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R&B/Soul Music
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By Usher, 2004
The Atlanta singer's string of hits over the past decade have been decidedly PG-13 rated, almost veering towards teen pop, but he's changed all that on this co-produced offering, which he claims is "the real him." It would be too simplistic to just brand this record a break-up record, chronicling...
- All Eyez on Me
By 2Pac, 1996
Simultaneously serving as both endless fodder for intellectual debates and the album most likely to be blaring out of the adjacent car's window, All Eyez on Me is a phenomenon that packs a wallop with every listen. Unquestionably the most nihilistic album to top the Billboard charts--and it's...
- The Diary of Alicia Keys
By Alicia Keys, 2003
Alicia Keys has more than lived up to the promise of her formidable debut Songs in A Minor, pushing beyond her flirtation with old-school soul and venturing into the modern world, even hiring Timbaland to guide her through the shoals of anthemic hip-hop on the breathless and funkified "Heartburn."...
- CrazySexyCool
By TLC, 1994
On their second album, the multiplatinum trio TLC have given up most of their debut's tomfoolery and have matured into a very modern deep Southern soul, watered and nurtured in hip-hop culture. The album's centerpiece is the magnificent "Waterfalls," a revival meeting of new jack swing, gospel, and...
- Daydream
By Mariah Carey, 1995
"Fantasy" provides the only real transcendent chapter on this album. Reinterpreting Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" with a percolating dance beat, the single emphasizes everything that makes Mariah Carey great. Her voice swoops, squeals, and careens over the seductive rhythm, while the words...
- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
By Lauryn Hill, 1998
The first solo album by the Fugees' most distinctive voice quickly wipes away the pretensions of so many current hip-hoppers' discs. It does so by both engaging their widescreen ethos--"To Zion," with its martial drums and gospel choir, is as epic a production as has been heard in 1998's pop...
- Songs in A Minor
By Alicia Keys, 2001
She may be beautiful, but Alicia Keys is a musician first and foremost. She plants herself firmly behind the piano keys on her debut, unlike many of the booty-waggin' junior divas who are crowding the R&B videoscape these days. Though many of the tracks on Songs in A Minor are embellished with...
- Whitney Houston
By Whitney Houston, 1985
Whitney Houston is the debut album of American R&B and pop singer Whitney Houston, released February 14, 1985 on Arista Records. The album initially had a slow commercial response but began getting more popular since the summer of 1985. Eventually it topped the Billboard 200 chart for fourteen...
- II
By Boyz II Men, 1995
II was the second regular studio album by boy band Boyz II Men, released in August 1994 on Motown Records. It contained the #1 singles "I'll Make Love To You" and "On Bended Knee", the latter of which replaced the former at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making the group the third artist to...
- What's Going On
By Marvin Gaye, 2003
Sly & The Family Stone might have psychedelicized soul music, but Marvin Gaye personalized it. Although the powers-that-were Motown didn't even want to release the record, the unexpected success of What's Going On, issued in 1971, inspired Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and just about every other...
- The Writing's on the Wall
By Destiny's Child, 1999
Not even Dionne Warwick and her mind-reading friends could have predicted that, over the course of two CDs, Destiny's Child would become one of the most successful girl groups on the planet. But successful this Houston trio is, and their sophomore CD shows why.
- The Best of Sade
By Sade, 2001
With her exotic beauty and steamy voice, Sade couldn't help but be a star. Taking the more sensuous elements of island beats, smooth jazz, and R&B, Sade scored major hits with the continental feel of "Smooth Operator" and the sultry stylization of "Your Love Is King.
- Let's Get It on
By Marvin Gaye, 2003
Marvin Gaye's 1973 album, Let's Get It On, is a marvel of sexual blandishment every bit the artistic equal of, say, John Donne's best seduction poems. The difference, though, is that the poetry here isn't in the verse--which gets a trifle clichéd--but in the supple pulse of the grooves and in the...
- My Life
By Mary J. Blige, 1994
During one of the "interludes" on My Life, Keith Murray is rapping about "Grab your cranium for my ultimatum," when someone in the studio control booth asks producer Chucky Thompson, "Hey, Chuck, put on some of that smooth [stuff]." Murray disappears; the dreamy synth chords of Blige's title track...
- Toni Braxton
By Toni Braxton, 1993
Import pressing includes one bonus track, Give U My Heart (Mad Ball Mix). 13 tracks in all. Sony/BMG.The perfect matchup of singer, song, and producer is a wondrous thing, and no more so in the producer-driven realm of black pop. Such a wonderful moment was the debut from Toni Braxton who, in...
- Songs in the Key of Life
By Stevie Wonder, 2000
Songs in the Key of Life (1976) was the highest high point of Stevie Wonder's career. More sprawling than Innervisions and Talking Book, this two-LP-plus-EP was also less of a consistent stunner than either of those masterworks. That Songs retains an enormous amount of visionary relevance, though...
- What's the 411?
By Mary J. Blige, 1992
Perhaps the true test of a classic is this: something that's commonplace now but at the time appeared revolutionary. The notion that a female R&B singer could be as informed by the Real Roxanne as she was by Aretha Franklin, that she could give love to the streets and the roughnecks--while still...
- Share My World
By Mary J. Blige, 1997
The combination of Mary J. Blige with strong material is one of the few guarantees of excitement in today's R&B world. Rather than stuff her lines with showy streams of notes like too many post-Patti LaBelle divas, Blige sings the song. Even when she breaks into melisma, it feels like the direct...
- The Velvet Rope
By Janet Jackson, 1997
Teaming with her most accomplished collaborators, producer-songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson delivers what is easily her finest record since Rhythm Nation--and arguably her best ever. Highlights include jams like "You" and "Got 'Til It's Gone," which recontextualizes samples from...
- Baduizm
By Erykah Badu, 1997
Badu and her large turban appeared out of nowhere in early 1997, on a murmuring, romantic album that trod the median between old-school soul and contemporary electronic R&B. Badu's songs, especially the hit "On & On" and the catchy "Certainly," recall Sade in their polished, subtle sexiness. Badu...
- 12 Play
By R. Kelly, 1993
12 Play is the debut solo album of American R&B and soul musician R. Kelly, released November 9, 1993 on Jive Records. It follows his tenure with R&B group Public Announcement, with whom he released one album, Born into the 90's (1992). The album features the sexually-themed singles "Bump n' Grind"...
- R.
By R Kelly, 1998
A double disc may seem indulgent after barely a decade in the biz, but after meandering through the commercial minefields of innocent fun (1992's Born into the '90s), pure raunch (1993's 12 Play), and pop crossover (1995's R. Kelly), Kelly has come close to the perfect mix--and if it takes two...
- I Wanna Go There
By Tyrese, 2002
I Wanna Go There is the third studio album by singer Tyrese. "How You Gonna Act Like That" remains as his biggest hit, peaking at #7 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
- Rated Next
By Next, 1997
Rated Next is the debut studio album by American musical group Next. After forming, the trio recorded several songs with record producers Prof. T. and Lance Alexander before catching recording artist and producer Kay Gee of Naughty by Nature's attention.
