Every time a rnb single becomes a big hit, you can most certainly expect R Kelly to jump on a remix, official or unofficial. He’s been doing this with Ciara, T-Pain, Beyonce, Kanye West etc etc and just over the last seven days, he has leaked his own versions of ‘The Best I Ever Had’ and ‘Birthday Sex’, two of the biggest songs out there at the moment.

These both remixes are supposed to be on a mixtape that R Kelly has been making with the amazing DJ Drama and DJ Skee. It’s called The Demo Tape and will be released on the internet within a couple of days or so.

Like this wasn’t enough, R Kelly also has some brand new music of his own on the upcoming mixtape. ‘Tip The Waiter’ is just the type of song you’d expect from this man, nothing amazing but still better than most of his opponents out there. This is the kind of music I like to hear when his next album comes out, and not a bunch of songs with guest rappers and “The R” trying to be a gangster instead of the rnb genius he really is.

Speaking of his next album; In the end of ‘The Best I Ever Had’ remix, R Kelly announces that his next album will be out in September and that we can expect “some real rnb R Kelly shit” so let’s keep our fingers crossed on that one.

Drake Ft R Kelly - The Best I Ever Had Remix

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Jeremih Ft R Kelly - Birthday Sex

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R Kelly - Tip The Waiter

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New Songs

If I were a debuting artist in 2009, and were given the chance to pick a songwriter/producer to work with on my album, I would definitely go with The-Dream. Since making his big entry with ‘Umbrella’ back in 2007, Terius “The-Dream” Nash has been making hit after hit after hit. With this said, I was expecting nothing less than a good debut from Electrik Red. Read more…

Reviews

In just a few weeks, Ciara will return with her third album, Fantasy Ride. ‘Lovers Thing’ will be on the album and is a sweet little duet with none other than The-Dream. The song isn’t really up to par with what we’re used to when it comes to The-Dream and his frequent collaborator L.O.S, but it’s a decent track and my hopes are high for Fantasy Ride. It seems like Ciara has worked with some excellent people this time around and the songs that have leaked this far have all been nice.

Ciara ft. The-Dream - Lover’s Thing (prod. by L.O.S.)

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New Songs

With their first album, Day 26 made it pretty clear that they were more than just a bunch of guys from a talent show that could sing. As a matter of fact, their debut was one of my favourite rnb albums of 2008 and I’ve had some high expectations on Forever In A Day since it first was announced. Read more…

Reviews

Joe’s last album Joe Thomas, New Man was one of my favorite albums last year. But at the same time, the five snippets at the end of the album left me longing even more for his next CD, Signature. Signature was supposed to drop earlier this year but has been delayed. Now it seems as if the new release date will be June 30th and if Joe sticks to his original plan, the album will be filled with ballads written and produced by himself. In my opinion this is the right move to make for a singer who’s also one of the most underrated songwriters in the business.

Joe made three great albums between ’97 and ’01 where he wrote most of the songs himself. Since then, he has been letting a lot of other people do most of the work for him and though Joe never really fails, he certainly hasn’t made a really great album for almost a decade now.

I’m not going to say that ‘Magic’ is anywhere near being magical, but it’s surely a step in the right direction, and as an album track it’s great. Hopefully Joe will put out something more like ‘I Wanna Know’ or ‘All The Things (Your Man Won’t Do)’ to get a little more hype for the new album. I guess we just have to wait and see.

Joe - Magic

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New Songs

On Charlie Wilson’s new album Uncle Charlie Underdogs are Wilson’s main collaborators. Theoretically, this is a great move. Underdogs are known for making the type of ballads that fits Charlie’s large voice. Too bad only one of their five tracks are as good as one could expect. Read more…

Reviews

When I first heard about Ryan “R-Les” Leslie around 2003 I was introduced to him as the next big thing when it came to multitalented singers/producers in rnb. While the producer Ryan Leslie has had some sort of a breakthough a few years back, penning hits for Usher, New Edition, Donell Jones and of course Cassie, the artist R-Les remains pretty anonymous to the public. Things could have been very different if Universal Music hadn’t shelved what was meant to be his debut album, Just Right, in 2005 due to the fact that his singles failed to climb the charts. Still today, that album remain as one of my favorite unreleased albums ever. Read more…

Reviews

The album Lessons In Love didn’t quite live up to the expectations after last year’s surprising Street Love, but one song showed why I consider Lloyd to be one of the most talented young artists of today.

‘Year Of The Lover’ was written by Rico Love and produced by Eric Hudson, whose previous work includes songs by Mary J Blige, Omarion and Ne-Yo, just to mention a few. The production fits Lloyd’s voice perfectly, and Lloyd really seems to have found his niche as a young rnb Casanova far from the sugar sweet music he used to perform as lead singer of boy band N-Toon a few years back. And when it comes to the lyrical content, the song title really speaks for itself.

Lloyd - Year of The Lover (written by Rico Love, prod by. Eric Hudson)

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Best of 2008, Songs

Ever since I first heard Keyshia Cole sing, I’ve been having great hopes for her as a future queen of rnb. While there is lots of others artists more technically skilled, there’s something in her voice that I’ve always loved. You might call it vulnerability, emotion or just presence, but when Keyshia sings, I feel her words.

Read more…

Reviews

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. Well, let’s just say Sterling Simms didn’t make me interested in him when I first heard his horrible hook on Jay-Z’s ‘Dig A Hole’. And even though I liked his solo singles ‘Jump Off’ and ‘80 On The Freeway’ I can’t really say I had hopes for him releasing a solid album. As a matter of fact I thought he’d lost that Def Jam deal by now, until I found out just a few weeks ago that his debut album Yours, Mine & The Truth will be released just a couple of days before Christmas.

On his debut album, Sterling Simms has worked with The-Dream, Tricky Stewart, Soundz and Sean Garrett, which raises my expectations. And as if that wasn’t enough, Sterling himself is part of the songwriting/production collective The Knightwritaz, which includes members as Warren “Oak” Felder, fellow singer Mario and Floetry songtress Marsha Ambrosius. And of course The Knightwritaz will be represented on the album.

Today I’ve heard two new songs off the album, and even though none of them really knocked me off my feet, they are still some nice proof that Sterling can make good music. ‘Bad Dream’ is a traditional “heartbreak song”, written by The-Dream and is really reminiscent of how those good rnb slow jams used to sound in the late 90’s. ‘Doin’ Dat There’ sounds more like a 2008 hit record with that infectious hook, and Soundz really did his thing with the instrumentals.

Let’s hope Sterling Simms goes all the way and makes a good and consistent album, and that we’ll be able to give you a full review of it soon. Until then, make sure you don’t miss out on these two songs.

Sterling Simms - Bad Dreams (written by The-Dream, prod. by Tricky Stewart)

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Sterling Simms - Doin That Thing (prod. by Soundz)

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Note, our players don’t work on these two songs. Click on the link above them instead.

New Songs

Charlie Wilson is one of the very few artists of his generation who’s still relevant in the business today, even for the new generation of rnb fans. The only other I can think of is Ron Isley, and with him locked up in jail there’s no doubt of who’s the current king of modern “grown-man-soul”.

“Uncle Charlie” didn’t release his new album Supa Sexy in 2008, but he did show us that he still got what it takes. Except from doing a great job with the hook on Snoop’s ‘Can’t Say Goodbye’, he did at least three songs of his own that all have been going on heavy rotation in our iPods throughout the year. When it came down to picking just one, we went for ‘Jump In’. Not only is it one of the greatest ballads of the year, it’s also sung by one of the scenes greatest voices. It’s both impressive and a bit touching to hear Charlie, today 55 years old, singing about being scared of commitment with such emotion.

Credit should also be given to The Underdogs, who reportedly produced the song. Their type of production fit Charlie’s strong, soulful voice perfectly and hopefully there’ll be of their tracks on Supa Sexy, whenever it hit the stores. Do we dare to hope for an early 2009 release?

Charlie Wilson - Jump In (written by J. Fauntleroy, prod. by The Underdogs)

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Best of 2008, Songs

If it wasn’t for R. Kelly, there would probably be no Avant. But while Kellz has jumped on the autotune/hiphop- train, Avant has stayed true to his rnb roots. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of many artists from 2008 that really aims for the old school rnb fan like Avant with his new album. Read more…

Reviews

Rodney Jerkins has been one of the best producers in the rnb-game for the last ten years or so. He’s been working with some of the most talented artists on the planet and kept on delivering hit after hit. Every time you hear the name Darkchild whispered in the beginning of a song, you know that it stands for a certain quality. Yet there is one thing we’ll never understand. How come a genius like Rodney keeps on giving some of his very best work to a mediocre singer like Ray J? Every time Ray J releases an album, the only songs worth checking for are the ones with Darkchild written all over them. And there is little doubt that these songs could sound even better in the hands of a good performer.

This year’s Ray J-album All I Need was no exception. The Final Fantasy-sampled ‘Jumpoff’ has been - more or less - the only reason to be looking out for Ray J this year, and one of the finest collaborations between the two, ever. And while I still have a lot to say about Ray J’s ability as a singer, ‘Jumpoff’ is the kind of song that doesn’t take the best singer in the world to be a nice standout track.

Ray J - Jump Off (prod. by Darkchild)

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Best of 2008, Songs