14 thoughts on “This Is How We Do It: The Music of Today Kinda… Sucks?”

1. Yes yes lord knows music today isn’t music at all give me some whispers al green Luther Whitney Houston old school taught you life was so original

2. Lemme tell you. I was in high school from 92-95 and the parties were legendary. We’d literally dance all damn night. Heavy D, Montell Williams, Dr Dre, Mary J, and Jodeci were some of the artists who provided the nights soundtrack . On the way home, we would be piled in my car, half tipsy singing Toni Braxton, Boys2Men, and En Vogue at the top of our lungs. Listening to these some artists now take me back to those times. Thats the definition of timeless music; illicit feelings and memories. The problem with todays r&b music is two fold. Artists today especially male r&b singers seem to take zero influence from the past. They dont take Marvin, Ron Isley or Luther as inspiration. They look at the last person who had a hit and follow suit. In addition, labels no longer take time to cultivate artists. You have to come pre packaged and ready to be sold. And record labels target demographic (18-25) in this new age can care less about love, lyrics pr musicianship, they want a trap beat from artist barely able to form a note. It’s sad what’s happened to R&B. The genre that spawned Aretha, Luther, Michael and Whitney now doesn’t even get televised on the Grammys anymore. Hopefully the pendulum will swing the other way one day but until then i stay reaching back to the 70s,80s and 90s.

   1. Oddly enough, Bruno Mars is trying to bring it back. His album 24K Magic is everything.

   2. ^damn that sounded like fun!!!

   3. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

   4. ^@Caz…the artists also follow the mold of copying the latest trend. When T-Pain made the vocoder popular, everyone wanted to jump on the bandwagon. Trap music came into prominence, everyone wanted to style their music similarly…even the “old-heads”. Sam Smith came with his falsetto, and everyone started singing falsetto. It’s like where is the originality?!!

      Artists and their songs sound so much alike these days, it’s hard to tell one artist from another.
      I can honestly say that there are very few male R&B artists that I listened to on a regular this past year. In fact, most of the songs I listened to on the regular were various pop songs and songs from EDM artists. There were very few R&B artists in there because not many songs pulled me in. I’m big on lyrics and beats, and if you have that, you’ll more than likely draw me in. Everything I heard from my R&B artists was the same thing they come with each year, sex, sex, and more sex. It gets tired over time.

      Since music like fashion is cyclical, I’m sure we will come to that period where you see the creativity return. We’ll have true vocalists and true musicians getting to showcase their craft, like we had back in the 80s and 90s. Until then we’ll be stuck with the copycats.

3. It’s not that it’s not out there. There are a host of new artists emerging that have any sound that you want. The problem comes two fold: first there are so many that it becomes difficult to pinpoint a good one with a good sound and second b/c so many wanna flock to the “trap n b” sound that’s popular it’s very difficult to find any newer artist not making that music getting much shine. It requires a bit of digging (or the “similar artist” suggestions of your streaming service) to find them. Personally I never understood the hype of most of these trap n b artists but remember there was a time when cb and trey songz, the most prominent names in modern rnb, were clearly more interested in rap than traditional rnb. And as they moved more towards being rappers I’m not surprised that the main names followed. Add to that that this is the era where knowing how to “sing” doesn’t necessarily mean the same as it once did and it frankly takes a backseat to other features. Now in some cases it’s not all bad, personally I really like childish gambino’s rnb songs as well as frank ocean, but it does get to a point where you want somebody to give you some good soulful crooning or an uptempo blend of rnb and hip-hop that doesn’t sound like the other 50 songs before it. I’ll stick with usher and john legend for my personal choice of male rnb singers; they both had good albums this year.

4. I think to an extent it is reflective of the fact that alot of men have “No Game”! They did not learn it from their fathers, brothers or uncles so the have no idea how to caress a womans (or mans emotions). But that is not the only reason, the women and alot of men seem to go for just anything except any kind of treatment just to have somebody so I think it’s just a matter you get and deserve exactly what you accept! Same goes for the music who except the mediocre so much. I hate that that there are so many male singers who sound just alike. I hate that when you listen to their music it sound just like 10 other people that I heard earlier in the day. I also hate that every man wants to sound like a bitch with this “falsetto”. Now I appreciate a good “falsetto” especially if they are on Eddie Kendricks of “The Temptations” level, but every dude gotta sound like that?! What happened to the “K-CI’s”, The Gerald Levert’s, hell I would even settle for a “Carl Thomas”. I just don’t understand why people accept Mediocre as the new Dope Shit. Now their are a few that stand out but it seems like if they are not a rapper of if what they do is to in the lane of “What Good Quality Strong Efforted” music is suppose to sound like they are pushed to urban ac! And you know what that means, not much airplay at all because there isn’t much shaking in that playlist especially on the radio. I think people have to ask for more and demand that artist perfect their craft. You have to do you job well or you get fired. Same for them do a better job of putting out quality or get out of the way so somebody else who can do the job well can do it. I know this was long winded but I so disenchanted with a lot of what I here today it is sickening

5. I would like to find a few current artists that can tap into a quite storm feel, like Sade, Jill Scott, Howard Hewitt, or even Anita Baker. Hell, where are the Summer Anthems like Aaliyah, or Missy Elliot. These type of Artist are memorable and leave a lasting impression on me. People were inventive and made movies out of their music videos. What I would do to go back to the 80s

6. I have always felt this way. For some reason it seems like today’s male R&B “singers” are not genuine. First off most of them can’t sing. It’s all computerized and overtly sexual. Secondly They should go back and look at the artist that came before them and really do music with feeling. 90s had the best best music. Everything was poppin in the 90s. Rock, r&b, rap/hip-hop, pop and even alternative. All I listen to these days are stuff from the 70s-early 2000s

7. I’m with you on this one. Not to say I don’t enjoy some of today’s r&b music it’s not what it used to be, at least when it come to the black male singers the female ones like jazmine Sullivan and Erykah badu are still creating it.

   I think you really touched upon something with white male singers doing R&B better. I loved Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 album and sam smith’s one too. Hell, it’s taken me a long time to get into Bruno Mars ( kinda felt like him and The Weekend were ripping off Michael Jackson a little too much for the longest time), but I’ve come around after listening to his new album. It’s straight up 80 and 90s r&b with heavy new jack swing influences, I highly recommend it Jamari.

   1. Yessss 24K MAGIC is everything! Its worth every bit. You beat me to the recommendation.

      Hey, TVTwin,
      Buy Bruno’s new album or Spotify it. Its definitely worth the buy and gives you that old Heavy D and the Boys, R. kelly, Keith Sweat, Boys II Men (MotownPhilly) type of feel. Every song on the album is a hit. I’m seriously thinking about surprising my cousin with some tickets to his concert and the last concert i went to was Eminem during his 8 Mile Tour. (not my choice but it was still live. Lol)

      1. ^tv twin!!

         one of the foxholers put me onto his album.
         from what I heard,
         it sounded real good.
         i gotta finish it!
         it’s a shame he made such a great album,
         yet our own chris brown acting like he is making music on that level.
         why bruno mars has been doing it studying the craft of what makes music good.
         the rest just making random throwaway songs.

8. I felt this way for years Jamari. Most music I listen to isn’t even played on the radio or are featured on blogs. When people ask me who I listen to, no one knows who I’m talking about most times. Music, in general, is trash to me. I like 90’s and early 2000’s music mostly and non popular current artist.

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