This past Tuesday Hudson dropped her 3rd album Jhud exactly a year after it’s first single. Toting production from the legend Pharrell Williams and newcomer Mali Music, Hudson can pour her heart and soul into tracks like “Moan” about her mother, describe her love for the Chi Town in “Walk It Out”, and team up with the likes of R. Kelly, and even Iggy Azalea. Find the whole album right here!
As she said in an interview with Billboard:
A part of my dream was for my fans to know me. I don’t feel like anything in the album was forced — it’s a reflection of me as a person, as a music lover, as a songwriter. There are a lot of different elements of J.Hud or Jennifer in there, which is what I’m introducing everyone to.
With our emergence as one of the newest beefy tags on Genius, we recently we’re #blessed with our own forum! Fellow community member beesknees came up with the idea of making the ultimate R&B playlists, and over the coming weeks we’ll be featuring them on site! For now, enjoy fellow Genius treflip’s playlist:
Frank Ocean — “Forrest Gump”
The Impressions — “People Get Ready”
Common feat. Mary J. Blige — “Come Close”
Mary J. Blige — “Be Without You”
John Legend — “Ordinary People”
Drake feat. Trey Songz and Lil Wayne — “Successful”
Aloe Blacc — “I Need a Dollar”
BJ the Chicago Kid — “Skate”
Nina Simone — “Sinner man”
9th Wonder feat. Median and Mela Machinko — “Now I’m Being Cool”
Chris Brown — “Forever”
Frank Ocean — “Swim Good”
While Raury may have made a risky choice to focus on music at just 17, with cosigns ranging from Pro Era to Kid Cudi and even Kanye West, the project certainly lives up to it’s expectations – and then some. With the R&B influenced “Superfly” to the more rock inflienced track “Cigarette Song”, Raury possesses a unique array of styles that lets him flourish on every record. In an interview with Billboard he stated the concept on the record:
Indigo Child is a series of life changing movies. I like to make songs that are cinematic in a way. This project speaks from the perspective of young kids today. It’s very inspirational and to the people that listen to it, it’ll make them want to go and find what they love and use that shit to take over the world.
Find the whole album annotated here on Genius!
In our next installment of playlist themes, we take you through a journey of some of contemporary R&B’s era defining records from the 2000s, so sit back and enjoy the music, lyrics and annotations in store:
- Craig David — “7 Days”
- Mary J. Blige — “Family Affair”
- USHER — “Confessions Pt. 2”
- Alicia Keys — “If I Ain’t Got You”
- R. Kelly — “Ignition (Remix)”
- Beyoncé — “Crazy In Love”
- Mario — “Let Me Love You”
- Ne-Yo — “So Sick”
- Mariah Carey — “We Belong Together”
- Maxwell — “Pretty Wings”
We sat down with Jhene Aiko at the Def Jam offices last week to talk about the release of her debut album, Souled Out. Watch her explain her process in writing for The Pressure, having her brother and daughter on Promises, and finishing Pretty Bird last minute.
These last couple of days we’ve gotten huge surprises out of R&B. Rising starlet Tinashe dropped a “leak” off her upcoming debut album Aquarius on Monday called “Feels Like Vegas”. For people who like her breakout single “2On”, you won’t be disappointed with Tinashe’s soothing vocals and some airy StarGate production.
The day before the undefinable Childish Gambino dropped off a rough cut of a track called “Sober”, set to be on his upcoming double sided mixtape S T N / M T N Kauai. While mostly known for his rapping and acting, Donal flexes his vocal ability while crooning about a failing relationship. Check both tracks here and here!
With our emergence as one of the newest beefy tags on Genius, we recently we’re #blessed with our own forum! Fellow community member beesknees came up with the idea of making the ultimate R&B playlists, and over the coming weeks we’ll be featuring them on site! For now, enjoy fellow Genius BringThe707Out’s playlist:
- The Weeknd — “Lonely Star”
- Frank Ocean ft. Life Of The Party— “Pink Matter”
- The Weeknd — “Rolling Stone”
- Drake ft. The Weeknd — “Crew Love”
- John Legend — “All of Me”
- Jeremih ft. Chance the Rapper — “The End of the World”
- The Worst ft. Childish Gambino — “Bed Peace Remix *”
- Raury — “Cigarette Song”
- Miguel — “Kaleidoscope Dream”
- The Weeknd — “Echoes of Silence”
Around a month ago we got graphic designer Chris Le verified. He did the cover art for The Worst’s “Sail Out” and the newly released Souled Out. Today he hopped on and did one epic annotation about the collaboration between the two, and included how he made the artwork and even some unreleased designs. Check everything out here and comment which design is your favorite!
Continuing with our spotlights on the community playlists, it’s time to wipe the dust off your old mix tapes and get ready to take a trip down memory lane as we recall some of the greatest R&B records from the golden era. This one comes from user zk123
- Donnell Jones — “U Know What’s Up”
- Aaliyah — “One In A Million”
- Ginuwine — “Pony”
- Montell Jordan – “This Is How We Do It”
- Fugees — “Killing Me Softly”
- Mark Morrison — “Return Of The Mack”
- Monica & Brandy — “The Boy Is Mine”
- Usher — “You Make Me Wanna”
- TLC — “Waterfalls”
- R Kelly — “Did You Ever Think”
- Ini Kamoze — “Here Come The Hotstepper”
- Janet Jackson – “Got ‘Til It’s Gone ”
We here at R&B Genius have been pushing community efforts since we have achieved beefy tag status. We are doing a new series of weekly roundups to showcase the awesome work you as a community do each and every day. Help us work on the new Chris Brown album, make your own R&B playlist, and so much more!
