Click "Read More" For The Rest
Thursday, December 31, 2009
YouKnowIGotSoul Top 25 R&B Songs of 2009
Here are my top 25 favorite songs from 2009. Obviously this is just my opinion, and I expect other people's opinion to be very different from mine. Would love to hear comments and what your favorite songs are from 2009! Counting down from #25.....
#25
Amerie "The Flowers"
#24
Brian McKnight "While"
Click "Read More" For The Rest
#23
Case "Let Me Down Easy"
#22
Marques Houston - Beautiful Woman
#21
Joe "Miss My Baby"
#20
Chico DeBarge "Hey U"
#19
Ginuwine "Trouble"
#18
Donell Jones "Bad Boy"
#17
Teedra Moses "Everybody Rock"
#16
Kevon Edmonds "April's Fool"
#15
Ginuwine "One Time for Love"
#14
Amerie "Red Eye"
#13
Joe "Worst Case Scenario"
#12
Pleasure P "Fire Lovin"
#11
Tank "Wanted"
#10
Brian McKnight "What I've Been Waiting 4"
#9
Static Major - Illusion
#8
Chico DeBarge "Oh No"
#7
Kevon Edmonds "Oh"
#6
Marques Houston "Case of You"
#5
Donell Jones "Superman"
#4
Case "Lovely"
#3
Robin Thicke "2 Luv Birds"
#2
Alicia Keys "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart"
#1
Ginuwine "Last Chance"
Click "Read More" For The Rest
Lost Soul: Aaliyah "Loose Rap" featuring Static Major
Continuing my celebration of Aaliyah on the day I named her r&b artist of the decade, here is one of my favorites from her 2001 "Aaliyah" album. The song was written by and features Static Major who had a big part in writing many of her biggest hits, but unfortunately also passed away way too soon. The thing that gets me about a song like this and Aaliyah in general was her style was like nobody else at the time. She had already begun testing out new sounds and mixing in different genres of music; something that few other r&b artists had explored prior to that.
Rare R&B: Aaliyah "Where Could He Be" featuring Missy Elliot & Tweet
I remember listening to Hot97 out of New York on Aaliyah's birthday back in 2002 where they were doing a celebration of her life and Missy was there talking about an unreleased track they had recorded where Aaliyah was singing "All Around the World." I never heard anything else about the track for years, but in 2005 the song finally leaked. What's crazy is, the song actually made it to radio and almost charted on Billboard before being pulled for legal reasons. For now, the song remains unreleased but I still hold out hope they have something planned to celebrate the ten year anniversary of her death in 2011.
YouKnowIGotSoul R&B Artist of the Decade: Aaliyah
Although this may be a controversial decision, I can't help but show love to "Babygirl" who in my mind would have made this an easy decision had she not passed away in 2001. Even in those two years, she still has enough hit songs to stand up to almost any artist who has been active over the past ten. Don't Believe Me? Check out the hits I listed below. There is no denying her talents as she had already achieved the level of superstar before her untimely passing. In fact, like Mary J is the Queen of Hip Hop Soul, Aaliyah was the Queen of R&B in the time she was with us. For this, I pay tribute to this legend of r&b. Click "Read More" to see videos of all of her hits in the past decade.
Hits in this Decade: Try Again, Come Back in One Piece, We Need a Resolution, Rock the Boat, More Than a Woman, I Care 4 U, Miss You, Come Over
Runners Up: Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Usher
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Lost Soul: Avant "Everything About You"
When you got a beautiful woman by your side who loves you, this is the type of song you dedicate to her. This could have been a good follow up single to "Read Your Mind" off of his 2003 "Private Room" album, but instead Avant chose "Don't Take Your Love Away."
Lost Soul: Jon B. "Bonafide"
I know not many will agree with me, but this many be my favorite song from Jon B's debut "Bonafide" from 1995. The song is a bit unique, and in fact he doesn't even do much to showcase his great voice. I think the thing that gets me about the song is it is so smooth and mellow and you can tell Jon had fun with it. Perhaps this is what fellow blue eyed soul singer Robin Thicke was going for on his latest album?
New Site Feature: Lost Soul
I just wanted to introduce a new feature I'm going to be adding to the site called "Lost Soul." These are songs I'm going to highlight which are from albums that have released over the years but were not released as a single. Me personally, there are tons of songs I like that fall into this category but for whatever reason they were never chosen as a single by the artist.
Classic Song of the Day: Michael Jackson "Gone Too Soon" (1993)
This touching song by The King was recorded as a tribute song to a teenager who was expelled from high school for having AIDS and eventually died from the disease. Songs like this which brought national attention to world issues were another reason why Michael will always be considered the greatest. Dedicated to Destiny.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Rare R&B: Latrelle "Dirty Girl" & "House Party"
Here are two songs from Latrelle, a singer who had previously been signed to L.A. Reid's Arista label followed by Babyface's Nu America label. A series of label mergers and internal politics however left her without a home and without an official release to her debut album "Dirty Girl, Wrong Girl, Bad Girl." Both of these tracks were produced by the Neptunes, who produced a total of six tracks on the album. I've had a chance to hear the whole thing, and it definitely has some songs that I still listen to today.
New R&B: Alicia Keys "Heaven's Door"
Japanese Bonus Track from her "The Element of Freedom" album which is in stores now. I've actually found myself liking the bonus tracks better than the album tracks, which is never a good thing.
New R&B: Ne-Yo "Fix Me"
Another female demo song. At this rate, he's going to have a song written for every female r&b artist out there!
Classic Song of the Day: SWV "Right Here/Human Nature" (1993)
I guess you could say I'm partial to this song because of the sample of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature," one of my favorite songs of all time. What's often overlooked about this song is a very young Pharrell Williams chants "S Double U V" at one point during the track; as a member of the Neptunes he produced two songs on their "The New Beginning" album. "Right Here/Human Nature" was a #1 single and one of the biggest hits for the group. They are currently back together but have yet to release an album since the late 90's. Shouts to Marlene for today's selection.
Monday, December 28, 2009
My Top 5 R&B Albums of 2009
This is in no particular order, it was too hard for me to choose a number 1.
Ginuwine "A Man's Thoughts"
Click Here to Read My Review
Chico DeBarge "Addiction"
Click Here to Read My Review
Kevon Edmonds "Who Knew"
Click Here to Read My Review
Case "The Rose Experience"
Click Here to Read My Review
Brian McKnight "Evolution of a Man"
Click Here to Read My Review
It was not easy making these choices, and I'm sure these might be a bit controversial, but in the end, I felt these were the strongest albums beginning to end. I was actually shocked that in a year when we had major artists like Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Maxwell, R. Kelly and even Joe release an album, I didn't include any of them. This wasn't done just to be different, these were just the albums I liked the best. Feel free to leave your comments, but remember, this is my OPINION, so no hate.
It was not easy making these choices, and I'm sure these might be a bit controversial, but in the end, I felt these were the strongest albums beginning to end. I was actually shocked that in a year when we had major artists like Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Maxwell, R. Kelly and even Joe release an album, I didn't include any of them. This wasn't done just to be different, these were just the albums I liked the best. Feel free to leave your comments, but remember, this is my OPINION, so no hate.
Rare R&B: Tha Rayne "Kiss Me" featuring Lupe Fiasco
Tha Rayne was a girl group founded by Kay Gee of Naughty by Nature who had intentions of creating the r&b version of Salt N Pepa. You might remember them from appearing on Jaheim's hit "Fabulous." Unfortunately, it never worked out for the group; their debut album "Reign Supreme" was shelved and they've never officially released an album. "Kiss Me" was a single released by the group in December of 2002 and features one of the first appearances of Lupe Fiasco.
Rare R&B: Tamia "Officially Missing You" Remix featuring Talib Kweli
I'm a big fan of this remix which was done very well by Midi Mafia. Maybe it's because they used elements of a subway which I found to be very creative. This was originally intended to released in 2003 on Tamia's album "Still," but that album was changed to "More" and released in 2004 with a different track listing.
Rare R&B: Prince "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" Remix featuring Q-Tip
This is a Neptunes produced remix of the lead single from his 1999 album "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic." The original song was slated to be a comeback song for Prince, but only ended up being a minor success. This remix version of the song was only featured on a maxi-single.
Classic Song of the Day: Monica "Why I Love You So Much" (1996)
Fourth single released from her debut album "Miss Thang" and become her third consecutive top then hit. What's strange is, despite all of these singles, the album only peaked at #36 on the Billboard charts. Her upcoming sixth studio album "Still Standing" will be released in 2010. Shouts to Buddha for today's selection.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
New R&B: Tweet "Love Again"
Tweet's new album "Love, Tweet" will be in stores at some point during 2010.
Classic Song of the Day: Case "Happily Ever After" (1999)
Here's a song you could easily feature in your wedding; what young cats in r&b are even making songs like this today? And yes, that is Beyonce playing his fiance!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Classic Song of the Day: Mark Morrison "Return of the Mack" (1996)
So I got a recommendation that I should do a "Where Is" feature on him, anyone want to second that?? haha. He is pretty much what you would consider a one hit wonder, as this was his only charting single on the US Billboard Charts.
Friday, December 25, 2009
New Album: Static Major Christmas Mixtape
Me and my partners over at Static Major is Music put this together as a tribute to Static. It features unreleased songs and there are some really good ones on there. Be sure to download and leave some feedback!
Download Link
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Holiday Music: Joe "It Aint Christmas"
An original song from his album "Make Sure You're Home for Christmas" released earlier this year.
Holiday Music: Musiq Soulchild "Jingle Bells"
His rendition of the classic song from his "A Philly Soul Christmas" released in 2008.
Holiday Music: Jagged Edge "This Christmas"
Released on the "12 Soulful Nights of Christmas" album from 1998.
Holiday Music: Jon B. "Hold U Down"
Here's an original song from his 2006 album "Holiday Wishes From Me To You."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)