The many faces of R ’n B

The R ’n B genre today encompasses many strands of music. There’s your sweet, soul music, there’s your dance tracks, there’s rap, hip-hop, variants that spring from merging reggae and dance, and countless other formats that still fall under the heading R ’n B. Two leading lights, one an artist, the other a producer; and a luminary from years past who recently visited Manila, are in the spotlight today.

Playlist by Babyface. Kenneth “Babyface”  Edmonds really ruled the charts as a singer and producer some 10 years ago. He has always been an interesting artist, ably representing the softer side of R ’n B, like the heir apparent of artists like Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. But the CD comes out of left field, showcasing a side of Babyface that can only be described as his “white bread” side. One either loves this or ends up scratching one’s head wondering why he bothered. What we get are basically covers of songs by artists such as James Taylor (Shower the People and Fire and Rain), Dan Fogelberg (Longer), David Gates (Diary), Bob Dylan (Knocking on Heaven’s Door) and Jim Croce (Time in a Bottle). They all get a Babyface treatment, and some really work, but never stray too far from the original.

Timbaland Presents Shock Value by Timbaland. Known more as a producer, Timbaland takes center stage in his own way with the CD that has him playing puppet master all over the place. The key word here is collaboration; and you won’t find a much better example of the process. When it works, it sizzles; but one can’t help feeling that some editing of tracks could have been considered to give the final product true diversity and vision. Fall Out Boy, One Republic, Nelly Furtado. The Hives. These are some of the collaborations that work as choice cuts on the CD, and one can always count on his new discovery, vocalist Keri Hilton to deliver, even when she’s sharing vocal chores with such established names as Nicole Scherzinger of Pussycat Dolls. It‘s an interesting project, and one that stamps Timbaland in a class of his own.

Graduation by Kanye West. Here again, the key word is collaboration as there are artists from all over the music industry popping up on the various tracks. But what holds these artists together is Kanye’s very singular vision. After calling his first two CD’s College Dropout and Late Registration, Kanye resumes his “scholarly” journey with the third CD. And education has never been more fun or raucous. John Legend on Good Life, Coldplay’s Chris Martin on Homecoming, Mos Def, and samples from Daft Punk, Steely Dan, and Michael Jackson, to name a few. It seems there’s no stopping Kanye and his ego-tripping for our enjoyment. Baseball (thanks to a track titled Barry Bonds), basketball, the hood, the media and other hip-hop artists, they all get the Kanye treatment.