Sabato 9 Giu 2007, 13:16

Recently I've been happy because a lot of male R&B singers stay successful with quality music, which is exactly what R&B is supposed to be. Each of the latest releases from major R&B artists, such as Musiq, Marques Houston, Tank and Joe, is very sophisticated, sensitive and lyrically melodious in the exactly opposite way of unmelodious crossovers like Crunk&B, and in addition to that, I've heard that they are all commercially successful as well.

It seems that a large part of R&B artists are recalling the reasonable way to take hip-hop into their music, not trying to be dirty or bling but just making good soul music with a bit of street flavors. The wording "good soul music with a bit of street flavors" really reminds me of R&B from the early and mid '90s, when the "hip-hop soul" was at its hottest.

But speaking of the '90s R&B, it's pretty sad for me to see that today there are just two male R&B groups that are contracted to major record labels and have achieved continuous commercial successes, 112 and Jagged Edge, as far as I know. It's really in contrast to the era when a myriad of R&B groups, including Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Troop, Guy, Blackstreet, Shai, Silk and Dru Hill, were quite active in the mainstream market.

I know that there are also younger male groups around, such as Luke & Q, N2U, ATL and One Chance. But I don't feel calling them "successful artists" at least so far, or could someone tell me who they're now signed to and when their next releases are scheduled to come out?

Also including female artists and indie ones, we're probably living in an "era of solo singers" now, though I love indie male groups like Metro City and Fortune. But on the other hand, I'm really excited by the news about Tank, Ginuwine and Tyrese planning to form a new trio called TGT. I really hope that they'll impress us as a rare supergroup, especially now that there's no possibility for LSG any more.

R.I.P.,
Dino Conner (H-Town)
Gerald Levert (Levert, LSG)
Tony Thompson (Hi-Five)