these two former Proteges of Maurice Starr each enjoyed great success leading two very successful groups and then had debut solo success but then what things didn't click no more.

there musical Clam chowder(both are from Boston) didn't hit the ribs no more and quickly it was back to fronting said groups.

of the two who should have had the better solo career?

who of the two was only as good as the group they were in?

also if traded them for each other and put them as the lead singer in each others group which group would shine more?

both of them had BANGERS for first singles, imo. maybe their material just wasn't strong enough. i kinda think that Jordan must have pissed the wrong person off. you would assume they'd keep trying until they got the desired results. (they = his record label)

of NE so he was set up to win...didnt have the songs tho

but it was TOO soft and he couldn't pull off those high energy songs that were poppin back then. BBD weren't nearly as good as singers as he was, but their voice, style, and image was just poppin at the time. Ralph was like 3-4 years early...he could have gone good on some 93-94 Babyface Tevin Campbell type shit.

"give it to you" was a hit
he even had a prince cover

He was out when it was a saturation of r&b/pop artists that were trying to latch on to any style of music that would fit, in 2000/2001 was a transitional period for r&b music since you could do the Backstreet Boys thing, the Usher stance, the Maxwell sound, or the R.Kelly sound, and 75% of the time it was already 10 other artists doing the same thing in each catagory so it was how strong could you ride their coat tails to get some shine.

got around to releasing a solo album.

If he'd done it after Step By Step or whatever came right after that album, he would have fared much better & probably built off that momentum a bit.

But I remember thinking by the time he got around to releasing a solo it was more like a 'comeback' album like Funky Headhunter-era Hammer.

girls were on Backstreet, N'Sync, even LFO n them

after 90-91, then he came back with a solo album in 99 after Backstreet and NSync and 98 Degrees blew up and made boy bands popular again.

It seemed like he was trying to hang with the teen acts still. Where, if you look at Joe Mac's first solo disc, he shot a little hire and got at least two hits off his disc.

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his second album tanked.

and that was it.

so much so that i venture to say I'm the only one here that even knows he had a theird LP...Rizz Waifaire?!

Dude was able to rock the 80's R&B style at first but when the more youthful risque stuff started popping he was lost. For him to veer in that more risque direction on the 2nd album looked ridiculous.
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SCHIZOPHRENIC is a killer album.

I liked that guy. I thought he had a chance.

N'Sync broke up like 2002 (And even then, the boyband thing peaked in 2000) and Timberlake took off right away, trying to shed any of his boyband past. Unfortunately JC didn't shed in time and was just seen as old news by the time his debut came out. Combine that with the lack of high-profile collabs on the album (It's definitely what helped Justin's album) and you don't have much of a chance in the music world (I think the Janet/Justin Superbowl incident that happened around the same time effected his promotion too). The album probably did better in Europe but American companies don't consider that success anymore (IE/ Kelis)

Tilt - Arcade Funk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPtLcEoyxKY

He can't write songs, and I think he's just a bit strange or ultra eclectic.

Songs that were obviously written by Ralph, or had a lot of Ralph's influence on them plagued his 2nd album, there wasn't much outside production or influence save for maybe one Jam and Lewis record, I can't recall off the top.

Whether it was his persona or him trying to build off of BBD's success with songs like "Sex-O", "Sex Maniac" it just didn't work. Maybe he wasn't comfortable being the "smooth" guy.

I think the "freaky" songs on those records are just who he is, because on his 3rd LP he had a record called "Magic Underwear." That isn't the guy people thought, or wanted him to be.

former bandmate Bobby Brown already had that R&B lane sowed up that he was trying to be a part of...

and Ralph's ("Mr. Sensitivity") smooth and somewhat clean cut act came across as if his label was trying to position him almost as the anti-Bobby Brown who was waaaay more raunchy and high energy.

I was think had he went solo before Bob he might've faired better as a solo artist.