mAn0k Says
hey guys im trying to have a compilation of gud RNB duets..any suggestions whats gud?? i persnolally love
spend my life with you - eric bennet & tamia...
some of my favorites r
love saw it- babyface and karyn white
i love you- keith washington and chante moore
candlelight and u- keith washington and chante moore
aaron hall and coco- all the places i will kiss you
whitney houston and deborah cox- same script diff past
I saved the update for the week until today in order to bring it out with the new interview.
Today, the Case interview goes live! You can view it here:
http://www.rnbhaven.com/90s-music/feature/Case_Interview_Part_1/17
In the interview, Case looks back on his career, from its beginnings to today. Some interesting tidbits from it:
Case went to the same high school as Al B Sure
On working solo versus being in a group:
"For one of course, you don't have to deal with the different personalities. But the biggest thing is that when you're on stage or in the studio and something goes wrong, you messed up. You can't look over at the guy next to you and point the finger."
On autotune:
"I think that the way T-Pain uses it is dope. But the problem I have with it is just because T-Pain does it, doesn't mean that everybody else should go run around doing it. Because it's like everything starts to sound alike. You know, I think everybody should stay in their own lane."
This is just a few of the answers Case brings out in the interview.
To hear more about Case's work with Joe on Faded Pictures and with Ginuwine/R.L./Tyrese on Best Man, and more, check out the full interview!
In other news, Jesse Powell's You is the song of the week! Whether you're getting married or just hanging out, listen to it!
He's right on point about Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. These guys are legends. Either my first or second favorite RnB producers.
I know he said that the music genre goes in circles and therefore groups might become popular again but I doubt it. I think the whole "boy band" stigma pretty much eliminated the chance of groups getting popular again.
I cant believe he likes T-pain but I guess to each his own. I guess T-Pain can get it poppin in the clubs and stuff...
I'm glad that he's speaking out against auto-tune. Now if we can get someone really popular like Usher or Ne-Yo to speak out against it, we might make some progress in ridding music scene of that nonsense and close this "auto-tune chapter" of RnB history, never to be opened again. Too bad neither of them probably have the guts to do it.
Yea, I had never known that about him and Al B either. It's amazing to think they both went to the same high school, small world.
With respect to the group scene, I'm really of the mindset that the move away from musical education in public schools is causing this. I otherwise don't understand why today's youth won't form the groups the way they did before. And the worst part is, the future youth won't have the inspiration the way past generations did.
My take on the group situation and the general decline in the support/popularity of RnB is that people dont want to seem soft or admit that they like singing. Alot of people I've met associate singing(especially about love and such) with being soft. Seriously, all these kids want to be gangstas and thugs that they see on TV. After all, thugs get all the money/women/power/respect in the hood right? You cant be a thug while listening to some sappy love song by a RnB singer can you? You're not supposed to be in love. You're supposed to be "pimpin these hoes" and such filling your lungs with as much weed smoke as possible. As "gangsta rap" gets more and more popular, RnB "soft" image gets less and less desireable.
The end result is that nobody is singing(because they're trying to make it as rap stars) and RnB gets less popular. Back in the day, you used to be able to sing to a girl and she would melt in your arms. Nowadays she'll be like "well he's a nice guy but he's not my type". Then she's runs to the thug who beats her and cheats on her everyday. Then she has the nerve to complain that there are no good men around.
Hrm, it's an interesting argument. Is gangster rap as big still though? I feel like Gangster rap started to wane during the 90s during the 2Pac/Biggie beef. I'm thinking about it and today I think the only rap that's really gangster music anymore is with 50 Cent and Rick Ross.
However, I think a lot of rap has moved into the pop-rap styled joints.
I think you're onto something though with the softee idea. It's not cool to have a good voice and croon anymore.
Yeah gangsta rap is still big. I mean look at all the most popular rap stars right now. 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Jay-Z, T.I. etc. All of these guys rap about being gangstas, having guns, and selling/using drugs (well T.I. toned it down on his last album but thats only because he's going to jail).
Even some rappers that arent blatantly gangsta like Soulja Boy still try to have the ghetto/"hard" look about them.
I'd say gangsta rap is still big, too. and that's sad, cuz honestly I think rap could be a really powerful thing if they used it right. right now, I think it's the voice of our generation. anyone who has something to say anymore raps about it. unfortunately, the things they have to say aren't what the world needs to hear so it gets this negative stigma. but I think if there were more real rappers like Kweli and Common and people like that who were puting out positive messages or at least rapping about things that are actually going on instead of drugs and hoes and all this horrible stuff, rap could be a really influencial thing. people just aren't using it to its full potential.
as for the whole softy thing, unfortunately I agree. I wish it was cool for guys to sing. I think guys associate singing with being gay nowadays. it seems like all the gay guys I know like to sing and that's cool and all, but straight guys need to realize that being sensitive and singing and listening to love songs somewhere outside the bedroom sho ain't a bad thing!!!!!! lol.
as for the whole boy band thing ruining groups, and I'm sure I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this one but I think I'm prepared, lol. but I don't think it did. and I'm not just saying that cuz I'm still an Nsync fan and proudly admit it, lol. but have you really listened to them? I think now that I'm not a teenager anymore and my life's mission isn't to mary JC, I can look at it differently. before they started recording all the pop stuff that made them famous, they actually did some acapella stuff. they have a song on their "no strings attached" album called "I thought she knew." I'm not sure if it's a cover or not, but I'm thinking it is. it's all acappella and it's really beautiful. no, they're no boyz II men or anything, but they tried. they also have an acapella version of "oh holy night" on their Christmas album that's really great too. and they recorded "when you wish upon a star" the disney song, for some disney soundtrack once or something. but despite the cheesy song, it's a really great arangement and their harmonies are awesome. like I said, they're no matcy for boyz II men or any of the R&B groups and I think they know that. but they definitely did a decent job.
finally, auto tunes. I don't think Case is necessarilly speaking against it if he says he likes t-pain. t-pain is horrible in my opinion and shouldn't be here! I think we need someone who doesn't like t-pain and doesn't like anything about this autotunes mess to speak out about it.
Good job soulful and ou're absolutely right about boy bands. Backstreet boys actually worked with Babyface on their Black & Blue album and N'Sync had plenty of tracks wih R&B vibes.
The question is, if boy bands weren't what caused it, what caused this negative stigma towards singing?
I still think they killed the group scene. I'm not saying anything about N'Sync/BSB/98 Degrees talent wise because thats a whole different topic for a different day. What I"m saying is, these guys had tremendous success. Problem is, they were mainly appealing to kids and teenage girls. Most music critics and the media in general didnt take them seriously as artist. They were being dismissed as talentless pop teen sensations. As more of these groups started popping up, all of a sudden the term "boy band" appears and the media runs with it as a way to describe them. After a while, it became a negative stereotype to be associated with. The term still sticks today. I've seen Boyz II men, New Edition, Jodeci and countless others all referred to as boy bands by professional music critics(even though the term didnt appear until well after these groups debuted). Even Day26(the latest RnB group I can think of) have been referred to as a boy bands.
Oh yeah, another thing I forgot to mention about N'Sync/BSB/98 Degrees etc is that the media was giving them alot of attention for their good looks and personalities rather than their music. Just more ammo for music critics.
yeah, i think more attention should've been given to their music, cuz they can all definitely sing. I think their looks kinda made people take them not as seriously. I think I'm a different kind of fan, lol. even though when I was a teenager I spent lots of time swooning over them, I was always the one reminding other fans that it wasn't just about their looks.
I dunno what exactly it was that killed the group scene. I sure wish it would come back, though!!
