Category: Music

SWV & Xscape: Best Album Deep Cuts

Many of you have likely seen the new SWV & Xscape: The Queens of R&B reality show by now. Both groups are no strangers to the charts, reality TV and their share of drama. However, it seems like Xscape may be the group that ruins chances of a joint tour before it even gets off […]

How Sade Soothed Me through a Pandemic

I was about seven years old the first time I saw Sade’s music video for her iconic hit, “No Ordinary Love”. I remember being mesmerized at how she was able to sing underwater as a beautiful mermaid. There was something intriguing about her; mysterious even. As time progressed, I listened to some of her music […]

Mama’s Gun Still Pops Off 20 Years Later

By the time Erykah Badu released her sophomore album, Mama’s Gun, she was already a household name. She commanded our attention with early hits like “On & On,” “Next Lifetime”, and “Tyrone”. However, I’ll never forget how I felt after the first time I heard “Bag Lady”, the standout single from Mama’s Gun. I was […]

Should Today’s R&B Artists Take the Independent Route?

The tail end of the summer has been a comeback season of sorts for several R&B heavyweights. Gone are the glitzy days of million-dollar music videos and monstrous marketing budgets that peppered the 90s. Now, social media has allowed the artist to become the machine and given record labels less power. Let’s take former R&B/pop […]

Ledisi’s New Declaration of Independence

Ledisi’s latest album, The Wild Card, marks 20 years since her debut. For this reason, it may be hard for some to believe that her ninth studio album is also her first independent project in over a decade. Honestly, I think this is a great move for an artist like Ledisi. She has one of […]

Does Brandy’s B7 Solidify Her Title As the Vocal Bible?

Brandy is back with a vengeance promoting her new album, B7. The singer and actress has focused more on the latter in recent years, as this is her first studio LP since 2012’s Two Eleven. Fans have been anxiously waiting the return of what they call the “Vocal Bible”. Brandy herself admitted she was skeptical […]

Lucy Pearl: Still Dance Worthy 20 Years Later

The year was 2000 and everyone was cautiously celebrating the Y2K craze. That year marked the end of a golden era for R&B in the mid to late 90s. So, it shouldn’t have been that surprising that members of each of the biggest R&B/Hip Hop groups of the 90s decided to join forces as they […]

Run the Jewels Stands Boldly with RTJ4

I’ve been a fan of Run the Jewels since their debut album in 2013. In fact, to go back even further, Killer Mike (one half of the rhyming duo), has never received his just deserts as a hip hop artist. Who could forget his show-stealing flow on OutKast’s 2001 hit, “The Whole World”? Even back […]

Brandy: Singer Verzuz Baby Mama

Eight long years have passed since Brandy released her last studio album, Two Eleven. Although she has released a couple of singles here and there as an independent artist (“Beggin & Pleadin” and “Freedom Rings”), she has been tight-lipped about any signs of a new studio LP….until now. With a career that spans 25 years […]

4 Songs That Should Have Been Singles from E=MC2

Mariah Carey/Mimi/The Elusive Chanteuse has done it again. She recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of her record-breaking Emancipation of Mimi comeback album. However, the 12th anniversary of its follow up, E=MC2 is making headlines now. The album, which still marks her highest opening sales week for any of her albums to date – 463,000 copies […]