R&B is on a respirator. Once a celebrated genre that has given the music industry some of its most praised acts (see Luther, Whitney, Aretha, Marvin), the musical styling is unquestionably losing its identity to Hip-Hop and now Electro-Pop.
The question at hand: is R&B on its last breath or is revival in its future? In a three part series, That Grape Juice will analyze three sectors of the fallen genre: ladies (songstresses), males (crooners), and groups (both male and female) to determine if resurrection is in its future or if it will find permanent rest in the history books.
Next up, gentlemen…
One quick peruse of today’s Pop charts and Marvin Gaye might have a new reason to ask ‘What’s Going On’? 2011’s Billboard charts stand almost tenantless of R&B testosterone, with acts like Trey Songz acting as sole representative of the dying breed. Such turn of events beg the question; Where did the male R&B singer go?
Rewinding to the beginnings of R&B sees acts such as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and Gaye winning over multi-racial audiences, breaking down barriers while ‘breaking it down’ on global stages. These are the men who effortlessly denoted what the generations that succeeded them would call ‘swag’. And, though Gaye himself is touted as one of the greatest R&B vocalists of all-time, his contemporaries yielded no shortage of competition.
Fast forward from the Motown heyday of the 60s to the 80s and early 90s and you’ll see R&B replace disco moves in place of slow grooves, and balladeers take the forefront. And, while the Prince’s and Michael Jackson’s were migrating from their native genre to Pop crossover territories, Peabo Bryson, Gerald Levert, Babyface, Tevin Campbell, and the era’s king crooner, Luther Vandross, were busy enacting an R&B renaissance. Although not dominating the Pop charts like their R&B female counterparts (see Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey), there was certainly no dearth of R&B divo, crafting unforgettable hits and designing the soundtrack to our generation’s ‘old school’.
And then there was R.Kelly. With highly sexualized lyrics and suggestive stage shows to match, Kelly single-handedly ushered in a new era of R&B – discarding the debonair of Romance&B in exchange for Risque&B. Crowned the genre’s new king, the singer undeniably stands as the bridge between the balladeers of yesteryear and today’s R&B. And, while the Brian McKnight’s, Jon B.’s, Maxwell’s, Ginuwine‘s, and co. crooned to varying, altogether commendable chart success, the 90s saw no other R&B male take the industry by the reins like Kelly until Usher.
With Kelly’s packaging, albeit diluted, Mr. Raymond saw his rise to fame come on the wave of teen idolatry. Even with the record buying public partial to Popi’er counterparts (Backstreet Boys, N’sync, etc.), Usher still never abandoned his R&B roots, wielding such career defining hits as ‘Nice and Slow’, and later ‘You Got It Bad’ and ‘Confessions’.
Fast forward to today. After a decade of Hip-Hop influence, even neo-soul and traditional R&B singers (Mario, Jaheim, Musiq Soulchild) have tried trading in their signature mid-tempos to conform to the genre’s stylings (bass heavy and oft misogynistic lyrics) – to mixed success. And with Hip-Hop’s hand itself slowly losing grip on the industry, failures in both Hip-Hop and R&B have encouraged the Usher’s (see: ‘Here I Stand’) and co. alike to conform (to varying degrees) to the industry’s new tyrant – Electro Pop.
So, where does the R&B male fit in?
While a new class lay waiting for chart recognition (Lloyd, Miguel, and the like), this generation’s leaders are undoubtedly Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, and Trey Songz. Interestingly, though all three are billed as R&B artists, none have remained as loyal to the genre as Songz (noted: the first to debut, but the least successful of the three). Could such be due, in part, to his allegiance to R&B?
That Grape Juice wants to know…
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I love these Article man keep them coming! And who is the writer?
What a FLOP post!
All I care is Usher and Bruno Mars.
@ pRETTYLICIOUS Youre the first to comment arent you !
YOURE A FLOP B**** !!!
neyo and chris brown are not rnb. they are still sick just not RNB FACCK
USHER NEED TO TAKE THE ‘4’ ROUTE
THE OTHER MALE WILL FOLLOWTHE TREND
THE RADIOS AND MEDIA ASWELL………………HOPEFULLY -_-
….ANYWAY MICHAEL JACKSON AND THE REST OF BACK IN THE DAY R&B SINGERS ARE THE ONLY KINGS ! TODAY`S R&B IS PURE GARBAGE TAKEN OVER BY UGLY GOAT LIP F*** TREY SONGZ ….AND STUPID LLOYD AND FLOP MIGUEL !!
USHER AND CHRIS ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO I GIVE PROPS TO TRUE R&B MUSIC TODAY !!!!!!
THERE IS NO MUCH MUSICAL OBSERVANCE AND ANALYSING IN THIS!!!
WHEREAS I AGREE WITH @THATGRAPEJUICETEAM, IS TRYING TO SAY – THE FACT IS:
BRIAN MCKNIGHT, LUTHER VANDROSS, MARVIN GAYE, STEVIE WONDER, SMOKEY ROBINSON ETC… WERE ALL MUSICIANS AT A TIME WHEN *TRUE* MUSIC WAS KNOWN FOR ITS QUALITY AND GENERATIONAL INTERCATION BUT NOW…THINGS HAVE CHANGED!!!
YES, STEVIE IS ALEGEND, BUT DO YOU REALLY THINK HE WILL GET A NUMBER ONE HIT IN THIS DAY AND AGE OF MUSIC??? THE CHANGES ARE “NO”!!! BUT THAT DOESN’T TAKE AWAY FROM HIS MUSICAL CREDIBILITY DOES IT???
IF THE RESSURGENCE IN “R’N’B” IS TOO HAPPEN, THEN THE MASSES WILL NEED TO APPRECIATE IT ONCE MORE AND NOT FOCUS ON WHATS POPULAR BUT WHAT IS TERRESTRIAL; IMPACTING THE EARS OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD!!!
IT HAPPENED ONCE, IT COULD HAPPEN AGAIN!!!
Sad to say, but it’s all about the money nowadays. R & B will never come back when all artists care about is charts and success. I love Trey Songz and think he is original, hopefully he doesn’t fall into the industry antics and sticks to his R & B roots.
I definetely think that Usher made it harder for the males of r’n’b because everyone had to have some s** appeal and abs to compete with him from 1998 to 2005.R n’B always had some sexual lyrical content, but it’s gotten out of hand right now.
However, I disagree with Ne-Yo’s mention as one of the genre’s leading males.And Trey would have never got any success if he hadn’t spent hours on the gym, talked about s** and called him self ‘Trigga’ and it’s not only about his allegiance to r’n’b.It’s mostly about the fact that he doesn’t have enough stage presence and he never did something special to get noticed.
Nice article! Whats r&b without the R???
Disagree about neyo, he still need to make a come back his previous album flopped!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t think there’ll be a resurgence on the large scale reaching mass audiences like back in the day because frankly, I detect more racism factoring into the buying decisions of this type of audience. Where back in the day, listeners bought Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, etc because they made good music regardless of race I’ve been witness to yt people in record stores stating openly that they won’t buy music by African American r&b artists.
I think that if r&b audiences truly supported these artists like country fans support theirs then r&b music wouldn’t be on the brink. However that being said there are more artists than you mentioned who although not on the mainstream charts are still putting out stellar music – ERIC ROBERSON, RAHSAAN PATTERSON, DONNELL JONES, ANTHONY HAMILTON, ANTHONY DAVID & KEM just to name a few.
A lot of people today are sheep – they only buy or pay attention to who the powers that be push onto their consciousness. I love r&b music primarily so I seek it out using the web & the small record stores that still exist. People need to realize that a LOT of true r&b artists are being dropped from big labels BUT are courageous enough to still put out music independently and sometimes you can’t find those albums on Itunes or Amazon.
CH…….
Usher is the ONLY Male that has what it takes.. These other lesser males just don’t CUT it!
I only use Usher and R Kelly The Last to SLAY and give us real RNB Albums.
Is that Bruno mars even rnb is he even black what is he???
*Sips Orange Juice*
Neyo –> I’ll pass.”Libra scale” was AWFUL.(2005-07 was better.)
Trey Songz–>Two words. (MALE GOAT)
Lloyd & Miguel –> I’ll take them seriously when they stop acting like DivAs and start acting like DivOs.
Usher’s trendhopping this era…he should find a good mix between this “Revolutionary Pop” & his R&B
Chris would be fine when he DOESN’T embarrass himself (poor kid never catches a break.)
I’m saying this…and I am not a big fan of male RnB.
@ ISTAN4GAGA
100 % CO-SIGN !!!!!!!
Pleasure P’s last album was fire. “Gotta Have You” still on replay…….
I forgot R. Kelly….he’s doing fine as well.
if RnB is too make a comeback Usher will have to do it (Beyonce tried but failed)
I also think the future of RnB is lies on the shoulders of Miguel,Frank Ocean, and Maybe the weeknd & Trey Songz. the rest are going pop and hip hop
The future of R&b is in The Weeknd and Frank Ocean.. For those who might don’t know these names.. You should go on you tube enjoy this experience
Forgot another thing…
boybands like Pretty Ricky,Ims,B2K,& Mindless behavior aren’t helping male RnB either….
First, I think the industry as a whole is more female-drive (sans the likes of MJ). Women have ruled the charts, radio, etc. and have been more successful at it. I think the ‘R&B’ male has evolving meanings. First, for the likes of Chris Brown and Usher, they’re trying to establish themselves as more Pop/R&B artists. They’re obviously influenced by MJ. For simply R&B the audience is there, it’s just not as mainstream as it once was. There’s a plethora of R&B Males as mentioned in the post in addition, Joe, Anthony Hamilton, Case, and other male artists have experienced success in their own rights. It may not be the the levels of Breezy, but they’re quietly making their marks in R&B music.
MICHAEL JACKSON IS THE KING OF POP AND R&B !!!!!!!!!!
This is a nice thought provoking article TGJ, BUT…
how can you mention early 90s R&B male artists without mentioning two GREAT R&B Male crooners, D’Angelo and Raphael Saadiq? Both were very successful during this time period.
IMO, if D’Angelo can make a comeback he could definitely resurrect R&B back to the heavy-hitter genre it once was.
Don’t BoysIIMen count as men? They were a group but they were still all male.
They did preserve the Romance&B
They shape the 90s r&b as much as R.Kelly and were a much bigger influence that decade than Usher.
Also i think if rnb is too make a resurgence then the artist will have too step their game up
Maxwell had a lot of Billboard Hot 100 success with “Pretty Wings”
Jerimiah had a lot of Billboard Hot 100 success with “Birthday S**”
Alici keys had a lot of Billboard Hot 100 success with almost every song of off “i Am” (see “like you never see me again” and “no one”
sade had a lot of Billboard Hot 100 success with soiler of love
so maybe if the artist step p their sound they might have success
I’ve been following Miguel since 07. I don’t believe he’s exactly the savior of R&B. I believe he’ll be like the Prince of this time (awards, great live performances, fantastic music but he won’t be really recognized for it until many years later) I mean honestly, Miguel put out the best R&B album in 2010, but it went unnoticed.
@KAT DELUNA FAN
USHER? USHER WILL NEVER take the 4 route and BRING R&B BACK…HE DISSED JAY SEAN ABOUT HIM DOING POP AND THEN HE ANNOUNCES THAT HIS NEXT LP WILL BE REVOLUTIONARY POP?? USHER IS A HYPOCRITE!
As someone who doesn’t regard TGJ for it’s commentary as much as it’s ability to tell me who’s got a new video out, I was quite impressed with your assessment of males in R&B over the last 30 or so years….right up until you tried to tell me that Trey Songz is the most loyal male to the genre today. That’s where everything you wrote fell apart….
Thank Sam u really do read and like my comments 😀
I WILL ALWAYS love Micheal Jackson, R. Muthafuckin Kelly and Chis Brown 😀
Usher has his auto-tuned mic stuck up his ass so far, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE for him to do a album with r&b only!!!
@YeaBey Stans 4 4closure!
I actually agree with you on something, Usher is a hypocrite
Sam PLEASE LEARN TO USE APOSTROPHES PROPERLY…
“failures in both Hip-Hop and R&B have encouraged the Usher’s (see: ‘Here I Stand’) and co. alike to conform”
In that context, Usher was plural and so there was no need for an apostrophe…that extract should have read…
“failures in both Hip-Hop and R&B have encouraged the Ushers (see: ‘Here I Stand’) and co. alike to conform”
Trey Songz is a fad, he WILL not be around 5 or 10 yrs from now, due to da fact that he really isnt a good singer and he relys on s** to sell.
TREY SONGZ IS A FLOP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t care for these ‘new’ male acts. It’s all about females to me (The best: Mariah. Others: Monica, Tamia, Kelly Price, Fantasia, Mary, Faith, Keke, Keyshia). Trey Songz, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo? No, they just don’t bring it. Trey doesn’t have IT and needs to show some musical growth, Chris is still in a new building phase while he’s not strictly R’n’B anymore (or he was never), Ne-Yo just don’t go there. Usher is a sellout. I know I repeat myself a thousand times, but I can’t help it. He was the most successful male R’n’B artist and is going now the Pop-route. His follow up album will also be a certain type of pop music, I read. He’s so into this pop-ish and his Beaver-kid, it’s not even funny anymore.
These males should take some notes from their female peers!
@THE TRUTH
OH, i see… lol
TREY SONGZ? I THINK HE STRAINS TO SING…HAVE YOU SEEN THE WAY HE RAISES HIS HEAD AND HIS VEINS IN HIS NECK BECOME REALLY VISIBLE and forced? THAT’S A SIGN OF VOCAL CHORD STRAIN…If he keeps doing that I’m sure his voice will be gone in no time…. no hate or anything but any male artist who stretches their neck out to hit higher notes than their range is damaging their vocal chords!
KINGBREEZY
@ YEABEY
Hey boo, how are you?
I like Trey’s lower register, I don’t know if he’s straining or not, I’m not a vocal coach. I actually think his voice is nice.
@YELLOW GORILLA- Dumbass u DONT have to be black to sing r&b!!!
Ex. Teena Marie
YEAH
@YELLOW GORILLA!!!
BRUNO IS THREE QUATER HAWAIIN AND 1/4 AFRICAN AMERICAN…….
HIS FATHER WAS HALF BLACK AND HALF POLYNESIAN AND HIS MOTHER WAS POLYNESIAN
@ROSARUBBEL
Hey!
Well I do have some knowledge of vocals and vocal training….Trey Songz has a mid range voice and that’s normal…But he always exceeds his limits and you can hear the stress on his vocal chords…especially when he sings live…
A male singer should take advantage of his falsetto voice when high notes cannot be reached in the chest voice
@YELLOW GORILLAH
you don’t have to be black to do R&B….its called Rhythm and Blues not Rhythm and Black…your comment sounds kind of racist…I know that’s not what you intended it to sound like but it does…
As someone who doesn’t regard TGJ for it’s commentary as much as it’s ability to tell me who’s got a new video out, I was quite impressed with your assessment of males in R&B over the last 30 or so years….right up until you tried to tell me that Trey Songz is the most loyal male to the genre today. That’s where everything you wrote fell apart….
______________________________________________________________________
@ Dave. clearly whoever wrote this did NOT say that Trey Songz was the most loyal male to the genre today…he said OF THE THREE OF TODAY’S LEADING R&b(ne=yo, chris brown, trey), that trey was the most loyal in comparison to the other two
Geez you people comment without reading. and i agree, ne-yo isn’t exactly R&B, but he does mostly cater his crap to urban audiences. i dont know that R&B even has a real identity anymore. it’s almost just to say if you are black and you are a singer, you instantly get put in the R&B category – its untrue and its unfair
MY OPINION : R&b male singers gone pop already and there’s still a couple of them who still true to themselves and didn’t gone that way ! trey songz is still R&B and no one care about him “other example is Maxwell ” !! they care about chris brown and usher because they gone POP ” i love them but that’s the truth” ! they really need to go back to do real R&B songs especially USHER cuz he’s my fav R&B male artist “mostly because he’s the male beyonce for me ” !!! NE-yo is cool too ! but when i see him in interviews or opening his mouth he always say s*** and diss others ! but he’s still talented just like them !
USHER is my main fav male R&B artist !
And to answer the question, I don’t think a resurgance of the r’n’b’ male singers is going to happen in the next 2 decades.
First of all, Usher with his image was the first ‘ r’n’b heartthrob’ and then all the males/groups that followed him really degraded the real r’n’b’ music/image and now everyone that’s entering the genre has to be either s*** or make songs about s**.R n’b had sexual lyrical content, but it was not ALL about s**, so the REAL r’n’b will not come back soon after all those males selling
s** on urban radio.
Moreover, urban radio has lost its impact and the urban genre has faded away from the mainstream, so it’s almost impossible for any urban act to become as huge as the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Micheal Jackson were back then.If nobody cares about the genre (Sigh) then how will we have largely successful and acclaimed r’n’b male singers again???
Finally, IMO, Usher, the Young Money Movement and some supposed-to-be-rappers, like Pitbull, T-Pain (especially) and Flo Rida have really put the last nail in the coffin for me.YM use pop/fake-electro beats for their songs, yet urban radio is going hard for them.Usher sold out, so Urban radio and BET shouldn’t have supported him.However, OMG slayed the urban charts and was overplayed on TV.Why???And all those rappers used autotune and had no rapping skills, but they became huge in the urban fairfront, which is simply a disgrace.How can authentic r’n’b male artists catch a break in a radio format which is dominated by the aforementioned???
@pop royalty (I’m a rude Boy)
MY OPINION : R&b male singers gone pop already and there’s still a couple of them who still true to themselves and didn’t gone that way ! trey songz is still R&B and no one care about him “other example is Maxwell ” !! they care about chris brown and usher because they gone POP ” i love them but that’s the truth” ! they really need to go back to do real R&B songs especially USHER cuz he’s my fav R&B male artist “mostly because he’s the male beyonce for me ” !!! NE-yo is cool too ! but when i see him in interviews or opening his mouth he always say s*** and diss others ! but he’s still talented just like them !
USHER is my main fav male R&B artist !
—————————————————–
PREACH!
Usher is my fav RnB artist to
@ YEABEY
Okay, so I believe you! Are you a singer too? Give me some vocal lessons! Lmao.
usher was my favorite r&b artist. I always liked chris cause he has always been himself. He did pop and r&b from the get go. But usher was doing r&b forever and he cause mass hits on the hot 100 that even caused his white counterparts to start doing r&b ex: justin timberlake.
Remember my way, 8701, Confessions, here i stand ( it was promoted well cause of his drama).But when usher sold out and did the pop s*** he broke my heart to pieces cause I hated that omg for the longest time. I just hated usher doing pop. He was the one to hold r&b up cause he shines but he too busy following trends and promoting bieber. That’s why sticking with chris cause he never said he was the king of r&b like usher … he stay doing what he loves and doesnt jump on bandwagons. Chris said his music will always be diverse and if you dont like it oh well. I like ppl that are real.
@ROSARUBBEL
Lol I sing But I dont take it seriously….lol
I don’t know exactly how to give vocal lessons but i do have knowledge on it
If you were serious about the vocal lessons then check out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EricArceneaux
HE REALLY HELPS….and I’m sure you will benefit from what he is teaching just like I have…he gives vocal training without the expenses…lol
i also agree with @asap
cause omg was all over the urban radios. Which shocked the hell out of me cause they never play no techo s***. I have never heard yeah 3x or beautiful people or forever or with you on an urban channel. But usher was an exception because??? See when usher got away with everyone was thinking it was okay to sell out. Then usher said something about what is going on in R&B on twitter and his ass got dragged cause he sold out. You can’t be the leader in the pack for like 10year + and then sell out ask why are we hearing wack ass r&b music that just talks about s** all the time .
do not blame usher ! i think the whole music turned pop because of LADY GAGA infectious pos songs produced MAINLY by RED ONE ! i love gaga but she dominated the radio and other artists went to “RED ONE” and had their success with pop songs made by “red one” since then ! she influenced every artist since 2008 ! everyone got fierce and has an “alter ego” even Usher !
ask rihanna , usher , chris brown , beyonce ” yes her 2008 IASF was her pop album ” , etc… !
but beyonce is the only one of them who’s back from the pop pathway with “4” ! we still wait for usher to do it ! but i think after he said “revolutionary pop ” ! i think he will go pop with RED ONE AND DAVID GUETTA 😉 !!!!
GAGA AND RED ONE TURNED EVERYTHING INTO POP ! TALK ABOUT A POP REVOLUTION ! and now in order to make a successful song “go to red one ” ask enrique , usher , J.lo , nicole scherzinger , etc……….. !
we need a R&B revolutionary artist a la LADY GAGA !
@ POP ROYALTY B**** SHUT UP LADY GAGA IS THE BEST !!!!!!!
THE ONLY THING THAT BORES ME ABOUT THAT GRAPEJUICE IS THAT THEY LIKE TO MAKE AS IF THEY HAVE GREAT INSIGHT TO THE SUBJECT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT YET THEY NO LITTLE! thez a great deal of many male heavy hitters of rnb that they left out of the article whez robin thicke? whez pleasure p? whez dwele? whez daengelo? the least is endless!! honestly this site is more pop than rnb, it doesnt have the credebility noh the indepth to write such a article. RNB IS NOT DEAD AND NEVER WILL BE!! its just less mainsteam than it was! and its still selling it sold a whooping 30 million albums last year in the usa alone!!
@JAMIR21
You’re a twirling gay boy, so of course your fruity ass likes Gaga.
@ JDGAF B**** SHUT UP YOURE MISERABLE OLD H** !!!!!!
@ JDGAF AND GAGA HAS STRAIGHT FANS YOU KNOW DUMMY !!!!!!
@WORD No shade to the artists you mentioned, but they are by no means heavy-hitters.Especially Dwele is far from being a heavy-hitter.
legendary
yeah chris brown dominates
yeah we all know chris brown is not just rnb he mixes alot his first song run it wasnt even rnb
chris brown like to drop a rnb single then pop or pop then rnb F.A.M.E. for ex
yeah3x -pop
look at me now -urban
beautiful people-pop- even tho it wasnt released in the u.s.
she aint you -urban
next 2 u -pop
@JAMIR21
Even if Gaga did have straight fans, you aren’t one of them glitter queen! LOL
You’re a homosexual; admit it.
The need for the R&B male is still there I think that Usher needs to go back to his roots and give his true fans what they want which is pure R&B. R. Kelly is still doing R&B and that’s why is his the best at what he does. The rest don’t even matter especially Trey Songz, whos voice I can’t stand it is nice to hear him on an album but live OMG! Thank God for studios and the techonology that enhances vocals and notes.
@Sam,
The realy question is why have e allowed the corporate owned music industry to get away with dictating to the masses what type of music is on top and which ones should be discarded! When there were multiple media outlets you could hear a variety of artists. Without competition all we seem to hear are the handful of R&B artists they allow to shine. The corporte owners have seperated R&B into many tiny categories some receiving all shine while others are considered outdated. How in the world could soul music/soul artists be outdated?
Well, actually Usher’s album had pop songs, but it was an R&B album with mostly R&B SONGS. There were only about 4 pop songs on the album.
Ne-Yo is best when doing r&b, but his voice also does fit electro pop very well. I like how he can mix the two.
Chris Brown’s voice on pop songs sound horrible (see: Beautiful People). He needs to just stick to R&B, becuase CH… THAT S*** IS WACK!
Trey Songz would be good, if he didn’t try going out of his range all the damn time. Trey Songz sounds wonderful when he stays in his comfort zone, only when he starts goign out it is when he sounds like a suffocating goat.
____
Now about this whole resurrecting r&B.. I think Beyonce is trying to do so with her latest effort 4.
@jamir21 : “i’m gonna respond because i like lady gaga ”
i didn’t say i hate lady gaga ! i said i want a revolutionary artist like her in the R&B mucic scene ! an artist that will bring Real R&B again the same way she made everything sound pop !
an R&B artist who’s ready to take the real R&B to a whole another level and put it back again in it’s place before it’s too late ! love or hate lady gaga ! she really did make an impact on the music scene in the last 3 years ! i will give her that ! she’s influential !
u clearly didn’t read my comment ! so plz read comments before you reply to anyone !
i like gaga and i am straight ! but most of her fans are gays ! so it’s a fact !
JDGAF…
That is a stereotype my friend.not all Gaga fans are gay.(that’s like saying “you are black,so you HAVE to love fried chicken!”)
Then again MOST of the stars on here have gay stans
Let me add, R&B has influenced all genres of music. Because an artist experiments with different sounds and collaborates with different artists does not mean they are not staying true to their R&B roots. If you can expand your brand I say do it. I see nothing wrong with a person doing strictly R&B or including outside interests. Again the real problem is the corporate owned music industry which is only about dollars and cents nothing more! It is this body that dictates what the masses will hear!
@The Perrylicious is taking over… ( A living legend on TGJ )
July 27, 2011 at 11:06 am
What a FLOP post!
*************************
Damn B*TCH can you cultivate a new word?
Trey is a beautiful singer when he is not trying to do the most. When he is in his comfort zone there isn’t a problem. He tried to get fancy and then he FAILS
He undoubtedly is one R&B artist that stays true to R&B. He has not released a single that could be considered pop like Ne-Yo, Usher, and Chris. He might not be platinum but he has sold well to be an urban act. Not many Urban acts can go past Gold and his last 2 CD’s are pushing over 800k.
Whether he is a fad or not I’m not sure, but he will be here until someone snatches his fade and that doesn’t seem to be soon. Even when Chris and Usher came back that did not affect Trey Songz
@dee lol trey songz is not mainstream chris and usher is
@dee :
what about “bottoms UP’ with Nicki minaj 😉 ?! they all did pop ! but he stay true to his R&B roots though ! but he released a single that was “pop” ! he tried it !
if you look at music over the past 100 years you will see that rock dominated the eary 1900s to around the 1970s, then r&b started to become dominate and took over until around 2005, and then pop took over from there. music is always like a trend, the first trend was rock, the next was r&b and now the trend is pop. but there are still people like michael jackson who managed to be extremely successful even though they were pop artist, but like michael jackson they also made r&b music. every genre has its time and now it is pop musics time, it will change over the years and who knows which genre will dominate in 10 or 20 years.
Interesting post, I have to say usher was deffo the head of the whole rnb male thing and when OMG came out, I didn’t like at first but it grew on me. Pop, it is still a catchy song. But in all his last two albums were nothing compared to you remind me, yeah, you got it bad and so many more…. Trey songs has a good voice but he isn’t creative enough, ready album was good and last time and can’t help but wait were good songs but his not consistent with his stuff. it’s great that he has stayed with rnb good for him.
Ne-yo is a dissapointment, a great example of why rnb is the way it is….tried to go into pop, album flops hard….But he is a great song-writter so sick, closer, miss independent and year of a gentle men was amazing. He was on top with that whole gentle men thing but now look. He went pop and failed. Chris brown his first three albums were amazing but yeah x3 sucked, i tried but it sucked, she ain’t you….was not great…next to you….even justin couldn’t save it….He needs to forget this hip hop stuff, go back to what made him big….deuces was probably the last song I liked by him. As for lloyd and migual, if thats all we have then rnb will be dead….they are lame and boring. I thought lloyd could make it with you but now he seems crazy.
Rnb lovers lets pray that there is someone with real talent to save this cos is not looking good for the males.
R&B artists such as Chris and Usher need to stay R&B. Usher went pop just to do hits, but I don’t think he was truely doing what he loved which is R&B. I think if people stopped worrying about just getting hits, R&B could have a comeback.
Ch..everytime chris makes an R&B track people eat it like cake, he’s keeping it alive, he makes a lot of R&B records, but they are just not on the radio a lot.
Trey is doing fine too, his records are good
usher needs to come back with that s*** now because his pop records are boring
I have not listened to mainstream R & B in years because it’s garbage. The fact of the matter is the great male R & B singers and music are underground, where I have been having a field day. I’m following @ Mely B on this one:
Rahsaan Patterson- Bleuphoria (2011)- stunning.
Bilal- Airtight’s Revenge (2010)- brilliant.
Kem- Intimacy: Album III (2010)- fantastic.
Jesse Boykins III- The Beauty Created (2008)- wonderful. New free mix tape- brilliant.
Eric Roberson: Left (2007) Music Fan First (2009)
The most interesting mainstream male R & B artist is Maxwell, and that has been the case for years. He and D’Angelo took mainstream R & B, artistically, to new heights.
New school who are very interesting: Miguel, Frank Ocean, Spree Wilson, and Marques Toliver
I have not been deprived at all. Male R & B music has been wonderful in the underground. This music will not be mainstream because, I hate to sound mean but it’s true, the music is too sophisticated- period.
It’s all about progressive soul music. The rest…………
To me Trey is good but he doesn’t have IT. He sings about the same things. And although he has never made a pop song all his hits are about s** or if not about s** it’s about drinking or something with a ft artist(see Say Ahh and Bottoms Up). That’s why he can’t keep R&B alive.
Usher can but Usher’s problem is he has always been R&B then he decided to make pop music. He needs to stop that.
Chris was never really just R&B. I mean his first album kinda was but after that he was startting to do pop and that’s before other male R&B artist did. Usher and Chris both do great R&B stuff and even Trey. Ne-yo to me will never be apart of keeping R&B alive he isn’t that good anymore. Chris needs to hang up the auto-tune and his next album should be mostly R&B if not all. She Ain’t You is R&B and does good on Pop radio so you don’t really need a pop song for it to be great or crossover. I think R&B can be kept alive it’s just everyone wants to experiment and try new things with this pop era going on and that would need to stop first.
i love trey <3 he'sthe best f*** haters
ilovetrey songz ♥ he’s so beautifull – The King Of R&B :* if you don’t like him don’t comment! & TO ALL THE HATERS YOU GUYS ARE JUST JEALOUS F*** YOUU !
i personaly think that people want the dance song that’s why RnB can’t be kept alive chris usher neyo trey can keep it alive but how many albums would they sale if they do only RnB album ?how many of their songs would be in the top 100? almost all the songs on top 100 are pop and the most downloaded songs are pop and hiphop look at chris’ look at me now” with 3MIL digital sold and ”yeah3*” that’s why i think the problem is the fans and may be the s** lyrics although hiphop lyrics are also poor lyrics
Stop trying to front. We all know that any guy who claims to be a Lady Gaga fan is not straight. Straight guys are not into that queeny crap. Gaga is exclusively for gays and girls.
The KING of R&B R. Kelly is the only one that truly matters. These half ass gimmicks that mimic the King of R&B R. Kelly and the King of POP Michael Jackson are S***** and UNTALENTED!
Where the hell is Ginuwine?! Thats who i like! And Maxwell Jaheim Musiq Soulchild!!! Usher was good back then! I believe Chris Brown has promise but Trey Songz is just a pretty boy who sings about women and s** all day!! :/
R&B is alive and Miguel is proof. The video “Quickie” says it all 😉 http://vevo.ly/pFNfks