Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Brother Where Art Thou Soul? .

As I sit here listening to Sam Cooke belt out "A Change Is Gonna Come" something struck me that over the last 20 years in R&B, there has been a problem...it's called "SANG-ING!" 




Yes, there are some great singers currently out there but most of them you may not even heard of since they are indie or so far underground it will take Chilean miners and 3 moles to find them. I miss the days of Donny, Luther, Stevie, Bobby (not Brown) Womack, Otis and Al just to say name a few. There are a few cats out there now that have most definitely been influenced by the kings of yesteryear. Such as R. Kelly, Jaheim, Bilal, Anthony Hamilton and Raheem Devaughn. It is crazy to me how soul music is perceived now. If it isn't overproduced with catchy hooks it doesn't sell. Hell, they don't even care if you can sing now. It's all about having that 15-minutes of fame song that will be on the Top 100 Digital Charts. I don't know about you but just like how I like my women, I like my music with--substance. It doesn't take a genius to write "Birthday Sex", hell I can get sex when it's not even my birthday! But it does takes a genius to write "Rocket Love" and to sing 


"I longed for since I was born 
A woman sensitive and warm  
And that you were 
With pride and strength no one would test 
But yet have feminine finesse 
And so much more"



Now that is what you call a song. 



I know how things happen in cycles and phases but I sure hope that the phase of wack music ends soon. I want my soul back and I want it now! I wish I could have lived and experienced the early Motown years or had a chance to see Black Moses (Issac Hayes) in concert. Don't get me wrong I love music if I didn't I would have never got into radio, programmed for both Yahoo and AOL Radio, worked at Bad Boy. But I do have an issue with the lack of love in music today. So I say this my fellow lovers of music...let's get some soul back into our music! I would hate to raise my kids on BS tunes! Bring on the SANG-ING!!!


Check out some flavor from some of the torch carriers of soul music! Eric Roberson, Bilal and Anthony David. Enjoy. 










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