"R'n'B" recommendations PLEASE!?

unknown soulja

Wild Horses
does anyone else really like that willow smith tune?

Absolute banger, she's incredible as well, she performs it live here and its mad to remember how young she is:
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BareBones

wheezy
nice one ory, post it up when it's done so we can hear :)

totally agree unknown soulja, it's mental. i don't know why there's loads of controversy about the video being "too sexy" though. she's just dancing with some attitude, it's not as if it's the ciara 'ride it' video or anything. anyone who even gets a hint of a sexy thought at the willow smith vid is proper weird.

edit: i googled around but couldn't find any real controversy about the video, so my friend that told me about it either made it up or was having sexy thoughts about it himself, i will have words
 
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unknown soulja

Wild Horses
edit: i googled around but couldn't find any real controversy about the video, so my friend that told me about it either made it up or was having sexy thoughts about it himself, i will have words

No I hear you man, was discussing it with my colleagues yesterday and they all said they thought it was inappropriate for someone so young be doing 'that stuff'; i agree wit you tho, the lyrics and video are totally unsexual, yeah she's wearing make up but mostly she just looks like a kid enjoying performing.

Still cant get over how mature her voice is.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
I have to say, whereas every critic must see Ciara's work as like the album cover, I always think of her like that dude's drawing.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Well, the early stuff she was on some Southern Aaliyah tip right? Then Cassie came out and even though girl is AWOL, she managed to get that "The New Baby Girl" hype down pat. A lot of Ciara's records just don't really... work for me. I've always thought she looked awkward trying to be hypersexy... And I just don't feel a lot of what's written for her. Way too many beats overpowering kinda flimsy performances.

I actually have the same complain about Cassie's "Official Girl". Ryan Leslie was writing her minimal classics. Then next thing you know, all her new Puffy approved squad has her trying to cram all these strange phrases into these beats, rushing around. "Official Girl" sticks out to mind in specific.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
This is a very weird thing to say, but...

Is it R&B? Call me crazy, but it's obviously very 'thought-out', purposefully arty...

Does anyone get where I'm going with that trail of thought?
 

stephenk

Well-known member
wow...totally pressing all the right buttons. love it.

i guess i feel you on the "is it r&b" - it's very zeitgeisty and on the edge of witch house...but i don't know how else you could categorize it really. i do see a clear divide between it and legitimately hood r&b and then the preexisting "arty" r&b like janelle monae or whoever. maybe it has something to do with being canadian.
 

stephenk

Well-known member
oh man, and the one with the beach house sample...goddddd. when is the album/mixtape/whatever coming out? i'm such a sucker for this stuff.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
See though, I don't think Janelle Monae is R&B whatsoever. It's basically a musical sold without the musical stage-show. There's little to do with funk and soul and R&B other than a "Now this is our Soul Ballad number" feel. Not unlike her fake Hendrix looking 'funky' guitar player she always features on records and in videos. (And not unlike Cee-Lo's recent solo album, which was astonishingly trite.) There's actually very little "arty" about it either, beyond the concept. But by the same right, Outkast had already kinda capitalized on afro-futurism a bit, no?
 

stephenk

Well-known member
oh yeah i agree, janelle monae and that...scene, if it can be called that (solange knowles, of montreal, latter-day cee-lo) is far more artifice than actual "art"...and i haven't really listened to that much of it, but it does seem to be a limp rehash of ideas outkast had first. and like latter-day outkast it's marketed to the indie rock audience as "palatable" hip-hop or r&b it's okay to like. but then yeah, there isn't much hip-hop or r&b in it anyway.

the weeknd is maybe a similar crossover, but it sounds like a legitimate midpoint between the indie-ish witch house stuff like how to dress well and actual r&b - it's only the production that's warped and arty, the lyrics seem pretty standard fare. i guess that combination ends up circling around to full on artiness, but i'm not really mad at it.
 

robin

Well-known member
i didn't go back and check if this has been posted in the thread or not,but i ended up being reminded of it while this thread was open in another tab and figured there might have been some people who missed it so i thought i'd post it.

 
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