Anyone who knows R&B, knows that the 90’s had the best R&B. The debate is who is the “king” of R&B. If you are into today’s R&B, you may have heard of the king of “eeee”, Jacquees.
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Jacquees claims to be the “King of R&B”; I’m guessing he means of today’s generation. My issue with this is…he disregarded Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Daniel Caesar, Eric Bellinger, the list can go on. What baffles me is…Jacquees’ single “B.E.D” was part of the bridge of R&B Avant’s song “Read Your Mind.” THEN there’s him making a Quemix to Ella Mai’s “Trip” record. I loved the remix BTW, but he’s clearly not original. He’s seen on YouTube remaking Chris Brown “Yoooo” song and Soul For Real’s “Candy Rain” videos. Oh Jacquees (eye roll).
The way I see it, there are different kinds of categories to place artists a far as the “King of R&B”. There’s different eras like the 80’s R&B, the 90’s R&B, the 2000’s R&B and the 2010’s R&B. Now, we can split those decades up by early 80’s, 90′ 00’s 10’s and the same for the mid/late decade.
For the 80’s, the R&B Kings were:
Luther Vandross (1981-1988)
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Bobby Brown (1986-1988)
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Teddy Pendergrass (1980-1988; and late 1970’s)
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90’s
Keith Sweat (1991-1998) (late 80’s)
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R. Kelly (1992-1998) (00’s too)
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Usher (1994-1999)
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00’s
Usher (again; 2001-2016)
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Chris Brown (2005- currently)
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Trey Songz (2005-currently)
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Ne-Yo (2006-currently)
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Tha Dream (2007-2009) (2012-2016)
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So after that break down, you can tell that there’s some overlapping, like the 90’s singers dipped into the 00’s and the 00’s dipped into the 2010’s. These artists have worked hard enough to earn the title or even QUALIFY for being the “King of R&B”
Jacquees has started this uproar and he probably did it intentionally with his sneaky ass. BUT he had the audacity to interrupt a cameraman asking Keith Sweat about the King of R&B debate. Keith barely had the chance to answer before lil Jac-ki-ki popped up out of nowhere adding his two sense saying he was the King of R&B for the 16-25 age crowd. BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY PLEASE! YOU JUST CAME OUT! Luckily Uncle Keith didn’t sweat it (did ya catch that?) and said he was the King of getting the bag. Lil Jacq-ki-ki need to respect his elders in the music game, sit back, and try to sell out an arena or something.
I feel like, if you are good at something, then let someone else give you a reigning title. I don’t recall hearing Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass bickering about who was better during their time. OR Tyrese and Usher. If you are the best at your craft during a certain period of time, stay humble, at least until you win a Grammy or something.
I’ll say it again, Jacquees needs to sit down somewhere and respect the game AND this new generation of artists need to stop overusing the term “King.” You got Tekashi69 saying he’s the “king” of New York. I’m no big New York fan but i’m pretty sure Jay-Z wouldn’t pass that torch to him.
Let’s just pray that Jacquees humbles himself and retracts his statement.
It’s that time of year again, checking out who had a great year, as far as entertainment goes. Let’s start with:
Ella Mai
thesource.com
She first got noticed by big-time producer Dj Mustard through her singing covers on Instagram. She dropped three EPs before this year but REALLY got noticed to the world, with her “Boo’d Up” single. The radio PLAYED OUT that single but it worked out her Ella’s favor because it was No. 1 on the Billboard Charts for R&B/Hip Hop Airplay. She has became the first female R&B singer of the 2010’s to have the longest running No. 1 single, which was 13 weeks. BTW, it’s STILL on the charts. Then there’s “Trip”, another No. 1 single, that’ still on charts (not No. 1) and NOW she just released her newest single “Shot Clock.” Ella Mai is on fire and definitely had a great year. Her album Ella Mai went gold just a week after it was released. I’m excited to see what she comes out with next year.
Tiffany Haddish
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She is a talented comedian who literally started from the bottom, to being in foster care, to sleeping in her car, to doing stand up to finally getting into movies. Last year she became the New York Times Best Seller with her book The Last Black Unicorn and just this year she’s starred in three films. Uncle Drew, which came out in July, Night School in September and Nobody’s Fool in November; not to mention she has a show with Tracey Morgan, that came out in March called the The Last OG. I love her story and I love to see her win.
Meek Mill
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Meek was locked up in November 2017 due to a probation violation. He was sentenced to 2-4 years in prison. He was released in April due to a judge order. Less than three months later, he dropped a successful EP titled Legends of the Summer and he just released Championship on November, which has been successful. The album has peaked at No. 1 on the Rap Album category on Billboard. His single “Going Bad” with Drake has peaked at No. 2 on the Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales Billboard charts. “What’s Free” featuring Rick Ross and Jay-Z peaked at number No. 3 on the Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales Billboard charts. He’s still fighting the case but in the mean time, he’s using his time wisely and getting his coins.
Cardi B
thatgrapejuice.net
It’s no surprise that this woman has had a great year BUT if ya forgot, let me remind you. Her album Invasion of Privacy debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart. When “Bodak Yellow” first came out, it was No. 1 on the charts for three weeks and stayed on the charts for 35 weeks. “I Like It” peaked at No. 1 as week and remained on the charts on 36 weeks (and counting). Her WHOLE album charted and was part of the top 100 rap songs. AND every song on her album has been certified, ranging from gold to 7x Platinum. GON HEAD CARDI! Not to mention her current song “Money” has peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard chart and has been on the charts for 8 weeks. I’m not doubting that 2019 will be a great year for her. Keep going sis!
Michael B. Jordan
thestar.com
It’s no secret that Michael B. Jordan has been on his shit this year. With Black Panther dropping in February to Creed 2 recently dropping in November, he’s had a busy year. Both roles required a lot of working out, fighting and mindet changing. In Black Panther, he played Killmonger, a misunderstood bad guy, but he had to switch to his mindset to match the revenge seeking villian. He even said that after shooting the film, he had to take a break before shooting Creed 2 but playing Killmonger, drained him. With Creed 2, his character had to train to fight his father’s killer, son. In the film he suffered from rib injuries and even though those injuries weren’t real, playing a boxing role takes a lot of energy and dedication. I commend him on knocking out these two tough roles this year. His hard work paid off because Black Panther grossed over $1 Billion in ticket sales. Creed 2 grossed $55 million it’s opening weekend. It seems like every movie that he’s starred in has had major success minus one. Clearly he’s on the roll, and I can’t wait to see his next films, preferably some sequels.
Travis Scott
celebsnetworthtoday.com
Travis’ album Astroworld went number 1 on the charts and stayed there for 8 weeks. He’s also gone on tour already. He’s had a busy year, and has gotten recognized more than what he has in the past. His song “Sicko Mode” featuring has been number 1 on the Hip Hop charts as well. He also welcomed his first child this year with Kylie Jenner. I’m proud of his success and respect his craft. Any artist who’s good at their craft, stays out of drama, he doesn’t appear cocky and minds his business deserves to win.
Ariana Grande
onstageweb.com
This young lady has had a rough but successful year. Her album Sweetener was released in August of this year, which debuted on the Billboard Top 200 in it’s first week and charted internationally. Ariana and her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller broke up in May and he ended up dying of a suicide in September. In June of this year, she became exclusive with Pete Davidson and got engaged. Just one month after Mac’s death, she and Pete broke up. With her having a rough year just within a few months, she found a way to channel her pain. In November, she released her single “thank u, next,” a song dedicated to her exes. The song charted immediately to No. 1 on Billboard and the video became the biggest music video debut in YouTube History. The “thank u, next” video earned over 55 million views in just 24 hours. Four days later, it received 100 million views, making it the fastest video to earn that amount of views in such a short time. She also performed “Natural Woman” at Aretha Franklin’s funeral in August and she did really good! To top it off, she’s been nominated for two Grammys, one for Best Pop Solo Performance for “God is a Woman” and Best Pop Vocal Album. Gon head Ariana!
These are MY top 7, comment below and tell me who you think had a great year.
As the year comes to an end, we should take the time to reflect on all the music that’s dropped this year. In June, I posted a mid-year albums released so far. If you haven’t checked it out, here it is –>2018 Albums – January to June
So, from July to December, here’s what’s dropped:
August:
Travis Scott – Astroworld
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YG – Stay Dangerous
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Nicki Minaj – Queen
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Eminem – Kamikaze
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September
6lack – East Atlanta Love Letter
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Lil Wayne – Carter V
October
Ella Mai – Ella Mai
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Quavo – Huncho
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Jeremih & Ty Dolla $ign – MIH-TY
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November
Takeoff – The Last Rocket
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Lil Baby – Street Gossip
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Meek Mill – Championships
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Trey Songz – 11 & 28
Offset still has an album to release as well.
What have been your favorite albums this year? Comment below and let me know!!
I’m late I know. I seen this movie about 3-4 weeks ago and never got around to writing a review BUT…
I coincidentally stumbled across the book The Hate U Give about a month and a half ago and then found out that this was the movie that I had been seeing previews for. Of course movies never play out how they were written in the book but the movie did a good job of getting 70% close.
First off, the book was beautiful, sad but it’s reality. If you’re unaware of the book, here is a synopsis:
The book is about a teenager named Starr. She stays in Garden Heights, a black neighborhood with crime but she goes to a private school 45 minutes away. She has two brothers and is the middle child, her mom is a nurse and her dad is a former felon who owns the neighborhood market. Starr is riding with one of her childhood friends when they get pulled over by the police. The officer kills her friend in front of her and she is the only witness to tell what really happened. In the midst of all this, there’s the neighborhood’s biggest drug dealer, King who is head of the gang King Lords. King is also/was good friends with Starr’s dad and he’s Starr’s best friend,Kenya, dad.
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Starr gets the courage to do a TV interview with her face bleeped out and she reveals too much information about “The neighborhood drug dealer” and of course that narrows down to King. How the topic came up was because Khalil’s mother use to work for King and she owed him money and she was supposed to provide for her family (Khalil and his little brother). Since Khalil stayed with his grandmother and she could only do so much, he started selling drugs to provide for his family and help pay his mother’s debt. King wanted revenge for Starr “snitching” even though she didn’t say any names.
In the midst off all this craziness, Starr has to go to school and act like nothing is going on but her white boyfriend (Chris) and friends sense something is wrong. Chris later finds out that she knew Khalil from her TV interview, even though her face was blurred out, he should know his girlfriend’s demeanor right? Starr’s friends found out because they use to attend her old birthday parties that Khalil would go to and her friend stumbled across an old picture of all of them and put the pieces together. Starr was really living two lives, one surrounded by entitled, preppy white kids and the other life surrounded by her people, with a little violence.
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After everything is exposed, the verdict comes out and the grand jury decided that they weren’t going to indict the officer; in so many words, he’s innocent. Haven’t we seen that same story so many times. When the announcement is made on the TV, all hell breaks loose in the community. There was peaceful protest Starr finally decided to make her appearance and let it be known that she was the witness. She gave a heartfelt speech, ending it with a chant “His life mattered” before the police started getting aggressive and throwing teargas. The scene was hectic so her, her big brother and boyfriend decided to escape to her Dad’s store to recuperate from all the tear gas. In the midst of all that, “someone” throws a flamed bottle into the store as Starr and everyone else are locked in. Luckily Starr’s dad came in the nick of time to get them out. All arrows are pointed to King because he was at the scene of the crime laughing with his crew, watching the store burn down. This was one of those moment that community came together and told the police who caused the fire, King. The story has a happy ending, including Starr and her family moving out of the neighborhood AND her dad being able to rebuild the shop.
Now, the movie…
The Tramatic Night
On the night of Khalil’s death, Everything went according to the book until Starr and Khalil kissed in his car in the movie. Not to say it didn’t make the scene better, because it did, but just calling out that, that part wasn’t in the book.
credit: rogersmovienation.com
In the movie, When the officer pulled them over, Starr instructed Khalil to put his hands on the dashboard because that is what her father taught her, dealing with his past. Khalil was really nonchalant about it of course because as we all think ” I didn’t do anything wrong. Why you pulling me over?” Khalil didn’t listen and then the officer asked him to get out the car. As the officer began to search him, he made some inappropriate comments like “oh you’re trying to score with her tonight” (referencing Starr). All of that was not in the book.
Where’s Devante?
If you read the book, you would know about Devante, but he was nowhere to be found in the movie. If you aren’t familiar, Devante was one of the King Lords who worked directly for King. He was the guy that Starr’s friend Kenya was crushing on and he was the reason Kenya wanted to fight the girl at the party. Starr first officially met Devante at the basketball court with her brother. It was then that she found out that Devante’s brother was the one shot and killed at the party.
As time goes on, Devante comes in Starr’s dad store seeking help. He stole a couple thousand dollars from King and he needed a place to stay and work, so to help him, Mav (Starr’s dad) hired him on at the store and let him stay at they’re house. This escalated when King somehow found out that Mav was hiding Devante. Of course Mav lied to King but in order to protect Devante further, he send Devante to stay with his brother in law, Carlos. From then on Devante was exposed to a safer and better life UNTIL he decides to go see his brother at the cemetery an some of King’s workers spot him and beat him up. Starr, Seven, and Chris find Devante at King’s house, with the help of Kenya since she stays there as well, and they get him out safely. While in the car, that’s when they find out the verdict that the officer who killed Khalil will not be prosecuted. Then the book transitions into the protest that happens in the book.
They Really Did Move…
In the movie, Starr’s family didn’t move, but in the book they did. Matter of fact they moved before the verdict was announced.
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The Ending.
At the end of the movie, after Mav gets Starr and Seven out of the burning shop, her mom and little brother show up. As I stated before, King was across the street laughing s the shop burned down and just when they were about to fight, the police showed up. Words were exchanged and then WHOA! The little brother Sekani is holding a gun, pointing it at King. THAT WAS NOT IN THE BOOK and boy did it have my heart beating. Mav had to deescalate the situation and everyone in that moment, even the police, had to self-reflect and come to terms that we need to stop the violence. No one got hurt in the situation this was one of the times that Mav had to fess up and tell the police that King set the shop on fire. He had to protect what was his.
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One of the main things that was in the book and movie was that Khalil loved listening to Tupac and in that brief moment that him and Starr reunited, he told her that THUG LIFE really meansTheHateUGiveLittleInfantsFucksEverybody, hence..The title of the book. That hate you give (teach) your children, they grow up having to life a differently. For example, if a white couple have children and they teach them that black people are worthless and trouble, then those children are going to grow up treating black people without any respect and more importantly stereotyping them, us, ME. On the other hand, if a black couple have children and they teach them that if someone tries to hurt their family, then you must protect the family at all costs, even if it means killing someone, even the police, hence Sekani. Sekani probably felt that his family was in danger so he pointed the gun to protect his family. Luckily he didn’t tho.
Overall, I LOVED the book. The movie was about 70-80% right but it was still good. To add more drama, I wish they would’ve kept Devante in the movie. I loved the message but this is everyday life for Black America; police shooting an unarmed black man and claiming that they feared for their life because they thought the black man had a gun, but it was really a hand brush or a cell phone. Hopefully this movie AND book will send out another message on a deeper level for white america, and even other races who automatically put black men, and black people of that matter, at fault when we are put in situations. We obey, we listen, we respond, but all that doesn’t matter when it’s truly the color of our skins that the police fear.
Also, Rest to the Screenwriter for the film Audrey Wells. She passed away Thursday October 4, a day before the film was released. I know she will be proud of the movie’s success. May she rest in peace!
Tell me what you think of the movie and or book if you seen or read it.
I went to see Tyler Perry’s new movie Nobody’s Fool. Check out my review below on DeluxMag.com:
Tyler Perry released his first Rated R movie—Nobody’s Fool over the weekend—and I decided to check it out. Mainly because Tiffany Haddish is the best female comedian out right now.
The movie is about Danica (played by Tika Sumpter) dating a guy named Charlie online but has never met him before. Her sister Tanya (played by Tiffany Haddish) gets out of jail and finds out that her sister could possibly be getting catfished, so she decided to intervene and call Nev & Max from the show Catfish.
Of course, things didn’t add up…at the time, so Danica was feeling down. In between time. she goes to this coffee shop every morning before work to get her coffee and Frank, played by Omari Hardwick, is feeling her. Unfortunately, she’s not interested because she is somewhat high maintenance and she just sees him as a coffee shop owner.
She finally comes to her senses—gets with Frank—then the real Charlie shows up. Danica entertains him, and it turns out he was all that she was expecting. So, she has to win Frank back over, which she eventually did in the end.
SO I’ve been jamming to Ella Mai’s new (AND first official) album all weekend self-titled Ella Mai and it took my two times to get into it. Overall I enjoyed it.
[Side bar] Remember in her last EP, when the songs would end, she would stat talking and intro the next song? Well that’s what she did with this album. She uses the first letters of her name to describe the song.
She starts off the album with Efor “Emotion”, in the song Good Bad. She just talks about being good and bad for a guy; just like guys can be good for us but at the same time can be bad for us.
The next song “Dangerous” is about being with someone can be dangerous but she’ll take the risk because of love. (that’s deep , right?)
The fourth song is “Sauce”, she talks about having sauce, swag in simpler terms, and how she’ll be cool with a guy but she can’t deal with him on a different level and she’s honest with him about it.
The fifth song is “Whatchamacall“ it, which she intros as Lfor Lust. The song features the talented Chris Brown, and they talk about cheating but sugarcoat saying it’s not cheating but instead it’s a “What cha ma call it” LOL.
The next track is “Cheap Shot” is Ella talking about how a guy caught her attention when she wasn’t looking, probably at a vulnerable place in her life. She goes on saying that the pain she had plus having him in her life makes her do things that she wouldn’t typically do. That could be good or bad.
The seventh track Shot Clock is one of my favorites. It’s about a dude trying step to her but he kind of stalling and she telling him he’s got 24 seconds to say what he’s got to say or he’ll miss his opportunity.
The eighth track she intros as the second Lin her name, signifying Love, which is what Boo’d Up; which everyone knows since the radio has played it out. Self -explanatory.
The 9th song, “Everything” featuring John Legend is another one of my favs. She talks about how he, a boyfriend, pays attention to everything about her, and how he keeps her on her toes. She sees their relationship as being something that can last forever. Mr. John Legend himself comes in and sings his verse from the man perspective of course, stating the same things, how he loves that his lady pays attention.
The next song, she intros as Afor assertive, for the song “Own It”. Ella Mai gets naughty and samples Adina Howard’s “T-Shirt & Panties”. She talks about waiting and wanting her man and saying she’s ready for him. She said she’ll let him play in it, stay in it, taste it ALL DAT! But y’all gotta listen to it lol.
The 11th track she intros as M for mystery for the song Run My Mouth. She’s naughty in this song too, saying she wants her guy satisfaction, so good that it makes her wanna run her mouth and tell. UH HUH! I know that’s right Ella.
The 12th song “Gut Feeling” features H.E.R. and it’s self-explantory, having a gut feeling that your guy is cheating on you. Could it be your institution or just you overthinking the situation?
The next song is “Trip” which stands for A in Mai, for Aware. I think this is a good transition from “Gut Feeling”, because that’s her possibly overthinking, then Trip comes on and it’s like “dang my bad, I’ve been trippin.”
The 14th track, “Close” is about her wanting to be physically close to her guy, so she can kiss on him. Pretty simple right lol
The 15th track intros the last letter, I for Inner for the track “Easy.” Another simple songs, she says Love is easy so why make it hard. It’s easier said than done for some people.
The last song “Naked” another favorite and was even on her previous EP. Ella want her guy to love her naked, not just the clothes but without make up and all that. (Ain’t that beautiful?)
Well, like i said, I really enjoyed her album and I’ve been listening to it non-stop for 4 days.
What are your thoughts on the album? Comment below and let me know!
I published my first story with Delux Mag. Check it out below:
Is comedian beef, the new beef?
In the past few months, comedians such as Michael Blackson, Katt Williams and Mike Epps have been having a common beef, or disagreement with someone specific—Kevin Hart. The instance just this year was Kevin Hart and Michael Blackson. Kevin spoke about cheating on his wife and turned lemons into lemonade by making the scandal into a comedy tour, but Michael Blackson felt the need to speak on it and even joke about it.
“It’s like you can talk about your sister—but nobody can else do it.” Blackson made jokes about Hart saying he should have changed his story and not admitted to cheating. Hart didn’t take his comments lightly and he responded on the Breakfast Club by saying, “Michael was looking for likes and he’s jeopardizing his relationship with him, just to get some attention.”
The back and forth went on for a couple months until they finally squashed it in April.Months later, Hart and Mike Epps had some exchanging of words. Epps replied to a fan’s comment on Instagram by saying, “Everybody was funnier than Kevin Hart.” Of course, Hart didn’t take that lightly and responded to Epps on Instagram calling him bitter and stating he wants to see him win as well.
He added that if his success makes Epps sick, then he’ll hand him a throw up bucket because this next year will be his best year. Epps responded back on Instagram, stating, “Kevin is “starving” to be a victim and he talks about everybody.”
He continued with pointing out everybody has something to say about Hart, so he shouldn’t be singled out. Both Epps and Hart have been cool for years, and he states there isn’t a beef, and if it was he wouldn’t have responded. The last thing he said in that moment on Instagram was “Like I told you face to face Congrats on everything man. You seem to be a great person…but I still don’t think yo a** funny.”
![[DELUX Mag] Nobody’s Fool Movie Review](https://daniigold.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/fool2.jpg?w=600&h=368&crop=1)
![[DELUX MAG]: Is Comedy Beef the New Beef?](https://daniigold.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/kevin-hart-beefs-resize.jpg?w=500&h=374&crop=1)
Danii Gold 