February 15, 2007 @ 10:25 am

VIBE 150: R&B

VIBE 150: The records that defined an era

D'Angelo - Brown Sugar (EMI 1995)
In 1995, a then-21-year-old singer/songwriter burst through percolating with boyish swagger and a jazzy boho style. D'Angelo's debut instantly became more than an R&B record—it almost single-handedly ushered in the "neo- soul" sound and aesthetic. With a sultry late night vibe influenced by Marvin Gaye, weed and hip hop, Brown Sugar simmered with slurred, sinewy and stoned grooves anchored by D's sly but undeniable appeal. The laid back combination of sexuality, attitude and potent songwriting - typified by "Lady" and the title track - signaled D'Angelo savant and standard-bearer. En Vogue - Funky Divas - (East West 1992)
On their sophomore outing En Vogue proved themselves the thinking man's girl group, fiercely cross-pollinating rap, reggae rock and R&B with just a dash of P-Funk. Sade - Love Deluxe - (Epic/Gasoline Alley 1992)
Love Deluxe was certainly languid and luxurious but there was more afoot on Sade's fourth collection as tracks like "Pearls" and "No Ordinary Love" reflected the smooth operator's deepening thematic range. Shai - …if I Ever Fall In Love - (MCA 1992)
This quartet's one hit, the title track, doesn't do them justice. Shai were exquisite and capable of great beauty, seducing without reducing themselves to mere swagger, and they did more for a cappella than even Boyz II Men. SWV - It's About Time - (Gasoline Alley 1992)
At the height of New Jack Swing, SWV perfected the often male-dominated subgenre. Mixing lush harmonies with sexually aggressive lyrics and indisputably funky production, this trio's debut defined an era. Janet Jackson - janet. - (Virgin 1993)
This is Janet's true coming-out party—as a confident, mature solo act in her own right, as a pre-boho sexpot, and as a singer as sly as the beats she writhed on. Jodeci - Diary of a Mad Band - (MCA/Uptown 1993)
After winning women's hearts with their debut, Jodeci just wanted to get them wet with Diary. It's chock full of explicit jams, and with enough tenderness to satisfy romantics. R. Kelly -12 Play - (Jive 1993)
A breakthrough for modern R&B: Robert Kelly did away with inhibition ("I Like the Crotch On You") and simultaneously brought a tortured, soul man complexity to bump 'n' grind music. Tevin Campbell - I'm Ready - (Qwest/Warner Bros. 1993)
The cute little boy emerged a full-grown crooner on his second album. When Campbell asked "Can We Talk for a Minute?" on the Babyface-orchestrated hit, the answer was yes, we certainly could. Toni Braxton - Toni Braxton - (La Face 1993)
With her smoky alto and moody hits galore La Face Record's First Lady straddled old and new school R&B with a grown-up and at times mournful grace. Tony Toni Tone - Sons of Soul - (Mercury 1993)
Dwayne, Raphael and Tim together equal the triumph of TTT's third, best album, packed with seamless songs, from Oakland's finest, most soulfully idiosyncratic crew since Sly Stone was making his rowdy rounds. Brandy - Brandy - (Atlantic 1994)
Brandy's debut is slow, deliberate and naïve - not for lack of accomplishment, but because the best moments here sound as wide-eyed and new as a first date. Boyz II Men - II - (Motown 1994)
Thanks to a sultry collection of unabashedly romantic hits, this second album sold a gazillion and a half copies and solidified Boyz II Men as the biggest, most mature male vocal act of the '90s. TLC - CrazySexyCool - (La Face 1994)
Smoother and sexier than their cartoonish debut, CrazySexyCool was the pinnacle of one of R&B's best-selling female groups of all time. This is where pop and R&B luminously met in the middle. Faith Evans - Faith - (Bad Boy 1995)
The First Lady of Bad Boy proved herself more than just Biggie's wife on her sultry, somber debut. Later albums found a stronger, spiritually-sound Faith, but it was never as good as the first time. Mariah Carey - Daydream - (Columbia 1995)
A pre-emancipation Mimi gave her stylistic range a workout: she begins to mingle with hip hop styles and reps for the adult contemporary—her bread and butter long before sexing things up. Blackstreet - Another Level - (Interscope 1996)
Harlem-bred convivial Teddy Riley was still a vibrant writer and producer and with this crew, his third, he takes tired, smoothed-out mid-90s R&B conceits and throws meaningful oomph behind it. Dru Hill - Dru Hill - (Island 1996)
Amped by Jodeci-esque vocal pyrotechnics and Sisqó, a flamboyant lead singer who broke the Boyz II Men mold, Dru Hil introduced an edgy, sensual style to the masses. Maxwell - Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite - (Columbia 1996) As cool as he was hot, Maxwell epitomized the loverman as hip urban sophisticate. Like Sade, his debut shimmered with sexy atmosphere and became a quintessential soundtrack for late, lovemaking nights. Mary J. Blige - My Life - (MCA 1994)
The perfect soundtrack for the brokenhearted. With Sean "Puffy" Combs guiding her muse and Chucky Thompson laying down spare but recognizable grooves, Mary moved away from hip hop inflections on this follow-up to 1992's What's The 411? and began her run as modern soul's greatest torch singer. This shift to darkness is as plainly blue as the tint on the album cover.

Article tags: VIBE, 150, R&B 

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