Y'all Remember When R&B Videos Used to Tell Stories?

[bourgeoisie tall freak]

Chris Brown is still very creative with his music videos.

sza is another one (pretty much tde's MO).

 

[Hathaway]

@Hathaway who would you say are the top 100 r and b artists of all time and/or top 100 r and b songs of all time??

Would be difficult to list 100 but I can give you my personal 10 fav R&B artist just based off of ingenuity, sound and artistic ability. In no particular order :

D'Angelo
MJ
Luther
Stevie Wonder
Donny Hathaway
Marvin Gaye
Whitney
Usher
Jill Scott
Anita Baker

And obviously I know alot of these artist were more than just R&B singers as they conquered many genres but they all started in R&B

 

[Hathaway]

sza is another one (pretty much tde's MO).

I've tried so hard but I could never get into SZAs music. Me and my wife sat and listened to her new album track by track and after like track 7, my wife was like "maybe we're just getting old but all her songs sound the same".

Her music is stale to me. But I'm glad to see a black woman topping the charts and reaching financial success. She's just another variation of Summer Walker to me.

 

[bourgeoisie tall freak]

"maybe we're just getting old but all her songs sound the same".

Her music is stale to me. But I'm glad to see a black woman topping the charts and reaching financial success. She's just another variation of Summer Walker to me.

literally never heard that. she has pop-punk influenced songs on the same album she has alt based songs on the same album she has babyface produced songs. i'm pretty sure in the album thread other posters with wack ears where complaining about it being "all over the place" or something to that extent. what song have you heard that sounds like the one i posted? not even between sza but from anybody in the genre? LOL

yeah yall ears def getting old AF. respectfully
maybe you should have kept going with the album, i mean it was about 20 songs long and the order was basically linearly structured to flow by vibe/genre. you can't just play 1/3 and think you know what it is.

 

[Heafcliffe]

Video was when I knew Beyonce was a problem.

Breh, took me back with this one. Was breaking up with my HS sweetheart when this shyt was out.

 

[Paper Boi]

restore the feeling @Hathaway

 

[TEH]

Ain’t nobody trying to relive heartbreak

Yeah they overdid it for decades

A backlash was bound to happen

 

[Hathaway]

literally never heard that. she has pop-punk influenced songs on the same album she has alt based songs on the same album she has babyface produced songs. i'm pretty sure in the album thread other posters with wack ears where complaining about it being "all over the place" or something to that extent. what song have you heard that sounds like the one i posted? not even between sza but from anybody in the genre? LOL

yeah yall ears def getting old AF. respectfully
maybe you should have kept going with the album, i mean it was about 20 songs long and the order was basically linearly structured to flow by vibe/genre. you can't just play 1/3 and think you know what it is.

What I mean by her music all sounding the same is there isn't much variance musically, vocally. She often just rap sings and her beats typically use the same types of instrumentation. Take songs like Used, Snooze(I like this song btw), Gone Girl, Ghost in the Machine, I Hate You, etc. She uses the same formula in the majority of her music: Rap singing word salads with no verbal melody, ambient distant drums and synths, heavy reverbed echoey vocals = a SZA track.

This is the sound of modern "R&B". This formula dominates:

Summer Walker: Lo-fi ambient instruments, heavy reverbed vocals, fast singing heavy worded verses, no melody/flow.


Chris Brown: Ambient instruments, fast singing heavy worded verses, no melody/flow


SZA: Ambient instrumentation, fast singing heavy worded verses, no melody/flow.


And don't get me wrong, there are songs from SZAs album that escape this formula like F2F even though this song is heavy worded and lacks melody to some extent too. I'm not hating I'm just not a fan of this formula. I prefer my R&B to be more like this:

Summer again: live band/instruments, sweet melody and flow to the song. Simple, well paced lyrics. Good hook.


Ari Lennox: Sensual and slow paced lyrics. Simple instrumentation carried by the bassline and padded with lush strings.


I prefer more authentic R&B.

 

[Coolin']

sza is another one (pretty much tde's MO).

This video would've been dope had it had its own concept. I get why, but the video was such a downgrade to the song and production.

 

[Buckeye Fever]

Saddest teen throb video ever, especially cuz the song is actually for his mom

Was coming in here to post this.

Still a jam today

 

[bourgeoisie tall freak]

This video would've been dope had it had its own concept. I get why, but the video was such a downgrade to the song and production.

no idea is original my boy

this whole thread is premised on videos that tell the same story we done heard 50-11 times.

 

[Ol’Otis]

Ain’t nobody trying to relive heartbreak

That’s where people fukked up
people keep thinking r&b is about love songs and heartbreak
Curtis Mayfield made a whole album about the drug trade
M.Gaye and What’s Goin On
Sam Cooke got a song about being locked up

 

[Ol’Otis]

Flying high in the friendly sky….without ever leaving the ground

 

[Hathaway]

That’s where people fukked up
people keep thinking r&b is about love songs and heartbreak
Curtis Mayfield made a whole album about the drug trade
M.Gaye and What’s Goin On
Sam Cooke got a song about being locked up

Right, nikkas forget about the B in R&B, blues. Blues incorporates more than just heartbreak.

 

[Bboystyle]

@Hathaway who would you say are the top 100 r and b artists of all time and/or top 100 r and b songs of all time??

This mutahfukka really expecting someone to drop their own top 100 list