r&b
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A Review of Jacquees’ 4275 Album Because He Called Himself ‘The King of R&B’
OK, Jacquees might be an idiot. Perhaps a brilliant idiot since before last week’s “King of R&B” (of his generation) moment, I couldn’t point him out in a lineup, much less tell you the name of a single, solitary song he sang. But now? That pendulum has swung the entire other way. Again, as much…
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Legendary 'Song Stylist' Nancy Wilson Dies at 81
Nancy Sue Wilson, the award-winning singer who lent her vocal instrument to the world for over five decades, has died at the age of 81. Wilson’s publicist confirmed that the iconic singer died at her home in Pioneertown, Calif., on Thursday following a long illness, according to Deadline. A specific cause of death hasn’t been…
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If There Is an R&B King Right Now, It's Not Jacquees (Yet)
I don’t know what constitutes R&B anymore. Rather, I don’t know who is an R&B artist anymore. That’s the first thing that popped into my head when Decatur, Ga., singer Rodriguez Jacquees Broadnax, popularly known as Jacquees, proclaimed himself the king of R&B for this generation. For starters, he’s 24, so I suppose his generation…
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You Had 'One Job': A Mesmerizing Release From Rising Artist TeaMarrr Disrupts the Dollhouse
Hell hath no fury like a doll scorned—that’s the plot of the deliciously innovative video for Haitian-American singer-songwriter TeaMarrr’s debut single “One Job,” which The Glow Up is delighted to exclusively premiere a day ahead of its Friday release. Using black Barbie-like figures—one of which is modeled after TeaMarrr (TEE-mar) herself—“One Job” illustrates an all-too…
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MC Lyte Talks Racial Bias, Female Rap Beef and the Longevity of Hip-Hop
MC Lyte recently performed with a nostalgic lineup at the Cincinnati Music Festival, proving once again that black don’t crack. Lyte (born Lana Michelle Moorer) looks and sounds like what happens when you mind your business and drink water. As one of the largest R&B music festivals in America, CMF caters to the grown and…
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Does Drake’s Scorpion Album Have Any Sting?
Drake needs a woman who’s going to make him happy. Drizzy Drake’s Scorpion album has caused a lot of chatter in the Twitter world already. The album was released Friday, with an A and a B side, where basically one side is hip-hop, while the other is R&B. Much like any album, it has received…
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You Gotta Put Me On: For the Artists Who Haven’t Quite Reached Mainstream Success but Are Killing the Game
When black people who are musically inclined choose to pursue a career as an artist, they are proclaiming that they not only believe in their talent but also don’t subscribe to the conventional ways of making an American dream a reality. These people are dreamers with thick skin. Rejection is palpable when you choose to…
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Black Music Month: Soul Music; We Make It, They Take It
Did you know that R&B was renamed as “rhythm & blues” from “race music” by Billboard magazine in 1949? The name change reflected upwardly mobile Negroes working diligently to change their social and economic statuses. But, of course, with growth and downright swag comes theft. R&B caught the ears of white audiences, and the rest…
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Is Black Music the Well Many Other Artists Drink From and Profit From More Than Black Artists?
What is black music? For many, it’s soul, funk, R&B, hip-hop and essentially all genres of music that reflect roots in blackness. But the industry doesn’t hear us. Music is very much a culture of “We make it, they take it.” We’ve seen it throughout history in the theft of everything we exclusively create within…
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Jimmy Jam’s Episodes of Questlove Supreme Might Be the Greatest Episodes of Anything That Ever Existed
I can be prone to hyperbole. I can see proof of it in my daughter, who has adopted my penchant for saying, “This is my favorite song ever” for nearly every song she hears that she likes. We don’t do things small in the My-Last-Name-Isn’t-Really-Jackson household. I remember once playing the Sylvers’ “Even This Shall…