Illa J is Dilla's younger brother. He has been rapper for a while (his first album came out in 08) and it turns out he's also a great singer. This is from his really good new album.
This girl can sing. New Musiq. Both songs are great. She's one of my favorite new artists. This is cool.
Cool, I'll have to peep it. Is it still Dilla-esque production? I can imagine him wanting to separate himself from that, but I love the sound
A lot of it definitely isn't too far way from that sound. There is also a little more rap on there then I remembered from my first listen. The r&b/soul songs (like the video I posted) are in the majority though and they are really impressive. The album is only 30 minutes long so you definitely should give it a listen.
I just read this Ashanti interview in The Source and she talks about how she is proud that she wrote so many of her songs. She, for example, wrote Foolish. I somehow did not know that. She's a very impressive songwriter. Foolish is an amazing song, especially when considering how young she was. I prefer Unfoolish (which is basically the remix) because Biggie is my favorite rapper, but both versions are great.
Her album is out and it's good. It's probably flopping though because Atlantic is bad. New video from last year's Lloyd EP. A new album is coming this year.
I was making a playlist and at some point I realized I was making a list of my favorite R&B songs by female artists.. So here it goes, in no order, my 14 (14 rather than 15 because I started getting analysis paralysis) favorite R&B songs by female artists, without repeating artists and with links for your convenience: Ashanti - Foolish Tatyana Ali Feat. Will Smith - Boy You Knock Me Out Destiny's Child - Lose My Breath Janet Jackson - All For You Mariah Carey - Don't Forget About Us Tinashe Feat. Schoolboy Q - 2 On Brandy Feat. Mase - Top Of The World Aaliyah - Miss You Yobi Feat. Jadakiss & Styles P - Set In Stone Kehlani - Escape Bella Feat. Jody Breeze - Caught Up Alicia Keys - You Don't Know My Name Jennifer Lopez Feat. Fat Joe - Hold You Down Joyce Wrice - Good Morning Honorable Mentions (partly because some people might, wrongfully, argue that these aren't R&B songs): Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody Ariana Grande Feat. Mac Miller - The Way Thalia Feat. Fat Joe - I Want You As always, this list could be different tomorrow. Also, I like plenty of neo soul or alternative R&B albums, but more as albums rather than for specific songs. And yes, I have a lot of free time currently.
Ne-Yo made a bunch of great songs back in the day, I'm glad he's still going even if he's a bit more pop-oriented now.
I posted that already but it's fine haha. Ne-Yo's first album is amazing, the rest ranges from fine to bad imo. But yeah it's cool he's still around.