name some good modern RnB songs...

[cockneyrebel]

Things have never been the same since New Jack Swing I tell ya

 

[BassJunkie]

It's called 'Only U' - and By Ra, it's got a Phat bass line. Can't beat Ashanti, bless 'er.

the one that goes "ooooooooooh!!! i just wanna get next to you! oohhhhhhh!! i just can't leave you alone!!"?

dunno what it's called. ashanti has a very wobbly head and a stupid look on her face.

 

[Boogie Boy]

Okay, I would recommend you try listening to some of the following records:

'Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)' Maxwell
'Show Me' Vanessa Freeman
'Rock Wit You' Jazzy Jeff Featuring Erro
'Back In The Day' (Puff) Erykah Badu
'You Know I love You' Donnel Jones
'Here We Go Again' Portrait
'I Wish I Didn't Miss You' Angie Stone
'Heard It All Before' Sunshine Anderson
'So Willingly' Syleena Johnson
'Enough Is Enough' Dennis Taylor
'All The Things (Your Man Won't Do)' Joe
'Slowly Surely' Jill Scott
'Laundrette' Nivea
'You Don't Know My Name' Alicia Keys
'The One For Me' Rahsaan Paterson
'Untitled' D'Angelo
'Selfish Tendencies' Lizz Wright
'Paradise' Hil St Soul
'I Gotta Go' Rachelle Ferrell
'This Journey In' The Re-Birth
'The Truth' Dwele
'Get Up' Amiel Larrieux
'Back In The Day' Erykah Badu
'Butterflies' (demo version) Floetry
'All That I Can Say' Mary J Blige
'Step In The Name Of Love' R Kelly
'You Are' Bilial
'Love Poems' Bilal
'You Know Whats Up' Donnel Jones
'Get It On Tonite' Montell Jordan
'Georgy Porgy' Eric Benet
'Love Like This' Faith Evans
'I Like Your Style' Bubba
'Still Here' Aaron Hall
'Ordinary People' John Legend
'Take Me' Teedra Moses
'I'm Confessin' Lizz Wright
'Rhythm Of Life' Kindred The Family Soul
'Tell Me' Omar
'Could Be You' Berverlei Brown
'The Fact Is' Jill Scott
Looking For Your Love' Adriana Evans
'Take Me Over' Mckay
'Blue Cycles' The Five Corners Quintet
'Lover' Sweetback
'Trade Winds' Bob James
'For Real' Amiel Larrieux
'Words Hurt Too' Rhian Benson
'How I Know' The RH Factor
'A New Day' Patti Labelle
'The What If's' Jaguar Wright
'Don't Be Afraid' Cooly's Hot Box
'You' Raheem DeVaughn
'Cry For You' Jodeci
'All I See' Christopher Williams
'Dance For Me' Christopher Williams
'I Like' Guy
'I Wanna Get With You' Guy


Not an exhaustive list, but at least one of the songs might send you in a direction away from the obvious over produced stuff that you often hear.

 

[milesy]

cheers BB (and everyone else) - i'll try working my way through some of the recommendations

 

[soulrebel]

there was a period (round about 1999-2001ish) when "RnB" (i hate that genre name, but can't think of a better one) seemed to be about to turn into something not just exciting, but also cybernetically freakish in a way reminiscent of nothing more describable than a hybrid of Sleng Teng era dancehall, early electro, bhangra and cybergoth/industial techno... except for having mostly female harmony vocals over it... sadly after a few seminal tunes it seemed to all go back to dull "smooth" pop again...

there was also some very very nice (if less startling) stuff happening around the same time in the neo-soul/neo-jazz/early-70s-Marvin-and-Curtis-reinterpreted-by-feminists side of the scene (Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu being the obvious artists that went "overground" of it) before that started slipping back into the soppy-and-actually-quite-misogynistic-love-songs thing again...

i haven't actually listend to anything resembling "modern RnB" on the radio or whatever since about 2003, so those tunes i can think of are mostly from that approx 99-02 scene... again boundaries are fluid, so some may not consider all of these "RnB"...

Aaliyah - Try Again
Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
Al Jarreau ft Phife Dawg - In My Music
Destiny's Child - Jumpin Jumpin
Destiny's Child - Survivor
Mary Mary - Shackles
Melky Sedeck - Raw
Missy Elliott - Get Your Freak On
Outkast - Ms Jackson
Panjabi MC - that one with the "Knight Rider" sample
Santana ft Wyclef & Project G&B - Maria Maria
Truth Hurts ft Rakim - Addictive
Wyclef & Mary J Blige - 911

shit most of those i can actually remember the names of are more "poppy" than most of what i tried to describe above... feel free to shhot them down if u want cos i haven't actually listened to them in a few years...

 

[Boogie Boy]

Damn I'm good.

BB

 

[Harold Hill]

Sunshine Anderson - Heard It All Before
Donell Jones - You Know Whats Up
Alicia keys - Girlfriend
Allen Anthony - Alright
Angie Stone - I Wanna Thank Ya
R kelly - Touched A Dream
R kelly - happy Summertime
Snoop Dogg - Beautiful
Pharrell Williams - Frontin
Outkast - The Way You Move

Although these last 3 some would argue are hip hop records but seeing as anyone referncing it will sing the hook and barely know any of the rap, they're R&B in my book.

 

[Pigeon]

Aaliyah - Try Again

Quite possibly the best record ever made.