192. Uncle Sam - Uncle Sam (1997)

Boyz II Men launched their Stonecreek label in 1996 having had 2 massive albums and a couple of the highest selling singles ever. Their first (and only) signee to this ill-fated label was Uncle Sam, and despite the somewhat dodgy cover there is a lot to like about his debut album. He certainly has the vocal ability to stand his ground on an album awash with Boyz II Men backing vocals and stylistic tics. The album has a number of nice tracks such as "Can You Feel It", "You Make Me Feel Like", and the absolute stand out, the Shawn Stockman penned "Leave Well Enough Alone". It does tend to fade a bit toward the end of the album but overall, this is a nice album to just chuck on and chill out to.

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193. Bobby Valentino - Bobby Valentino (2005)

This is one of the newer albums on the list and one that might surprise many. 'Slow Down' was a huge hit from this album and it well and truly put the long time production duo of Tim & Bob back in the spotlight. Many artists subsequently used Tim & Bob to try and duplicate the success of 'Slow Down', but none captured the fresh new sound quite as well as Bobby did on his self-titled Debut album. Songs like 'Tell Me', 'My Angel' and 'Come Touch Me' are highlights of what was a solid all-round first effort from Bobby Valentino.

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194. Nicole (Wray) - Make It Hot (1998)

A nice little album here by Missy Elliott. Oh wait sorry, this is Nicole's album. My mistake. Honestly this album by Nicole could have had anyone singing the lyrics and I would have liked it. Its all about that Missy/Timbaland combo for me. This isn't their greatest effort by a long shot but it still has all the quirks and idiosyncrasies you would expect to hear. Nicole does a serviceable enough job, but you can thank Missy and Timbo for this album making into the Top 200.


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Bonus: Damn, these bonuses are starting to get regular. For all those people who haven't been able to track it down, here is the unreleased album by Missy's first group 'Sista' called 'To All The Sistas Around The World'. Produced entirely by Timbaland and Mr DeVante Swing.












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195. TQ - They Never Saw Me Coming (1998)

Remember TQ? What do you mean no? Well, I cant blame you I guess. While he has had three albums released (his second album 'Second Coming' was released in the UK only, his third 'Listen' found limited only minimal success) TQ is probably best known for his 1999 single 'Westside'. I remember being quite surprised when I heard this album as I had never really liked listening to singers who, for all intents and purposes, sang rap lyrics. It always sounded incongruous to me and ended up sounding like someone who couldn't decide whether they wanted to be a singer or rapper. If you are going to sing, sing. If you are going to rap, rap. Simple right? Well, TQ made me see the error of my ways and led me from ignorance. Well, almost anyway. What this album does is capture the feeling of what the artist wanted to convey at the same time as telling you exactly whats going on in TQ's world. Most R&B is generic. Lets face it, thats part of its appeal. The guys are singing to all women. The women are singing to all the fellas out there. This album sounds like someone is telling you a story about their life. I can only assume thats because of the balance between rap and r&b. Its quite possibly the only time i've come across it. DRS tried, but failed (IMO). So for its uniqueness, TQ's 'They Never Saw Me Coming' gets to set up shop at number 195 on the Top 200.

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Bonus: Like a lot of artists, TQ started out in a group before going solo. Coming of Age released two albums in the early nineties, 'Comin Correct' in 1995 and their debut self-titled album in 1993. Check out the latter at the link below.














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196. Hi-Five - Keep It Goin' On (1992)

While their biggest hit was 'I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)', from their debut self-titled album, my favourite Hi-Five song has always been 'She's Playing Hard to Get'. So when it came time to pick between the two, 'Keep It Goin On' eventually got the call up. Thats not to say I didn't have my doubts about putting this album on here. I have to say, I've never been a fan of Tony Thompson's voice at all. It always sounded a bit too whiny and high for my liking. At the end of the day though, the melodies and sing-along-ability ( I just made up a word) of their more uptempo tracks have you singing so loudly you cant hear Tony anyway (of course having the likes of R Kelly and Teddy Riley producing for you doesn't hurt either. At least in my book). This album is a real slice of early nineties New Jack Swing, and while it hasn't necessarily aged well, its great for a bit of nostalgia. (R.I.P. Tony Thompson)

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Bonus: And since I'm a generous guy and figure a lot of people will disagree with me about this being a better album than their first....

Hi-Five - Hi-Five (1990)


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197. Tyrese - Tyrese (1998)

Tyrese's first album is one of a few albums on the list that aren't necessarily spectacular, but are good enough that you can listen the whole way through without skipping a track. It is a very consistent album that shows of what Tyrese can do with his voice while at the same time being careful not to stretch him too far. Its a little bit funky, a little bit soulful and really a pretty decent debut.

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198. Jack Knight - Gypsy Blues (1999)

A nice little album here that probably flew under a few people's radars. Jack has primarily been known as a producer working with Diddy and the Bad Boy crew, and most notably as the producer of Monifah's hit song 'Touch It'. On this album Jack proves that he is as good in front of the mic as behind the scenes. While Jack's voice may not be everyone's cup of tea, (think Prince meets Marvin Gaye) he shows with this album that he knows how to craft a good song and deliver it with conviction. Favorites include 'Blueberry Winter' and the haunting, string laden 'Rescue Me'.





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199. Blackstreet - Finally (1999)

Not the last Blackstreet album you will see on the list but definitely the weakest. I remember really wanting my money back after listening to the first few tracks of this album this for the first time. Starting out with 'Can You Feel It' and the lamest of the lame 'Boyfriend/Girlfriend' just about made me want to puke. How could one of my favorite producers make such crap?

Then came 'Yo Love', 'I Got What You On' and 'Drama/Misery interlude' with Terrell singing his absolute ass off. Those three songs are really all I listen to on the cd but on the strength of those three tracks and my general good will towards anything Teddy touches, this album creeps into the Top 200 at 199.

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200. Dalvin DeGrate - Met.A.Mor.Phic (2000)

WTF? Mr Dalvin? Are you crazy? This is how you start your blog? I can hear the comments now...

Im sure a lot of people used to wonder what exactly Mr Dalvin used to bring to Jodeci (I did) and upon listening to this album you may still find yourself scratching your head. Lets get one thing out of the way though, it sure wasn't his singing voice. Describing it as mediocre would be doing him a great service. His rapping was never much to write home about (not that it mattered back then) so that leaves us with....hmmm. You might be asking yourself "why is this fool putting this album in his top 200 and then talk shit about it?" Well thats the thing, I cant really figure it out. There are a lot of things Dalvin isn't great at and yet, somehow, he managed to make an album with a lot of good songs on it. Its weird. I don't know how much of that can be attributed to Dalvin's long time cohort Stevie J who produced the bulk of the tracks on here but I suspect that its the two of them together that resulted in this album sneaking into my top 200. This is no Jodeci album but if you aren't into vocal gymnastics and just like a good song then this might be the album for you.

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Welcome to DID200

Welcome to my very first blogging experience. May it be as painless for you as it is nerve-wracking for me.

The general idea behind this blog is to post up my favourite 200 R&B albums. As it happens, most of them are from the recent past. So while i have much respect and admiration for the many fine artists that laid the groundwork for the young whipper snappers i will post about, you wont find any of them on this blog. For the most part all the albums on this list are from about the mid 80's to current, with a disproportionate showing from the early 90's ;)

Music is a very personal experience and this is why i am making it quite clear from the outset that these are my favourite albums. As you can tell by the title of the blog, these are the 200 (who can choose just 1?) albums that i would take with me to a desert island (on my ipod, since nobody actually uses cd's these days..). So while I look forward to hearing everyone's opinions on my list, I dont want a constant barrage of abuse and outrage. Tell me why im wrong and we will most likely agree to disagree, and move on to the next album. Im hoping to update regularly (time permitting) and hopefully we can generate a little healthy debate about the list. Looking through it, there are bound to be some upset people out there!

So without further ado, here we go...... and remember, dont talk, just listen.

- GMC