He may go by The Dream, yet many of his soundbites are often a nightmare for his publicist.

And while the hitmaker’s latest comments are sure to sit in that basket, we can’t but feel it opens the floor for an interesting debate.

See what we mean below…

Talking to The Guardian here in the UK, the ‘Single Ladies’ producer lamented on the lack of attention apportioned to Black acts who record R&B/Soul vs those of the caucasian persuassion.

Illustrating his point, he drew on the media fascination with Adele’s “Soul” output compared to that of a Beyonce.

He said:

“It’s called rhythm and blues; they just took the blues out of it for so long. What’s crazy is that blacks can’t do soul records any more. We love Adele singing it, but Beyoncé singing it? No.”

So just what does work for “Blacks” these days? “A club hit” says the singer-songwriter (real name Terius Nash).

“No, the tempo’s too slow, gimme the club hit. Now the Blacks in America are responsible for the Pop records, and everybody else is singing soulful records. It’s weird to me. We’re pigeonholed over there.”  {Source} {Source ii}

——————

For all the inevitable furore from some sects, there is undeniably a truthful irony in some of what he’s saying. It’s one thing to state that genres rotate in cycles. Yet, Soul-flavoured material has been a staple in the contemporary sphere for the last 7 years. However, it’s intriguing to note that it’s the Amy Winehouse‘s and Adele’s leading that charge, while acts more rooted in such arena’s have arguably fled (see: Usher). And when they “return”, ala Beyonce and ‘4’, are critiqued ten-fold.

Which begs the question: is this the by-product of progression in society or continued regression? Sound off below!

Your thoughts?