I'll start with the somewhat positive..

There are 4 "true" R&B albums I'm digging this year: Jazmine Sullivan, Tamia, Kenny Lattimore, Tyrese

But that's still kinda wack because out of the abundance of music that continues to be released, that's a "one hot album every 2 month average".

The singing in urban music these days isn't singing. It's this monotone "vibe out" music (ex. Jhene Aiko).

It seems that part of the fallout of the fall of traditional record labels is the actual recording process. Listening to Teedra Moses' latest album frustrated the hell out of me. The production sucks, the songwriting sucks, and it's obvious that there's no one really challenging her vocally in the studio.

The fact that R&B (that actually has some soul) has become a 30+ only genre in the urban market is sad, especially when you consider that for decades there was always a strong youthful (i.e. under 25) presence.

Maybe one day it will come back. But unfortunately there's a lack of accountability in urban music, so a lot of half-ass demo-sounding records is what you get.