Yeah. I don't like hiphop taking all of the blame but it isn't innocent so I'll leave it alone.

I don't know if its lack of love even. To me, sometimes I don't hear enough of the 'feeling'. Its like someone shows up with a thought. And then, if it hits, then all of a sudden a bunch of people show up 'feeling the same way' but its almost obviously manufactured. Maybe that's not new, but it feels more 'calculated' now than ever. I'm even skeptical of the shift towards 'hey, we're happy now yawl!' that I'm thinking is coming. I'll take it over continuously moody and brooding sadness for sure.

But hey, 'real feelings' are expensive to package and risky to put out for commerce unless that 'feeling' is what people wanna hear at that time, right? IE: it can REALLY work and then it can really fail hard.

I remember saying 'a woman can have a hit if she shows up and says something bad about dudes and/or a break-up in the right way' like 25 years ago. It was after Alanis. And then there was Beyonce and Adele. And Kelis. Or even a Blu Cantrell. Clearly some people wanted to hear a woman say 'Fuck that dude' at some ex. Mary J was probably more 'balanced' with it but she got it out there too.

But...feelings CAN backfire on you, right?

I think about Marvin and Here, My Dear. He put that out right when people were trying to dance/party/lighten-up and it bricked. I'm sure Motown didn't help and Marvin was obviously self-destructing by then too. But still, that album was weird, jamming, heavy, and one hell of a set of confessions and observations. It just wasn't time for it yet. And there's grown folks who swear they love 'ole school music' but they haven't heard it cuz they're not playing 'Is That Enough' on Uncle Ray's R&B radio station.

Even something like Lauryn Hill showing up in 2002 like 'hey, this fame shit!? It doesn't make the evil mfers all around us LESS evil. I'm not sure I want any of it anymore' on Mystery of Iniquity didn't land as well as it could've if it had some at a time where people wanted that info from her. Now, people say basically that all the time and its whatever. Stream number king himself (Drake) can't wait to claim he doesn't know if he wants all that he has because of what he's had to 'pay' to get it and keep it.

Even now, Kendrick Lamar is going to therapy and trying to tell people to work on themselves on his last record. And some people aren't with it cuz it didn't 'hit them' like they wanted it to. But its pretty much gonna be his Here, My Dear 10 years from now. AKA some people will look back and say 'Whoa, dude was trying to tell us all of this shit here and we missed it!? We suck!'.

So, what does an artist do?

>Bentagain already named a lot of dope artists in the r&b lane
>that are putting our quality music today.
>
>But the mainstream/radio/most heard/viral/whatever that is out
>front is decidedly different from what most of us used to
>90's/80's/70's r&b like to hear.
>
>Just my two cents:
>
>1. Hip-hop and r&b had their honeymoon/blissful period in the
>90's. They need a trial separation now. Too many mainstream
>cats basically spittin' the same bullshit rappers spit. Too
>many songs with rap verses that don't need them.
>
>2. Not enough love anymore. Dudes used to sing about LOVING
>women, not just hittin' it. There's no more begging, pleading,
>complimenting, wooing or just plain game anymore. It's all "my
>car, my house, i got stacks, imma boss, i can make you a boss,
>let me purchase you" in essence.
>______________________________________________________________________________
>
>"To Each His Reach"
>
>but.....
>
>Fuck aliens.