R&B/Soul Music

Today I feel like writing about the genre in general since I can't think of one artists particularly for some reason. The earliest of Soul singers that I can think of is Otis Redding who pretty much layed the foundation for the genre. In a world that was pretty much run by whites he found a way to spread his soulfull message of how he's hurting from this pain in the world. While this was happening Mo-Town was booming. With artist like Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder. It was something.

Then shortly after Ray Charles stepped in with his kind of Rock N Roll type and showed us that you didn't have to see to play piano... scratch that, you didn't have to see to play kick ass music. Ray dropped some good Rock songs like "I Got A Woman" and "Mess Around" but we showed us his true talent when he sang his ballad of the state that betrayed him in "Georgia On My Mind"

During Ray Charles reign names like Aretha Franklin and Tina & Ike Turner appeared on the scene. Particularly Ms. Franklin made a HUGE splash with her HUGE voice.

And now we move on to when the King of Pop Michael Jackson appeared in the 70's with some killer stuff at a young age of like 10. He stole America's heart so quickly we didn't notice that he grew up. Later in his career he made more Rock influenced and Pop stuff but every once in a while he would slip in a Soul song on an album just to go back to his roots. His most famous Soul song is probably his hit with his brothers The Jackson 5 with "I Want You Back"

Sly & The Family Stone are an unbelievably unappreciated group that made an impact on music immensly. Every member of that band could sing. Not just sing a simple melody... but a fucking harmony. They were boss especially with their amazing cover of "Que Sera Sera"

Marvin Gaye had probably the sexiest voice ever. EVER. "Lets Get It On" is the sex anthem forever and ever. That is probably the first song I listened to that made me aroused. Not kidding. He had such a smooth voice that everyone loved and people now still talk about his greatness. He kept you moving with "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and loving with "Distant Lover"

Now lets fast forward to my generation of R&B which mainly consist of mad man/mad talented R. Kelly and Usher. R. Kelly has a voice that no man would want to walk away from. He sings in such a perfect pitch and everything. It's almost as if he is auto-tuned... but trust me he's not. He had many hits such as "Bump and Grind" and "Ignition" but my favorite of his songs is him on the new Kanye album "To The World" which is a message that he doesn't care what the public thinks of him. He did what he did and if you don't like him now fuck you.

Now is Usher and he was and I guess still is one of my favorite artists ever. His album "My Way/8701" was the second album I've ever owned. Of course I wasn't old enough to even understand his lyrics but I loved it. Now he's somewhat getting too advanced he's almost forgetting where he started. He's so caught up in the techno phase that he almost forgets where he came from. My favorite song by him is possibly "U Got It Bad" or his new song "Climax" always an Usher fan and supporter. Just hopes he goes back to his roots before he loses a true fan.

And for the future of R&B lies in the hands of Frank Ocean who I hope will change the genre forever. He's certainly changed on how I've viewed the genre. He sings about some fucked up shit that no one should have to experience but whats crazy is he has experienced them all. And he knows exactly how to deliver his story to the public. He should not go underappreciated because of his sexuality, and his sexuality is not what makes him so good. It's his god damn way of singing and performing without the flash and flare you see so much now adays, you don't even notice the music. But not with Frank in the song "Thinkin Bout You"

Well thats a long ass blog. I wrote it this long cause I know you actually read my posts!

P.S. I know I've missed out on some huge names and I wish I knew more about them. I really hope we go over this genre and all music genres in class in the future.