janetDAYZ Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Turn on your radio for an hour and you probably won’t hear an R&B record. Why is that? TGT’s Tank has the answer. This past week, he sat down for an extensive interview with Black Hollywood Live’s The Beat, and when the topic of the state of R&B came up, he broke it all the way down about what’s going on with the genre and why the listener is to blame for its lack of popularity at the mainstream level. According to Tank, we’re scared of R&B. While R&B ballads ruled Top 40 radio in the good ol’ days, it’s rare to find an “All The Way Home” or an “All Of Me” played on mainstream stations across the country. Going by what today’s listeners prefer, Boyz II Men’s “On Bended Knee” would flop harder than a fish out of water if it were released in 2014 and not 20 years ago. It’s just not “exciting” or “relatable” enough, says Tank. Name the last time you actually heard an R&B ballad or even mid-tempo played on mainstream radio. You won’t. It’s not exciting enough to them anymore. We’ve moved out of the age of romance and meeting the mom and the father before you take the girl out. Now it’s Twitter and Instagram and everything’s happening so fast that a ballad actually takes too long for the payoff. So, people actually really singing is too much to think about. Like, ‘I can’t sing along with that. Where’s the guy with the Auto-Tune? I can do that.’ And people are so far into the state of reality and being able to feel like they’re apart of it that it’s actually them, that if it’s too far above their heads, then they can’t relate. Despite the shade to Future, Tank may have a point. Read the comments on any R&B song from an artist and you’re very likely to see the word “flop” and “outdated” to describe the record, with many preferring a club banger instead because you can’t turn up to a slow jam. But it can’t just be about sex and the club all the time. Tank explains that artists should stop focusing on one subject and start making R&B music for everyone, something he says Pharrell, Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake are doing really well right now. We have to get back to making R&B for everybody. Not just for one place in time. Not just for the bedroom. Not just for the bathroom. But we’re are the “happy”R&B songs. If you think about it, “Happy” is an R&B record that Pharrell just made. That’s an old school, throwback R&B record. That’s what R&B used to sound like.[...] We have to get back to that. Making that kind of music. “Happy.” So we can sing on the Oscars, along with Pharrell, who’s… him, Robin Thicke, Justin Timberlake who are leading the charge in R&B music. We can’t hate! We can’t hate on what it is! The truth is what it is. And Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake are doing R&B music better than us. We need to catch up. Tank also touches on the controversy surrounding R&B and award shows. TGT, which also includes Tyrese and Ginuwine, were up for a Best R&B album Grammy but lost to Alicia Keys. Like India.Arie stated in her open letter shortly after the Grammys, the singer pretty much confirms that it’s really all a popularity contest. Tank suggests that producers, writers and other personnel that work on an album should vote rather than complain when they lose. What people don’t know about the Grammys is that we can vote. We get mad at the Grammys like, ‘oh you didn’t pick the right person!’ But did you vote? Did you sign up? Any of these guys that are artists and singers and writers and producers, did you sign up and vote and pay your dues and go to the meetings and try to make a difference in this process? If you didn’t, relax ’cause somebody did and that’s who voted for whoever won. It is what it is. Am I mad that we lost to Alicia Keys? Absolutely! Do I feel like we had the better album? Yeah! But did everybody that participated in the TGT album register and vote the Grammys? No they did not. We just wren’t popular in the back room. Alicia Keys is very popular in the back room. It probably wasn’t even a matter of what the record sounded like or who influenced it. I don’t point fingers. What am I gonna do about the fact that the AMA’s, in the R&B soul category, nominated Robin Thicke, Justin Timberlake and Rihanna? What am I gonna do about that? It’s not her fault that she’s in the R&B soul category. When R&B artist start singing about more than just sex and the club we’ll get our life back! #truth. Don’t pick an artist to direct my statement towards! The R&B community as a whole is in jeopardy! We ALL have work to do!.. Do you agree with Tank? Read more: Necole Bitchie.com: Tank: ‘Robin Thicke And Justin Timberlake Are Doing R&B Music Better Than Us’ http://necolebitchie.../#ixzz2t83zMRfp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aed05 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 What people don’t know about the Grammys is that we can vote. We get mad at the Grammys like, ‘oh you didn’t pick the right person!’ But did you vote? Did you sign up? Any of these guys that are artists and singers and writers and producers, did you sign up and vote and pay your dues and go to the meetings and try to make a difference in this process? If you didn’t, relax ’cause somebody did and that’s who voted for whoever won. It is what it is. Am I mad that we lost to Alicia Keys? Absolutely! Do I feel like we had the better album? Yeah! But did everybody that participated in the TGT album register and vote the Grammys? No they did not. We just wren’t popular in the back room. Alicia Keys is very popular in the back room. It probably wasn’t even a matter of what the record sounded like or who influenced it. I don’t point fingers. What am I gonna do about the fact that the AMA’s, in the R&B soul category, nominated Robin Thicke, Justin Timberlake and Rihanna? What am I gonna do about that? It’s not her fault that she’s in the R&B soul category. Read more: Necole Bitchie.com: Tank: ‘Robin Thicke And Justin Timberlake Are Doing R&B Music Better Than Us’ http://necolebitchie.../#ixzz2t83zMRfp This right here is true tea. Awards are very political 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock & Roll Hall of Game Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Who is Tank and was he ever popular And music changes.. Either change with it or get left behind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escapade Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Awards are a popularity contest anyway. I'm still pissed at J-Law winning that Golden Globe over Lupita. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarrylf Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Well he is right for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janetDAYZ Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Who is Tank and was he ever popular And music changes.. Either change with it or get left behind Well Ursher changed with it and still got left behind 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illi Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The problem is that R&B has not really changed since last decade. It really need a serious reinvention for the masses to give it a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janetDAYZ Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 ^That's practically what Tank was saying. He's saying r&b needs to be revamped and be for EVERYONE again instead if it being for a specific group. That's why he gave Pharell credit for the song "Happy" cuz its a nod to old school r&b that has a universal sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aed05 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The problem is that R&B has not really changed since last decade. It really need a serious reinvention for the masses to give it a look. What genre has changed dramatically over the course of the last ten years? Country, Rock and Gospel all still fundementally sound the same. Hip-hop and R&B merged with dance pop and have probably changed the most. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EphraimAdamz Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Well Ursher changed with it and still got left behind Raymond vs Raymond and Looking 4 Myself got American Music Awards, Billboard Awards, and Grammys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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