I've been thinking about addressing this for a while now and since this is my farewell week I guess it's now or never

The problem..... our best singers have shitty writers and producers.

Think about some of the greats and who they worked with

MJ - Q, Rod Temperton, Teddy Riley
Luther - Marcus Miller
Whitney - Kashif, Narada, Babyface, etc
Jeffery Osborne - George Duke
Diana Ross - Nile Rodgers, Ashford & Simpson
Teena Marie - Rick
Deniece Williams - Maurice White, Ray Parker Jr, George Duke

Now look at the best voices out there today and who they are working with... are you really surprised R&B has become a second class genre? We have some great voices out there today that just don't have the material to hit that next level. It's almost like the better the singer the more pedestrian the material. The genre has been pigeon holed... you're either making records for the top 40 set or urban contemporary/quiet storm crowd.

Most of the time we get the bad/mediocre singers on the stuff that actually bumps & sleepy time music from those that can actually blow. About the only two real "sangers" I can think of right now that have mixed it up are Beyonce & Mariah... two of the most successful acts going. Well R Kelly too but he's a self contained act. But we've just fallen into this trap where if you have a great voice you're expected to be a great writer too... or be able to elevate mediocre material to classic level. It just don't work that way 99% of the time.

So the next time you say R&B today sucks.... look a little deeper at who's actually making the music.

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