After 30 years in the business, one would think the men of New Edition would be a little rusty on their slick choreography of yore. But their recent stop at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center proved quite the opposite. Ronnie DeVoe, Michael Bivins, Ricky Bell, Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, and Bobby Brown brought a celebration of brotherhood to the stage.

Past line-up changes, in-fighting, personal ups and downs were all an after thought as all six men blasted through a set of their biggest hits “Candy Girl,” “Popcorn Love,” and of course “Is This The End.”

Held just a day after the funeral of Brown’s ex-wife Whitney Houston, rumors were swirling around if he would show-up. And when the concert opened with just the five members singing, “If It Isn’t Love,” the rumors seemed true. However, at the end of the song, Bobby Brown came out on stage with a smile on his face and the crowd went wild. “It’s been the worst two weeks of my life and what did I do, I went to my family,” said the controversial singer who addressed the crowd.

While their collective hits have become classics, their solo hits have been just as successful. Bobby was…Bobby, performing and grinding his way through “Tender Roni” and “My Perogative.” Johnny made the ladies swoon with “My,My, My,” while Ricky, Ronnie and Michael (better known as Bell Biv Devoe) made the crowd move with their hard-hitting 90s hits “Do Me Baby,” and “Poison.”

The Verdict: The boys from Boston are back at it again!

—Nikki Kimbrough

Photos: Billy Davis

For New Edition tour information and dates: CLICK HERE

When Carl Thomas‘ debut single “I Wish” hit the radio in 1999, it’s release brought on both excitement and fear. Excitement among fans who were hungry for R&B that was lacking in a musical landscape dominated by pop, and fear among industry insiders who were nervous about the trajectory of his career—he was signed to Sean “Diddy” Comb’s Bad Boy Records, notorious for its reputation of artists finding great success only to fall into relative obscurity, financial instability, or running off to another label—Craig Mack, Total, Cheri Dennis, Yung Joc, Loon, B5, 112, Faith Evans, and The Lox among them.

While his first album, Emotional, was a critical and commercial success in 2000, selling nearly two million copies; his follow-up releases—2004’s Let’s Talk About It and 2007’s So Much Better—failed to make a huge impact, and consequently he got lost in the shuffle of changing musical taste and the new wave of R&B artists who crept up on the scene in the mid noughties. While lack of promotion is to blame for the lackluster returns, his grief over the 2004 drive-by shooting death of this step-brother Duranthony Evans, greatly affected his focus on music.

But after being away for six years—of which included a move to Texas—the Grammy Award nominated singer is back and ready to regain—if not surpass—his former glory with Conquer, his recently released fourth studio album. Fans will be pleasantly surprised that Carl is still the same artist they fell in love with—only stronger.

How has your music evolved from your days on Bad Boy?
I didn’t really feel a need to change my style or anything. I felt the need to let the music breathe and let it broaden. [I want] to expose myself to brand new fans that have never heard of Carl Thomas. I think that’s where the music has grown—there’s broadness and an acceptance of a certain audience that I have ignored. The [new] album consists of songs that for some reason have eluded me in my career because maybe producers thought I wasn’t good enough to sing (laughs).

So you survived the Bad Boy curse?
I think that’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t be sitting here doing this interview with you if there was no Bad Boy. How deep is that curse, really?

So it seems you didn’t have the same issues with Diddy that other artists have had, right?
I didn’t have a problem working with Puff. The problems that we had were never business [or] personal problems. They were always creative run-ins and those are not necessarily negative. Harmony creates a good product, but nothing creates a better product that fiction in my opinion. [I mean] I like a little hot sauce on my greens (laughs). Read the rest of this entry »

“Sometimes, you get a feeling, and the feeling comes over you, and you know that you’re being used by God, your God-given talents are inspiring others with your love for creating music, ” said legendary singer/songwriter Valerie Simpson, one half of songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson, as she presented the Record of the Year award at this year’s Soul Train Awards.  In the world of R&B and soul, strong lyrics are everything, and finding the right balance of creativity and technique is definitely the work of some higher power. In honor of the craft of songwriting, Centric has compiled our list of the greatest R&B and soul songwriters of all time (in no particular order).

1. Ashford and Simpson
Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson will forever be known as one of music’s greatest songwriting duos. Their knack for creating classic soul music helped catapult the husband and wife creative team into success in the late 60’s with a slew of hits written for artists on Motown Records— “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Your Precious Love”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, and “You’re All I Need to Get By,” among them. Their success would continue throughout the 70’s and 80’s, as they wrote Chaka Khan’s 1978 hit “I’m Every Woman,” and released 16 albums as a duo, including four gold records—Send It, Is It Still Good To Ya, Stay Free, and Solid. Sadly, Ashford succumbed to throat cancer this year.

2. Smokey Robinson
When you think of the Motown sound, the name Smokey Robinson should instantly come to mind. The singer/songwriter and music executive helped shape what would become a musical revolution. In 1959, Robinson got his start as the lead singer and founding member of The Miracles. The group released several hits including, “Shop Around” (1960), “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” (1962), and “Ooh Baby Baby” (1965). During this time, Robinson also penned hits for other acts on the label, most notably 1964’s “My Girl” by The Temptations and ”My Guy” by Mary Wells. Robinson went solo in 1972 and continued producing a slew of R&B hits and releasing 24 albums, the last being 2009’s Time Flies When You’re Having Fun. Read the rest of this entry »

After four decades in music, Earth,Wind & Fire has had an undeniable impact on music. Influencing everyone from The Fugees to Beyonce, the Grammy Award winning band’s musical legacy remains fresh, attracting a new generation of fans. Check out our list of the Top 10 Songs That Have Sampled Earth, Wind & Fire (in no particular order).

1. The Fugees “Nappy Heads (Mona Lisa)” (1994)
Featured on their debut album, Blunted on Reality, the song reached #49 on the Billboard Hot 100. While the song didn’t garner major mainstream attention, it was an underground hit.

EWF Sample: “I Think About Lovin’ You” (1972)

2. Amerie feat. Carl Thomas “Can We Go” (2005)
Amerie and Carl teamed up for this duet featured on her 2005 sophomore gold-selling album, Touch.

EWF Sample: “Evil” (1973)

3. Beyonce’ “Hey Goldmember” (2002)
The “Party” singer performed this tune in the 2002 Mike Myers comedy Austin Powers: In Goldmember. The song, featuring her sister Solange, features interpolations of several 70’s song.

EWF Sample: “Sing a Song” (1975)

4. Missy Elliot and Ginuwine “Friendly Skies” (1997)
The super producer/songwriter/performer teamed up with the then Bachelor for this Timbaland produced slow jam off her debut album Supa Dupa Fly.

EWF Sample: “New World Symphony” (1975)

5. Raheem DeVaughn “Guess Who Loves You More” (2005)
DeVaughn’s debut single, this track was a moderate success charting at #38 on the Billboard R&B charts.

Sampled: “Can’t Hide Love” (1976)

Read the rest of this entry »

In 1994, R&B group Blackstreet—Teddy Riley, Chauncey Black , Levi Little, Dave Hollister—released “Before I Let You Go,” the third single off their self-titled debut album. Produced by Riley, the single was successful staying on the Billboard charts for 31 weeks, peaking at #2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks charts and #7 on The Hot 100 .

Who is Elle Varner? On the surface she’s a stylish girl who rocks a sickeningly gorgeous head of curls, 100 watt smile and a pair of over-sized spectacles—in the cool blipster way of course. But go beyond the surface, and you’ll find a multi-talented 22 year old, who’s embraced—and now celebrating—her imperfections and made them the underlying influence of her music—hence the title of her upcoming album, Perfectly Imperfect.

A 2008 graduate of the Clive Davis Program of Recorded Music at New York University, Varner has been cultivating her musical talents since childhood. The daughter of songwriters Mikelyn Roderick and Jimmy Varner, the Los Angeles native spent a majority of her childhood on the couches of studios, learning how to play the flute at the age of 6, and the piano at 9.

Fast-forward to the present, and her quirky yet sassy musicality has been getting a lot of viral buzz, thanks in part to being named one of BET’s Music Matters featured artists in 2010 and her current smash single, “Only Wanna Give it to You” featuring rapper J. Cole, that has been gaining heat on the Billboard R&B charts. Interested yet? of course you are.

What would you consider your first big break?
My first big break had to be walking into MBK’s office. I really had no idea what the outcome of that would have been at the time. It was just incredible. After that day–a week later, I was at J Records, playing for the label. I was signed immediately. That was a huge break.

New artist typically have to conform to their label’s vision of who they are, have you been allowed to stay true to who you are artistically and personally?
I’ve been very blessed to have a team around me that allows me to be myself. They help me take what’s already there to a higher level. No one’s ever tried to change me, impose this image or this sound. They’ve just let me blossom and be me.

What artist would you compare you sound to?
The closest thing is Lauryn Hill–only because she was the first one to really soulfully take hip hop, storytelling and R&B and mashed it together so well. Read the rest of this entry »

(New York, NY) While many anxiously await the second season premiere of Smirnoff’s Master of the Mix, Centric got a feel for the art of DJ’ing from another angle—an international one. Last Wednesday [October 26], we went to Turntable Lab, an event featuring a set from DJ Soulscape, one of South Korea’s most well-renowned DJs. His spirited set included long lost Korean rock, jazz, soul and boogaloo records. —Jordan Yue.

Photos by Aston “Husumu” Hwang

On Saturday, July 23, 2011 my heart sank as I learned of the sad and shocking news that Amy Winehouse—one of the loves of my musical life— was dead at 27. Despite her very public personal troubles, I couldn’t believe it, and I still can’t almost a week later. The reality was, one of the greatest singer/songwriters of this century was gone.

As the Twitter-sphere exploded with varying sentiments about her untimely demise and speculations of the cause of death, I mourned in the only way that I knew how, by spending quality time with her music.

While I may not have known Winehouse personally, I knew her music intimately. There are no words that can express my connection to her entire body of work. Amy’s music had been there to comfort me through many a male-induced headaches. There were days when Amy woke me up and sung me to sleep. She knew what to say, when I didn’t—always straight to the point with poetic sass and spunk. Read the rest of this entry »

Rapper Common has been receiving a lot of negative publicity since the release of his first single ‘Ghetto Dreams’ featuring Nas, off his forthcoming album, ‘The Dreamer, The Believer,’.

The song sparked negative attention because of the lyrics some of which saying “I want a b*tch that look good and cook good.” Many people were taken aback especially women because Common has always came across as a ladies man and—in recent years—has stayed away from controversial lyrics similar to the ones in this song.

Common recently sat down with MTV News, which he described the song as “highly conceptualized” and said it was not meant to be insulting, however he wanted to list the qualities that he looks for in a woman:

“It was coming from me, but it was also the voice of many others. I was like, ‘I want a b*tch that look good and cook good.’ I was just thinking about being in the ‘hood, what I want, and then the song goes on from there, ‘Cinderella fancy, but she still look ‘hood.’” Right there I’m saying, ‘Look, I want a bad woman.’ She look raw and she could cook and she could get very elegant, but at the same token she has the know-how in the street. I wrote it about someone in the neighborhood that got a dream of reaching a higher level and they’re in that process, and their woman is really like the correlation and the parallel and the symbol to that progress. It was coming from me, but it was also the voice of many others.”

Listen to the track HERE, and tell us what you think about the song?

—Twana Tells

Doesn’t it annoy the hell out of you when you’re watching a music award show or a performance and you see the most awful pairing of artists? Whatever happened to the good ol’ days of perfectly matched voices?—Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. René Moore and Angela Winbush.Let’s face it, it’s 2011 and R&B music collectively needs a face lift—not just in the form of a rapper/singer collaboration. Yes, Jill Scott and Anthony Hamilton’s duet, “So In Love” is magical, and Rahsaan Patterson and Lalah Hathaway’s “6 AM” is perfection; but we want more. We’ve come up with our list of collaborations that are long overdue for a soul session.

1.Lalah Hathaway & Robin Thicke: Her jazz-tinged soul paired with his slick R&B could be an R&B/soul hit with mainstream potential.

2. Maxwell & Erykah Badu: The musical union of these two artists seems long over due. Can you imagine Maxwell’s “Pretty Wings” featuring Badu? Or Badu’s “Otherside of the Game” featuring Maxwell? Brilliant, we know.

3. Anthony Hamilton & Jazmine Sullivan: The raspy texture of both of their voices could make for a smooth tune.

4. Stevie Wonder & Janelle Monae: When you see both of these artists perform, the energy they exude on stage is infectious—Stevie can make you get up and shout with ‘Superstition‘, while Monae will transport you to another galaxy with her funky ‘Tightrope‘ antics. This collaboration could be groundbreaking.

5. Eric Benet & Ledisi: No explanation needed.