If you're not following the pattern, that's me doing a passage from the oldies to stream music or 10 to next decade. Starting with the 50s and acts like Ray Charles and the Coasters, you'll find good music in every decade up until the current one we just entered. And no matter how ridiculous or corny the songs may seem now, I can get the wizard in a book like "I got a woman" or "Ain't no Mountain High enough." Then I halt and inquire "Where did it all go wrong for R&B"I was watching VH1 Soul the early and they had an hour where they showed nothing but old school R&B songs, ranging from the 70s through the 90s. I literally was having nostalgia moments remembering when I used to give "Quiet Storm" tapes (yes playas tapes! off the local radio's after hour mixes and try to entice some love to be mine. Or when I used to get nervous as I was slow dance to a dope R Kelly song with a daughter and hoping not to heap up. But one thing I noticed around the songs were how subtle they were in their approaches to extremity of the contrary sex. I'm not naive enough to remember that bluntness in songs didn't exist. Adina Howard, Jodeci, Millie Jackson, etc definitely had "Gimme some now" records but nonetheless it was recorded in a way where you are like "yo this is my shit!"I go backwards to subtle because it seems R&B has confused it way. I hear songs now on the wireless and the originality is just lacking. There are more folks trying to emulate the Adina Howard approach instead of the Anita Baker approach and it merely comes off wrong. No more "I wanna caress your body and can't wait until we are one" liners, it's now "Immma take yo pants off, girl ohh yooo booty's soft, I'm about to bump that coochie off" and I go wow, is there yet a place to the song. No mystery whatsoever. It's like the daughter that always showing her goodies off. Yea her body is dope but how many guys haven't tasted her goodies?? Give me the daughter that we acknowledge has a dope body but is classy enough to not read the full meal and instead let you judge what's underneath. I was talking with my boy about this recently and I was stressful to excuse to him that it's not that I don't like R&B because there acts out there now that I support (Janelle Monae, Ne-Yo come to mind) but it hardly seems there are more bad acts out there now than good versus the opposition effect no more than 10 years ago. And that's disheartening. My wife gives me grass for not giving today's R&B a try but I say why bother. I already know what the book is passing to be and reasoned like. Disposable, trendy, and not a timeless classic. I mean let ask you readers do you imagine someone like Beyonce's records are timeless or secure for the flow time point? And how do you slew her records against someone like a Aretha Franklin? Sade? Hell I'll use someone closer in age.Mary J Blige? Do you remember you will need to see her burst out "Single Ladies" in 25 days?? And that's what I'm getting at, it's frustrating.So what do you do? I proceed to keep the acts that I wish and yet the new ones that either I see by probability or someone sends me a stick to hear to. But I am not an active R&B supporter anymore. Not with what's out there in today's market. You can make whatever they claim that R&B. As you pop champagnes and dancing to "LOL", I'll be poppin' in Debarge's greatest hits going "Damn that El cranked out some jams." And if you want further proof, ask yourself if you suppose your favorite rapper is leaving to taste a current R&B song. Makes you go damn don't it!Today's LessonI don't hate today's R&B readers, I only pity the fool! Call me old, call me bitter, or phone me what the new people say a "hater" but afterwards you finish calling me names, take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself, will I be listening to this in 5 days? 10 years? 20 years? And if you are struggling with that question, that should already answer my head of is this commodity or bad r&b.MESSAGE!
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