“Maybe I should’ve been born white then all of my music would go straight to mainstream…”
“I look better, produce better, write better, and perform better than damn near everybody and this is the thanks I get?”
The quotes above are just two of many fiery statements lifted from Grammy-nominated R&B singer Tank‘s Instagram today (December 19).
Upon learning that a music video would not be financed for his latest single ‘Stronger,’ the multi-talented singer/songwriter lent a lengthy speech to the social media network to break down his frustration with his record label, lack of support of R&B from fans, and status of the genre in the music industry overall.
Despite landing top 5 placement on the Billboard 200 with one of the biggest R&B records of 2013 (‘Three Kingz’ by TGT), Tank has not been able to match that success by his lonesome. The feat not only fueled his rant, but also saw him allude to never making another “true R&B record” again.
As artists like Beyonce, Chris Brown, Jhene Aiko, August Alsina, Trey Songz, K. Michelle, D’Angelo, and more are finding real success with “real R&B” records, do you feel Tank is wrong in his assessment?
Read and weigh in below:
I purchased D’Angelo’s album yesterday.
You want my coins? Make quality music.
I don’t pay for mediocrity.
you’re old, rNB needs someone younger to come and spearhead it……………how about Bruno Mars
S*** these days u can dwnload an album before it hit the stores so y buy it whn u can get it for free and listen before u buy it.I rather save my 11.99 14.99 truth be told a lot of this music ant worth buying
Tank is keeping it one hundred but this is not the say to do it !! Tank got bank and he makes money from his Writting ! As an artist he is Incredible and has so much more to bring to the table! But he got to start making more commercial music cause like he said he CAN SING ACTUALLY SING!! It’s a lot of artist male and LOTS OF FEMALE artist that can’t sing but are MARKETABLE !! It’s not about talent and it STOPPED BEING ABOUT THAT!! Only the strong LAST AS FAR AS THE TALENTED STRONG! It’s sasy for the less talented to last they don’t have n e thing to loose!! They don’t have to dumb themselves down because they aren’t living up to anything! TRUE T! Tank hang in there SHOW THE WORLD BETTER YET LET THE WORLD HEAR YOU
One word comes to mind-DELUSION! The only thing he looks better than is the horses in the stables. And if his music was any good, it would have found an audience. Many of my favorite artists started with NO major label help to fund them, and they toured their asses off to gain an audience. Stop b!tching, and get hustling.
Tank is an underrated artist and the boi got vocals he can definetly sang.it just that these young artist are taking over.the record labels dnt wanna promote someone like tank he’s not young and he dnt dance he just not what the younger generation wants.I suggest he produce and write also try acting.
R & B isn’t as prominent as it should be so I get that part. But the whole “I look better sing better blah blah blah” stuff was incredibly arrogant. It’s a 50/50 thing record labels aren’t pushing the genre like they should and some fans aren’t speaking up more so I mean you can’t blame one without the other.
Yeah but let’s not look over what he said about radio….. that is a valid point.
If LORDE,SAM SMITH, JESSIE J, MARK RONSON, BRUNO MARS, AND NICK JONAS can get play on urban radio……..
Why can’t JHENE AIKO, TINASHE, SEVYN STREETER, AND TREY SONGZ get played on POP/TOP40 RADIO STATIONS????????
That is a real issue that needs to be addressed by the industry and these white and black music executives at RCA, DEF JAM, and WARNER.
What’s up with all these whiney a$$ black folks lately. Life isn’t fair. Life is what YOU make of it. Nobody is owed anything, make your own success.
Success won’t come unless you support and stop stealing… and i am not talking specially to you
Specifically
He is an asshole, when your little fans who helps you pay you bills you keep outing them on social when the message you n*** photos acting or bigger than life. You career has tanked and nothing can save it.
The truth is he’s underrated I can understand where he’s ginning from but truth be told if his record label dnt care nobody elese sure hell isn’t.its like going to work all day busting your ass and not getting paid then come home to an ungrateful wife and kids.but at the end of the day he needs to suck it up and try his hand at something elese.I guess he see how regular hard working folks feel
What we should not forget is that people are getting smarter day by day. The only spend there money to what appeals to them. And for the fact that one person has millions and they still want more. I personally I don’t buy music, films etc or anything that any artist is putting out to bank on. Am all about my day job and my family am not going to make you millions while I go broke. Personally anyone still spending money on celebrities are falling to scam people be wise bloop.
LOL another lazy black complaining on twitter about the white man this or that. WHITE people don’t care about black people. They doth care if blacks live or die. Most whites, deep down, in their hearts, when no one is looking, would prefer a world without BLACKS
Bollywood is supported and funded by indians. 1997 Titanic was the number 1 movie in every movie theatre EXCEPT ONE: Hounslow; an Indian part of london. That indian Flim mad sit into the TOP 5 of THE UK movie chart.
Indians support their own. BLacks beg WHITES and whites just LOL at y’all. White aint giving you s***, You can rant on twitter all day and night.
so true
Complex said Iggy does not care about black women or issues. DUH! why would she? she cares about making money
WHY PEOPLE CARE ABOUT MONEY; THEIR RIGHTS; THEIR FREEDON AND DOGS – YES, WHITES CARE ABOUT DOGS MORE THAN BLACKS.
TIME TO STAND ON UR OWN 2 FEEET BLACKS
Keep talking reckless . Will track your IP address , find you and …….. You know the rest. You won’t seem like a big boy/girl then
THEN I will call the police and You will be on can saying ” I can’t breathe. I live in state when THE COPS GO HAM ON BLACKS.
I am from FLORIDA. Bring it. THIS STATE HAS MY BACK.
P**** just like I thought. What guy stans for Rita Ora….. Oh yeah. A p**** f a g g o t
I’d love to come to Florida. I’m actually in Georgia. Send me your address where I can meet you.
You can speculate on what race I am all u want. Won’t change the fact that you’re a B**** who will get stomped
OK. that attitude is why POLICE SHOOT 1ST WITH black men or even women. I am female actually.
No, I won’t come to GA, I will sit in my cozy house, type my views while u stay raging mad. Hopefully you will get stopped by a WHITE COP WITH AXE to grind…….
You’re black. How many other races who threatened to kill someone over a comment on a blog? Black commit the most crime, so of course u would be black.
Or I need to do is call the cops and say there is n**** with gun. BLOOPP/ Now let see how tough u will be. Oh, and as u saw…….video evidence don’t mean NADA.
Lmao! So now we have to believe that you’re a woman? With that filthy ass mouth and who can’t even spell properly? And it’s AN Oscar not A Oscar you dumb ass b****. B**** you’re a f****** gay dude behind a computer or a damn transgender. Lmaooooooo. No real lady will even type the way you do. Boooohahaha
Why don’t you be bold and protest your views in public lmaoooooooooo. Coward b****.
ALL your black rage won’t change the fact that blacks are falling in the music industry and hollywood. Stay mad. Raise ur blood pressure, shorter your life expectancy.
shut the f** up p*ssy asss bittch, every comment you leave here has to do with race – I should of called you out on your flop fave but I didn’t – not to mention the fact that even though she is white she mimics black culture to the point that everyone thinks she has a mix. you ignorant mf, you wouldn’t dare open your mouth to a black person and talk that shitt cause you know you would get popped at the back of the neck – its easier to be a racist on an internet forum. ITs cool, people can and will still find you…
I get that blacks don’t get the same opportunities in the music industry as whites. But can we stop blaming the whites? Why don’t we blame the majority of blacks who are too damn cheap to go out and buy music? White artists (taylor, katy, etc) find success because their white audiences spend their coins to support.
But if only white ppl bought white artist music, and only blacks bought black artists, wouldn’t that still mean blacks will sell less as there are less blacks in America. 12%population and u expect black singers sales to equal whites when they are only being sold to blacks?! Nobody music is selling in general, but when u got a Katy perry who performs at major award shows n played MULTIPLE TIMES on the radio on stations that get millions of listebers and video shown on YouTube homepage, how do u expect a Jill Scott to sell like crazy. S*** jlo gets HEAVY promo and still sells like s***
I love tank and love his music, although I never purchased any of them :/ .
“Please don’t go” is an RnB classic. But damn niqqa, u really felt the need to write a dissertation about how RnB is not supported? He madt for real
But it actually isn’t fair. Name the last r&b song that was uplifting women that was supported mainly by the black and brown community…. maybe adorn by Miguel… 2 yrs ago
Its never really about support. People buy good music or they buy music of their favorite artist(s) – people they genuinely like. I can’t explain the decline in R&B or R&B artists, but it is disappointing.
the music exes that made everything about sales instead of talent is what really what messed the industry up. it should be about talent instead of many sales you can get.
maybe if some of these r&b artist would take risks and experiment with different genres and sounds than they would sale something, a lot of these r&b artist are so one dimensional …..
This! I used to f****** love r&b. But i feel like after the 90’s it became stagnant. Music needs to evolve to stay relevant. Apart from the few artists like miguel, frank, weeknd, r&b artists don’t know how to move forward with new s***.
right jhene, miguel,the weeknd etc all step outside the box
AND THEY FLOP TOO. JHENES ALBUM SOLD LESS THAN HER EP
So that they could sound like everything else? Other genres dont have to change their sound. We are already losing our music due to lack of support. How about we not lose our identity.
But when R&B artist do try and experiment they get labled as “sell outs” or “trend hoppers”
REAL TALK TANK AINT NEVER BEEN POPPING. HE HAD A FEW LITTLE HITS HERE AND THERE MAYBE 2 OR 3, BUT THATS IT. HE CAN SING BUT HE DOESNT HAVE “IT” PLUS HE IS APPROACHING 40 SO I DON’T SEE HIM BLOWING UP. HE ALREADY TRIED THE RATCHET ROUTE WITH “SHOTS FIRED” AND EVEN THAT FLOPPED….THE URBAN AUDIENCE JUST DOESNT BUY ALBUMS POINT BLANK PERIOD MOST OF THE ARTISTS YOU NAMED HAVE NOT EVEN SOLD 200K TOTAL
Tank is very talented. Vocalz for days but he needs but outside writers. He reminds me of kandi burruss….to me they only have one style of writing.. Very cliche…Very 90s urban….not saying he doesn’t have a point tho…if a white dude was doing what he is doing he’d be hailed the second coming
S*** I’m not mad at Kandi Burress Tucker she writes music FOR EVERYONE!! Lol
Since when 2000?
I continue to buy my select few artists but it’s been years that they’ve sang there hearts out LIVE!!
Black artist are the reason they don’t get support even from there own blacks.
Oh please, Tank was never a seller. Be thankful that Aaliyah even noticed your talent while you was her backup singer. I could understand if Usher, Brown, Kelly and others were saying this. Face it, if you can’t sell, they’re not putting money behind you just to burn it. If you care about your music as much as you’re saying, pay for it yourself.
lmaooooooo his music is so outdated atleast all the other artist you named make up to date music
Dear Tank u never did sell much really that much.
Tough competition vs Tyrese, Ginuwine, R. Kelly, Mario, Usher, D’angelo, Joe, Donell Jones, Lloyd, Breezy, Trigga and now Alsina etc.
Oh I didnt even have to give White names.
Granted Tank can sang but not all songs exciting.
Gurl bye Felicia, if you want our coins, make music worth purchasing. We are not going to just support you just for the sake of “saving” RnB music. Who said RnB music needs saving? Maybe if artists innovated and changed the sound from the post 1995 mid 2000s sound it still has to today and kept it fresh and exciting, you might get my coins.
‘
Maybe we are tired of listening to baby making, baby momma, songs about struggle, your money, how you want to f*** that girl, struggle songs and want to listen to something of quality.
‘
The “white” excuse is just that, an excuse. 5 Milliseconds of Winter are flopping and they are all Bieber/One Direction wannabe white boys from Australia/New Zealand somewhere there, so that whole “race” excuse is just that, an excuse.
‘
Get your game up if you want to get your coin up babe.
” 5 Milliseconds of Winter”
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140207231714/vampirediaries/images/b/b8/Out.gif
Who cares if those bands are flopping? They are still being pushed like they are the hottest thing. All we are asking for is the push/support. There are more than 5 r&b artist… can we see some others…
Who?
LMAO That Rita Ora stan can try all she wants, she is mixed race and based on that one drop rule, no matter how much you grovelled, you still cannot sit with white people.
‘
So glad you’re alienating the only race group willing to accept you. Keep digging babe.
He mad because stronger sold 16,621 copies first week.
People keep saying R&B is not selling. Name me 10 pop or other albums from other genres that sold a million this year…. 1. So why is one form of music getting this when ALL music is flopping.
They are trying to guilt people into buying their boring music.
‘
Just make better music and people will buy it. Just look at J.Cole; Kendrick Lamar, will also do J.Cole numbers if not better.
BUT Ed sheer an, That gay guy, coldplay have sold platinum and are on sell out tours. Tank cannot say that; that is his point, but, he only has blacks to blame
IN THE BB HOT 200 album chart……7 are MALE AND WHITE and 4 are from the UK. U got UK dudes outselling African americans born here. I know they call ed sheerran and Sam smith RNB soul. That is what he means; Last year Robin Thicke sold 15 mill on funk song that black made in the 70’s/ That what he means
No they didn’t. Only one artist went plat this year and it’s Taylor (the other was Bey). Sit the fvck down, you look stupid.
Ed is platinum and so is sam smith, What about colplay? None direction will be certified in a month.
BUT there are many singer sill selling platinum. White people are still making money in the biz
Tours
DJ gigs
Single sales
White men making million:
Calvin Harris
Avicii
Ed sheeran
sam smith
various rock bands
ALL OF country; jason aldean an em
one direction
justin bieber up until the meltdown
bruno mars
olly murs uk
take that uk
Olden day legends like rolling stone and em
Emimem – he played stadiums in UK and USA
Justin Timberlake
Nick Jonas
Macklemore is eating off that LP
Hozier
Why u gotta be so rude singers
Maroon 5
Fall out boy
alesso
tiesto
one direction stadium killers 300 mill
Micheal buble
ross the board. George Ergatoudis, head of music at B** Radio 1, offers: “Ed’s unique in his ability to switch between folk music and black music. His key influences have been Eminem at one end and Damien Rice
Ed sheer an is Platinum and his tours are selling like hot cakes.
ED sheer an is meant to be black music.
Look at his sales
Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[152] 3× Platinum 210,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[153] Platinum 80,000^
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[154] Gold 10,000^
Germany (BVMI)[155] Platinum 200,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[156] 3× Platinum 45,000^
Poland (ZPAV)[157] Gold 10,000*
Sweden (GLF)[158] Platinum 40,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[159] Gold 10,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[160] 4× Platinum 1,005,000[81]
United States (RIAA)[161] Gold 520,000[83]
This is sam smithy, who they say is king of soul
Certifications[edit]
Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[56] Platinum 70,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[57] Gold 7,500x
Canada (Music Canada)[58] Gold 40,000^
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[59] Gold 10,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[60] 2× Platinum 30,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[61] Gold 25,000^
Poland (ZPAV)[62] Gold 10,000*
Sweden (GLF)[63] Platinum 40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[64] 3× Platinum 1,007,000[31]
United States (RIAA)[65] Platinum 1,050,000[29]
Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[80] Platinum 70,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[81] Gold 7,500x
Canada (Music Canada)[82] Platinum 80,000^
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[83] Gold 10,000^
Italy (FIMI)[84] Platinum 50,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[85] Gold 100,000^
Mexico (AMPROFON)[86] Platinum+Gold 90,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[87] Gold 7,500^
Poland (ZPAV)[88] Platinum 20,000*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[89] Platinum 40,000^
Sweden (GLF)[90] Gold 20,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[91] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[92] 575,000[93]
ONE Direction album, just released. Even Rihanna cannot sell as good as this.
We may all not sell well but some of us get the exposure and others dont… that is the issue… at least give me the opportunity to try and be successful
This wasnt a reply to you.. sorry about that.. not sure what happened.
Boy BYE!!!! I know many artist that will destroy him vocally although he can sang. He needs to stop using the white excuse for his flopping or lack of promo for R&B. SoMo, Travis Garland to name a few Flopped, Sam Smith is more pop than R&B. if these black artist want recognition then they need to make better music and quit making tired ass 1997 Butterfly soppy ass music. Take John Legend All of Me for instance or even Happy. I also gaurentee if an black artist had songs like Stay With Me or Rolling in the Deep they would of Slayed too, but all they can seem to sing about is tacky b******, f******, drugs, some other meaningless b*******
No they would not have slayed!!!! We have been making music like that for years and no one pushes as hard as they did for those songs. Dont confuse this 2014 s*** with R&B music. Happy and all of me were two songs that were embraced by white america… lie to yourself if you want to. The minority community can not take responsibility for that one. Because those two albums still didnt sell extremely well.
Warning, Hot Tea Ahead:
1. Chris Brown X 311,000
2 Jhene Aiko Souled Out 125,315
3. Trey Songz Trigga 264,000
4. August Alsina Testimony 206, 258
5. K. Michelle Rebellious Soul 260,000
Beyoncé, who I love, has ALWAYS been Pop ‘N B. She’s great at it.
D’ Angelo has two certified masterpieces already under his belt. “Black Messiah” may end up being deemed a third with its critical reception. I bought it. However, I don’t foresee it being a blockbuster seller. I PRAY I’m wrong because he is so amazing.
Now, those other 5. That is contemporary R & B. NONE of them are close to going gold and we want to call that success in 2014? Okay. Traditional R & B? Don’t even think about it. The most you can hope for is acclaim: see Toni Braxton and Babyface’s last (great) album for evidence.
All of that to say, you are NOT selling R & B in the near future unless you’re Justin Timberlake. Black artists who are working in R & B do not have a chance in hell of selling albums, regardless of quality.
AND IGGY HAS OUTSOLD ALL OF THEM WITH 430K IN USA AND 100K WW
HA
Chris, August, and Trey all make terrible and recycled music, so their sells are understandable. As for Jhene and K. Michelle, with their lack of promotion or radio support, they’ve done relatively well for themselves. They’re selling off fans alone. If they had hits on the radio or a chance at more exposure outside urban blogs they could easily scan gold. Look at John Legend. He had quality music and well established fan base that helped earn support from the label which led to success. Frank Ocean’s album did well because it was of quality and he had exposure. The Weeknd are doing decent too despite the lack of support.
John Legend’s “Love In The Future” has only sold 648,000.
Frank Ocean’s brilliant, beautiful and critically acclaimed “Channel Orange” has only sold 621,000
Let’s talk about quality for a second:
Channel Orange has a metacritic score of 92
Kaleidoscope Dream has a metacritic score of 86 (321,400 sold)
The 20/20 Experience has a metacritic score of 75
We all know what The 20/20 Experience sold in its FIRST WEEK.
D’Angelo- Brown Sugar 1.5 million
Voodoo 1.7 million
That’s it. It’s a known fact that he is a superior artist to Justin Timberlake. I mean, not even in the same league. Yet…..
This is not a “quality” debate.
The reason I listed the above artists is because they were named in the article as examples of “successful” R & B acts and I countered that assertion with those numbers. I adore Jhene’s album. But she will never be a big seller & it has nothing to do with quality.
As I stated before, unless you are Justin Timberlake or Adele, you are not selling R & B anymore. That’s over.
That’s doesn’t mean I won’t continue to support Frank, Miguel, Maxwell, and Erykah, whose albums I am greatly anticipating.
600k for an R&B album is slaying these days when the top stars like Iggy and Ariana are stalled in the 400k bracket. JT isn’t really a fair comparison considering he had the best promo roll out plan of the year and a well established fan base for over a decade. I agree that race does play a key in it. The general public is predominately white and they will support music from artist they can connect too. Black R&B acts may not ever do Adele or JT numbers again but they can sure as hell do better than the 200-350k bracket. BTW, Miguel’s album sold around 500k.
Love Tank’s voice but he’s so wrong. First of all he should be grateful for his “crap first week sales” cause even if 30k or something looks small in comparison to other artists it means that 30k people were interested in your art. A lot of singers would kill and die to have that many folks interested. How dare he blame the audience and not the racial profiling from record labels and then the subsequent undermining that takes place on radio…
but whoever wrote this also tried it saying that flop TGT project was better than his personal successes. Didn’t Tank debut at #2 a few years ago? When was the last time Tyrese did anything other than play sidekick to Vin Diesel? Ginuwho?
Drunk in Love is R&B? Partition? Since when?
If Drunk In Love isn’t an urban track, then what the hell is it?
Maybe i deserve….
Sam Smith sounds like Tank IJS the man makes a valid point. Except the look better than. He ahyte in the looks department.
Well then given your point, the question has to go to yt consumers of why they don’t support Black r&b artists anymore. Honestly the only Black male r&b artist I ever heard yt girls fawning over was Usher during his ‘Confessions’ era.
As for Tank – he needs to stay off social media making ignorant inflammatory comments. His primary supporters are Black women, yet he popped off earlier this summer about some ‘dark skin’ vs ‘light skin’ madness and angered his fan base so…(Kanye shrug). I can’t & won’t support a damn near 40 year old male who has the mentality of a 15 year old school girl.
I agree with him, it’s sad but not much we can do: I SUPPORT ALL REAL R&B music/I jam TGT daily…… It is what it is.. I ain’t rich so I can’t help much.
There are three factors to the decline of R&B: The fans, the artists, and the labels. The artist are to blame because they aren’t making music worth buying. As a freshmen in college, my spending money is limited. Why on earth would I spend 12.99 on a Chris Brown album? Because Loyal was of great quality? Singles are meant to advertise the album, if the singles are trash people will assume the album is trash. Chris, Trey, Usher, Ne-Yo, August, and many others have been doing the same song and dance for years now. As someone already mentioned, R&B got stale. Do we need anymore break up ballads from Keyshia Cole? No. That’s why people are checking for this new wave of R&B like Jhene, Frank Ocean, Miguel, and The Weeknd. They’re bringing fresh air to R&B. The problem is factor #2, the labels. The labels don’t push the R&B acts who are actually making good music. You don’t see Jhene Aiko performing at award shows or making rounds on the late night scene. It’s hard to get fans to buy your music if they don’t know its out there. Tinashe had a great album that hasnt sold 30k because she’s had zero promotion. If labels want to see success, they’re going to have to take a risk and invest money into their talent. Frank Ocean, Miguel, Alicia Keys, Robin Thicke (Blurred Lines album) and John Legend all saw decent numbers with their latest releases because they were able to promote their music to a broader audience. If Jhene or The Weeknd got the same exposure, they could easily scan gold. Labels don’t though because factor #3, the fans don’t support the music. Epic probably lost a million in promoting Ciara only to have her album flop. Fans would rather stream or zippy share an album than buy it, which really devalues music as an art. Fans also would rather pit the few successful ones remaining against each other (see Keri Hilson).
“The labels don’t push the R&B acts who are actually making good music.”
This is an excellent point. Then we have to ask why? If we can no longer use the quality excuse, why aren’t R&B artists who are releasing brilliant albums given massive promotion campaigns? We already have an answer for that: because, in 2014, they no longer see the commercial viability of pushing a BLACK artist who does R & B music.
The commercial peak of R & B music happened in 2004. I also understand that overall sales for artists in every genre is down. Along with pirating, as you point out. I guess you are a bit more optimistic about the future than I am, which is great. Outside of Frank, Miguel, Maxwell, (if he ever releases blackSummers’night of the trilogy, Erykah, and Jhene (some would add Tinashe but I don’t quite “see” it yet) I really don’t see a mainstream presence in the near future.
The amount of self-hate in this comment section is very sad to read. Wanting to be recognised for your talent does not mean you are standing with your hand out waiting for crumbs from white people. I’m sure Tank is well aware that his music is mostly appealing/supported by black people and his frustration is really obviously directed at black people. This message is not for white people, the only reference to white people is the fact that being white automatically makes you mainstream (meaning you get more exposure) – while being black tends to immediately pigeonhole you into either hip-hop or RnB.
For an example see Igloo Australia who is given the chance to strut her stuff in pop music while flaunting bootleg Trina tracks (Trina was never granted the same thing) but Azealia Banks who makes very obvious dance music is still shunted into a little box.
It’s always good to see some critical thinking happening on TGJ. Thank you.
he didn’t lie tho….tank albums are actually good r&B music and he’s a dope song writer and vocalist! but r&B isn’t being promoted like it use to and that’s the truth.
I find it funny how people say R&B artists need to experiment with different sounds when pop artists like pink have been releasing the same song over and over. I’m sleep though.
I’m Not Dead, Funhouse, and The Truth About Love is like one long song. She’s derivative to the max.
Why not spend a few thousand dollars and shoot a video himself? Everything about the music industry has changed over the past 10 years. There are other ways for artists to get their music out there than being reliant on label promotion. I’m not familiar with the song in question, but perhaps the real issue is that the song lacks hit potential, and Tank just can’t face it.
F*** all that “R&B needs to evolve” bull. Why is that naysayers like to condescend R&B’s evolution, or lack thereof, but don’t hold other genres to the same expectation. A random pop song by Sarah MacLachlan in 1996 could realistically be a hit in 2014, left virtually unchanged. What’s One Direction doing sonically today that Take That didn’t do in the early 90s? Yet if an R&B singer comes out with a song that isn’t some corny, earthy, poppy, alternative, PBR&B nonsense for gay hipsters in skinny jeans, and sounds reminiscent of something from 2004, people dismiss it as “dated” and that. F*** outta here with that double standard. Same could be said about country or dance-Pop. Why is it only black music genes need to reinvent themselves from what they were 10-20 years ago, while white genres basically don’t? That s*** is an excuse from people who basically don’t want black music around, period.
And to add to that, some corny white pop star today could come out with a song that sounds identical to mid 90s SWV and see it race up the iTunes Charts. So let’s stop pretending that it’s about not sounding “dated.” It’s about the music business over the past 5 years having been restructured in a way that flagrantly allows black artists to be shut out.
PREACH!!!!!!
This queen needs to take the dik out her a**
This has nothing to do with R&B sounding “dated.” Relationship drama (i.e. courtship, romance, breakup’s, makeup’s and s**) from a sassy and urban-esque perspective have always been key themes of R&B/Soul, going all the way back to the days of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, The Drifters, etc. And there’s no reason that should change. These are universal subjects that everyone can relate to, so acting as if these are stale topics to still be singing about makes no sense. What the hell else are artists supposed to be singing about? Dated, my behind. Pop and country stars sing about the same damn things too! As someone else said, that’s merely an excuse to justify or sweep the much uglier issue as to why R&B is being cold-shouldered under a rug.
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To add perspective to all this, R&B has ALWAYS had less of an immediate overall mainstream audience than Pop. R&B artists (on average) have ALWAYS sold less than their Pop counterparts. That’s nothing new. Furthermore, music sales are down across the board for all genres and styles. It isn’t just R&B and Hip Hop fans downloading what they can get for free instead of paying for it. That’s a problem for the entire industry. Thanks to the Internet, the industry is the midst of crisis, and so more than ever they’re clinging to, promoting and mass producing what they think they can still make a profit from: pop; while neglecting what they think won’t (in this case R&B.) Meanwhile, the oblivious general public just gets behind what they are exposed to in large quantities. Most people don’t go searching for alternatives. Unfortunately, this is all happened during a generational shift, which means that people born post-1990 are blindly accepting what’s been happening over the past hand ful of years. So, unlike the 25 and up crowd, they don’t question why R&B is on the backburner, go searching for it or even really relate to it because it wasn’t what the industry was mass producing during their coming of age.
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R&B artists don’t need to radically their sound, nor does the genre need to be overhauled to the point where it becomes something else. That’s crazy. That’s like asking Wes Craven to write a family-friendly script for Disney. What artists like Tank, K. Michelle, Keyshia Cole, Brandy, Monica, etc., etc. need to do is open their eyes, see what’s going on, learn to work smarter and assemble better, tighter-knit, more creative and shrewd teams that are savvy enough to play the industry at its own game. Don’t depend of a record labels promotions department to do right by you, because they won’t. You can’t just be a singer/performer anymore, now more than ever they’ve got to get better at manipulating and outwitting the system for their own benefit. If they do a good enough job that creates a big enough buzz in their favor, then the fickle industry will come around to their side. But fairness and good will are illusions, and the days of a record label taking care of its (black) artists from the start are obviously done. It’s not fair that this racist bias is in place against black artists, but it is. If these R&B artists tighten up their hustle and learn to become better Chess players, they’ll see more success. If they’re just gonna record what they think is good music, sit and wait for it to be properly handled by the higher up’s, then get frustrated when that doesn’t happen, then they may as well just go work at a Karaoke bar. Tank needs to get off his b*** and meet with some sharper managers, agents, publicists and attorneys who can do a better job than whoever has been running his show.
Your comment, like @CzarM’s comment, moves beyond the ridiculous idea that it’s “stale material” or the “quality” of R & B that has regulated it to the back-burner.
The fact of the matter is artists who are working in R & B have to find more ingenious ways of getting their product to the public. The days for R & B artists 1) signing a contract 2) working on an album 3) picking a single 4) releasing a single 5) shooting a video etc…..are OVER! The traditional route is in a coffin.
Terrible, generic pop music will continue to be shoved down our throats by second and third rate talents (and will continue to nominated for Grammys). They will remain the same. Their path to pop stardom will be continue to be exceedingly obvious, planned, and executed by big money.
R & B artists will have to learn to navigate this field of landmines stacked against them.
Good luck brilliant artists Janelle Monae, Rahsaan Patterson, Lalah Hathaway, Frank Ocean, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, Jhené Aiko, and many others….I’m rooting (and buying albums) for (from) you.
The comments section of TGJ are usually such a cesspool of stupidity and sludge that it becomes a treat when someone replies with something that has perspective and intelligence. This is actually what I’ve been saying for years. Most r&b artists are failing not because of their sound or style or because people aren’t interested, but rather because 80% of them seem to have incompetent people handling their business and running their careers. That combined with the music biz not treating urban artists fairly has created an ugly hemorrhage. Sound-wise r&b doesn’t need to update itself more than any other genre. What about Taylor Swift’s music is fresh, innovated or hasn’t been done a thousand times before by a thousand others? She’s just as predictable and ‘stale’ as any run of the mill r&b singer but her handlers are crafty enough to come up with airtight marketing strategies that work. Her being white and blond absolutely makes that easier and gives her an unfair advantage over a Teairra Marí type and yes that’s maddening, but TM types need to own up to having such atrocious organization that would make any kind of success virtually impossible. Urban acts are going to have to stop waiting for the good fairy to bless them, recognize that the scales aren’t tipped in their favor and start becoming more shrewd in their packaging and work ethic so that they can get around the hurdles.
The messed up part is that the lack of exposure to blk music I think is having an effect on blk teens of today. Back in 1974 blk kids weren’t listening to Captain & Tennille and The Osmonds…in 1984 blk kids weren’t listening to Pat Benetar and Culture Club…in 1994 blk kids weren’t listening to Ace of Base and Lisa Loeb…in 2004 blk kids weren’t listening to Avril Lavigne and Hilary Duff…but in 2014, blk teens ARE listening to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, while trying to look like suburbany hipsters. I feel like blk kids are losing their identity & becoming detached from their culture compared to generations back and some of this I think is attributed to this pop culture exclusion of black entertainment.
Ten years ago back in 2004, not a single white artist went number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
I didn’t hear white people complain about that. We just saw them going to the drawing board, working and mastering their craft.
Tank reminds me of that one average employee the company don’t fire because he is silent but would serve him the pink slip once he starts talking. Tank, your music ain’t all that to begin with.
Sorry but in 2014, people buy music if they are interested, whether it’s r’n’b, pop, electro, hip hop. It’s up to the artists to keep on hustling. If Trey Songz keeps coming at #1, then there’s a way to do it. Maybe his secret weapon is to talk about s*e*x but that works for him. Chris Brown is always moving his feet, Usher goes for experimental r’n’b beats, Beyonce recorded her latest video through an Iphone, Nicki does countless of collaborations to keep her name out there.
Tank, put in the work and you’ll get the results. Yes, a lot of them new white artists are posers but can we fault them for loving our culture? 10 years ago, that’s all they heard on radio, they grew up listening to our sh*t.
Sia and Ed Sheran are white but they are just gaining fame and recognition this year. Their music was always good but their careers soared only when they decided not to bring attention to their looks (they don’t look like Katy Perry or Justin Timberlake that’s for sure).
There is always an innovative way to make it. Tank, if you still can’t figure out what would work for you, don’t put the blame on other people for your lack of creativity. If you get people interested, they will buy your stuff.