Rhythm & Pop - Where's Our Real R&B Music?

As Usher and Chris Brown prepare to release new albums in the coming weeks, and Ne-Yo and Trey Songz slated for new releases later this year, R&B fans should be ecstatic. Yet, given the new push for pop music, as fans, we can’t be really sure what our favorite artists will give us.

I come from the 90s era, a time when my peers and I agree that music overall was pretty great. Both hip-hop and R&B were churning out hits, some made you think and some made you dance, but at the heart of it was great music. The music in the 90s, especially R&B, allowed you to feel a range of emotions, and I for one, love that.

In fact, I can easily list off several R&B acts from the 90s just to give an idea of the caliber of talent and great songs R&B fans had to enjoy. Jodeci, Boyz II Men, Silk, Jade, SWV, TLC, Johnny Gill, Bell Biv Devoe, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Usher, Brandy, Monica, Aaliyah, R. Kelly, this is the first moment I actually had to stop to think of more. You could count on these artists and plenty more to deliver the best love songs encompassing heartache, blissful love, and everything in between.

Sadly, today, I feel like I can’t count on Usher and the rest to deliver the types of songs we are missing in our musical lives. For every great song (“Climax”) there’s some pop song being thrust at us (“Scream”), both are new songs on Usher’s new Looking 4 Myselfalbum. And while these pop songs aren’t bad (they kind of grow on you after a while), it’s just not what I want from U-S-H-E-R-R-A-Y-M-O-N-D.

I was so hopeful when I first heard “Climax”, I felt like Usher had dabbled in pop on the last album and moved back to what we love best. However, upon giving his new album a listen, I discovered more pop songs that I anticipated. And Chris Brown is seemingly on the same path. F.A.M.E. was half pop, half R&B, and it would appear he’s headed in the same direction with Fortune.

In fact, some of the better R&B songs Chris Brown makes end up as unreleased singles not found on his pop heavy albums. Often times these songs are offered to fans through a mixtape release or just leaked. Artists also love to offer “deluxe” versions of their albums, which will include songs that didn’t make the regular version. Usher’s deluxe album includes three more R&B songs. It’s almost as they are recording these tracks as an afterthought, realizing that their real fans may like these songs. As if these fans will go the extra mile just to get the music they want, and it probably works.

Overall, the industry seems to be on a pop/dance movement.  And I can’t totally begrudge an artist for capitalizing on this phenomenon; considering that those who stick to the standard R&B formula tend to fly under the radar. And if I’m completely honest with you, the Looking 4 Myself album is pretty good, and there are some GREAT R&B tracks on it. My personal favorites are “Lessons For The Lover” and “What Happened To U”.

Time will tell if artists like Usher and Chris Brown continue with the current Rhythm & Pop albums they’ve released. In a way, this adoption of pop within the R&B format is weakening the genre. I would love to see Usher get back to his Confessions days, that album went diamond without the sprinkling of random pop records. At least we still have Trey Songz…YUUUPP!

Rabid Fan Groups vs. Everyone Else

Not everyone gets along with each other, and really, there’s nothing wrong with that. The world would be a lot less interesting if everyone was best friends with each other. If there were never any conflicting opinions and viewpoints, we might not experience new things. And perhaps, that is no more evident than in the world of celebrity.

It seems like a new celeb beef rears its ugly, yet entertaining head everyday. There are so many it’s hard to keep up at times. Pusha T vs. Lil Wayne, Lupe vs. Pete Rock, Chris Brown vs. Meek Mill, and then there’s Team Breezy vs. anyone talking negatively about Chris Brown. Yeah, celebrity fan groups are now instigating celeb beefs, a trend that is all too familiar these days.

Chris Brown was a performer at the recent Billboard Music Awards show and many people commented on his choice to lip-synch, tweeting their critiques. Immediately Team Breezy ganged up on Chris’ detractors, spewing unwarranted hatred to one person in particular Chrissy Teigen, fiancé of John Legend.

Despite their best disrespectful efforts, Chrissy held her own. Yet, being the stand up guy he is, John Legend stood up for her as well. Chris even encouraged his fans stop sending out death threats, however that tweet has since disappeared from his timeline.

Stans (stalker fans) have become quite the phenomenon in celebrity culture. They blindly defend their favorite celeb from any type of negative comments, ganging up on whoever disagrees with them. And like any gang, the various Stan groups have names, like Beyhive (Beyoncé), Beliebers (Justin Bieber) or the Rihanna Navy.

But, the issue with aggressive fan groups going after people, be they celebrities or not, for simply stating a differing opinion is a problem. Both Roseanne Barr and Kelly Osborne were targeted for commenting about Beyoncé, and there are plenty more examples like that.

In fact, just over the holiday weekend, The Beyhive went after Dream Hampton’s daughter, who attended the comeback concert at Revel with her mother. Somehow a picture of Hampton’s daughter with Beyoncé surfaced and the Beyhive started in on her daughter, calling her ugly and wishing she was not in the picture at all.

No one is safe from Stans, not even people’s children. And what is worse is that the behavior of Stans brings negative attention to the celebrity they claim to love.

It’s quite telling and sad that people (Stans) choose to put so much negative effort into defending someone they don’t actually know. Stans should take a step back and let their fave celebs handle their own drama. That way we can just enjoy celebs beefing with each other, which is always more entertaining anyway! I mean who didn’t get some sort of entertainment value out of that whole Common vs. Drake fiasco?!!