).

The Foreign Exchange - Daykeeper

"complex simplicity" is one of my favorite songs ever so you can bet I love the music.

But, like, someone else singing or rapping over it would probably feel profane to me.

yeah, how the beat sounds when someone else freestyles or repurposes it (or imagining that if it hasn't happened) is the litmus test here, i feel

Prob why my choices here are mostly remixes or more anon singers or even just tunes with guest raps so you get a sense of the beat with a different vocal dynamic.

Houston - I Like That (The Trak Starz) - love the squelchiness of this

Ashanti - Only U (7 Aurelius)

Still recall being snared by the Club Nouveau intro fakeout.

fuck yeah! only u was such a massive jam for me for that massive guitar riff. awesome beat.

ne-yo "miss independant"

elegant and classical but slippery, reminds me of the beat for U know what's up.

yeah! by usher seems like a weird omission, but also i will rep for Burn bc that is how i roll ituwf

ha was totally gonna post 'only u'

Omarion - Entourage

Da Brat ft. Cherish - In Love Wit Chu

Lil Mo - Superwoman

case - missing you

really this sounds great in retrospect

The gold truffle of the decade, on the chart (#99) for one fucking week in 2008:

Dear Jayne - Rain LOS

Nicole Wray - If I Was Your Girlfriend

Jagged Edge - Walked Outta Heaven

Mary J. Blige f/ Method Man - Love @ 1st Sight

Kelly Rowland f/ Eve - Like This

Bobby Valention f/ Lil Wayne - Tell Me

Faith Evans f/ Missy Elliott - Burnin' Up

Ryan Leslie - Diamond Girl

Bobby Valention f/ Lil Wayne - Tell Me

― Magill: a gorilla (some dude), Thursday, January 13, 2011 10:02 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

was this always f lil wayne? i dont remember him on this at all

Lloyd - Hey Young Girl

follow the format i established in the OP plz u_u

― ♪☺♫☻ (gr8080), Friday, December 5, 2008 5:43 AM (2 years ago)

Wayne wasn't on the album version of "Tell Me" but the radio/video version that was a hit and got played everywhere had Wayne on it

unsurprisingly i love that dear jayne

hey you know what k3vin fuck youtube and fuck it being a standard form of expression on this board, i'll gladly add production credits if you want but if someone wants to reformat my posts with links and take out the capital letters they can do it themselves

fuck utube

yeah fuck easy links to free streaming music! *fights the power*

yeesh i just want to be able to listen to the songs as ppl are posting them. carry on tho

i dunno when you say format it a certain like this is one of the ilx spreadsheet polls it's like what's the point

good call on "walked out of heaven"! love that squelchy bassline

since you mentioned "like this," I always loved the beat on this on:

kelly rowland - the show (feat. tank) (prod. Tank)

i heard "Walked Outta Heaven" on the radio coming home late the other night and got some serious 2003 flashbacks and regretted not putting it on my end-of-decade R&B list

I got real sick of it at some point, but played it the other day and loved it again.

Missed the poll based off your list, Al -- dipped into the post and then clicked out 'cause I'm finally getting around to making a decade list and didn't want to be too influenced by it.

Mary Mary - God in Me* (Warryn Campbell)

This had several knockoffs (and got you geeked to watch Juan Pierre smack a pitch to shallow left-center AMIRITE), right?

Like this one, sorta:

LeToya - Regret

*If I have a guilty pleasure, it's that. Not really down with homophobes.

Truth Hurts - Addictive

(prod. DJ QUIK)

Usher - U Don't Have to Call prod. Neptunes

I can't find a YouTube clip, but Shafiq Husayn's beat on SA-RA's "I Swear" is sublime.

Jaheim - Fabulous (prod. KayGee)

hey i just made a spotify playlist with all the songs i could find from this thread. prob 85-90% of them are there:

http://open.spotify.com/user/jabbahands/playlist/30xPcoE79CbzNwy2JC6XF2