Just crossing the transom this morning: Big Mike and DJ Neptune’s new mixtape R & B Kings 2009, which apparently came out last week and bubbled its way to various pop-leak blogs today. It has new tracks by—count ‘em—Chris Brown and Rihanna and Justin Timberlake and Usher. (Also 50 Cent, but he sucks.) A rundown of the best brand-new tracks (with probably-not-long-for-this-world YouTube links) after the jump!
Usher, “First Class Flight (To The Moon)”: Usher rewrites Ne-Yo’s “Closer.” It sounds better than anything on Here I Stand, but you have to admit that’s a pretty low bar.
Justin Timberlake, “Bigger Than The World”: A Timbaland-produced midtempo joint that has JT singing in a fairly restrained falsetto. The beat is what’s front-and-center here; I can’t quite figure out if it’s fashioned from beatboxing, which makes the song even more intriguing. I expect this to get a lot of play over the coming weeks, mainly because I’ve already listened to it five times in the past hour.
Chris Brown, “Comeback (Such A Lie)”: What if “Cry Me A River” was wound around a flute sample? It would sound like this.
Rihanna, “How I Like It”: Rihanna’s transformation into a new-wave throwback continues with this sinewy, grinding track that’s sorta reminiscent of “Disturbia.”
Bobby Valentino feat. Ludacris, “Me & You”: My favorite track on the mix, a straight-up old-school confessional ballad with a fantastic, drowsy horn break. Even Ludacris’ verse is really sweet and romantic.
There’s also Ciara’s reworking of Beyonce’s “Diva,” which is OK if a bit predictable in both concept and execution. But overall, this mix has made me pretty excited!
R & B Kings 2009: Includes New Rihanna and Justin Timberlake Tracks [New Music Freak]
I like that JT song. Very pretty.
Agreed. The rest is just kind of meh, but that could be the poor sound quality.
Can I just say that I got all sorts of excited by just reading the headline before clicking to see what would come after the jump?
I agree. Nothing much worth listening to except Bobby Valentino. It will be an outstanding RnB song. And it is actually real, soulful RnB – not much of that out today(just ‘pop n B). But it sounds a lot like an ol Toney Toni Tony song – and I think that was called – Just me and you…also. But maybe 2009 will be the comeback of real RnB with Tank, Jaheim, Jamie Foxx, etc…
@olskoool: Why is Bobby Valentino perpetually underrated and underappreciated?
And when it comes to real R&B, don’t forget Keyshia Cole! She’s KILLING it on the road right now, stealing the “I Am Music” tour from T-Pain and Lil Wayne. Plus her reality show is beyond addicting.