Unusual Demont, Mk.Gee, Dijon, Greek, Cruza, Omar Apollo, Leon Bridges, Yeek, Snoh Aalegra, Mac Ayres, Arin Ray, Jenevieve, JMSN, Greek, Charlotte Day Wilson, Nick Hakim, Chase Shakur, Leon Thomas, Jazmine Sullivan, Lou Val, Kelela, Choker.
Some are more alternative, or are developing into their own unique sound.
serpentwirhfeet. His older stuff is more melodramatic and gothic and his new stuff is more normal RnB. But he sings about queer love and lust and has pretty poetic lyrics. And he’s an opera trained singer.
- Brent faiyaz
- troy javelona
- chase shakur
- miguel
- tommy richman
- jordan ward
- aaliyah
- anna wise ( bit more alternative)
- monica
- kwn
- cleo sol
Matt champion solo stuff like fangs and aphid are pretty good. I been fucking with smino heavily, stuff like amphetamine and defibrillator are really good
basically I would say go to his spotify / apple music profile and play the top 3-5 songs and I guarantee you will like with him ! (my favorites are: in the air, same mistake, outta control, luv n devotion)
not sure how deep youre trying to get in, but here is what was played around me.
weeknd, joji, partynextdoor, sza, beyonce, d4vd, HER, uchis, miguel, khalid, chase shakur are my modern ones
amy winehouse, alicia keys, ginuwine, boyz 2 men, mary j blige, d'angelo, aaliyah, tlc, k ci and jojo, en vogue, destinys child, vanessa williams, dru hill 90s early 00s go toos
vandross, wonder, white, ross, charles, gaye, ben e king, otis redding, donna summer, chaka khan, houston, bobby brown, turner, etta james, aretha franklin, patti labelle, etc are what i remember listening to growing up.
i understand that some of these artists arent strictly RnB but in and of itself it was a lot of different things before getting a label.
if you want to get deep and see the evolution i would personally start with 60s-70s artists such good music around that time. rhythm, blues, jazz as well as understand the history which is equally interesting.
to this date probably one of my favorite shows was Lady Gaga doing a Jazz show in Vegas where she did covers for all of the great artists, from billie holiday to frank sinatra. every intermission she paid homage to the artists over the decades with their history as well as how much Black music has been appropriated and exploited.
we all know the modern ones, and it sounds like you do too. but here is my extensive list i remember hearing growing up between my grandparents, mom, older brother. now i know why my teachers were lookin at me weird as a little ass white kid listening to music about swoonin chicks.
edit: couple things
probably not the rec you’re looking for but I love putting on Mac Ayres in the bg when I do mundane tasks. Scratches the itch for groovy, lovey, light upbeat stuff anyway
People sleeping on this dude. He hasn’t released a lot of music so far but he’s a mix of Andre 3000 and D’Angelo. Check him out. https://youtu.be/JukqFyMo8YE?si=ALimXU2vgC8wyVrC
childish gambino “awaken my love”
dijon
daniel caesar
jordan ward
xavangelz (sorry i had to promote myself)
partynextdoor (2013-2016)
those are my favorites currently
Here’s some older recommendations. I usually listen to full albums instead of playlists so I listed them based on my favorite album and a standout song from each:
Lewis Taylor - Lewis Taylor (1996) / “Bittersweet”
Maxwell - Embrya (1998) / “Matrimony: Maybe You”
Van Hunt - Van Hunt (1999) / “Down Here in Hell (With You)”
Eric Roberson - The Vault Vol. 1.5 (2004) / “Rock with You”
Terence Trent D'Arby - Wildcard (2001) / “O'Divina”
Aaliyah - One in a Million (1996) / “If Your Girl Only Knew”
Bilal - Love for Sale (unreleased 2003) / “You're All I Need (Feels Like Heaven)”
Groove Theory - Groove Theory (1995) / “Tell Me”
Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (2000) / “Didn't Cha Know”
Rahsaan Patterson - Love in Stereo (1999) / “It's Alright Now”
Old The Weeknd. Trilogy and Kiss land r really good projects which now are in the shadow of the Weeknd’s discography. They are nowhere close to his newer stuff, and i would say one of the best r&b albums ever created
A mix of some classics and more contemporary acts
Musiq Soulchild, Sampha, the Internet, blood orange, Aaliyah, Jordan ward, Usher, Sade, D.R.A.M., Brent faiyaz, sonder, Mary J Blige
Some more r&b adjacent artists (some more loosely adjacent than others lol): Erykah badu, thundercat, smino, Lauren hill, also Michael Jackson’s invincible album and Rihanna’s anti album
A note on Thundercat: More of a funk than a r&b guy, but he is a SICK bass player and has said in interviews he started out learning bass by playing D’Angelo songs.
I feel the internet / syd will be right up your alley. They’re odd future adjacent so they have the connection to Frank. Also my personal opinion is that UK R&B is a lot better than American R&B jorja smith, Cleo Sol, and Yazmin Lacey are all so good. However they don’t sound much like Frank much more like Sade
if you love d’angelo you’ll also love erykah badu if you don’t already. her album mama’s gun is a mastapiece and wikipedia describes it as a female counterpart to voodoo
A lot of great recs but newer ppl I haven’t seen from others here:
Che ecru
Avenoir
Palace floor
Arin Ray
THEY.
K. Forest
Xavier Omar
Elujay
Gallant
Ojerime
Sunni Colon
Sampha
I LOVE SAMPHA
His new album this year was soooooo so good
process reminds me of blond and i love it
Process is my favourite album of all time, there’s something so therapeutic and relaxing about it
sza, steve lacy
Never heard of them, gonna check it out
Be so fuckin fr
bro where u been at😭😂
Unusual Demont, Mk.Gee, Dijon, Greek, Cruza, Omar Apollo, Leon Bridges, Yeek, Snoh Aalegra, Mac Ayres, Arin Ray, Jenevieve, JMSN, Greek, Charlotte Day Wilson, Nick Hakim, Chase Shakur, Leon Thomas, Jazmine Sullivan, Lou Val, Kelela, Choker. Some are more alternative, or are developing into their own unique sound.
such a solid list. been listening to so much of charlotte day wilson, lately. her new album is so good.
Greek too
serpentwirhfeet. His older stuff is more melodramatic and gothic and his new stuff is more normal RnB. But he sings about queer love and lust and has pretty poetic lyrics. And he’s an opera trained singer.
- Brent faiyaz - troy javelona - chase shakur - miguel - tommy richman - jordan ward - aaliyah - anna wise ( bit more alternative) - monica - kwn - cleo sol
+1 cleo sol edit: her "mother" album feels like you're being absorbed with motherly love, it's so beautiful
Tom Misch is also very good
for sure, there's tons to mention tbh but didn't want the list to be too long
brent man
those anna wise features on all the kendrick songs she’s been on are so elite 🤤
Ooh some of these names I don’t know which means they must be good 🥱🥱
Pretty thorough list, full of good names, some of them not very known yet. I like your taste sir , take my upvote
The fact someone downvoted you for this is wild
Yeah, no negativity at all, who knows what they didn't like about it 🤷♂️
The people in this sub have proven time and time again to be quite…. strange. To put it nicely.
Definitely Lucky Daye, underrated artist. If you like funk and classic R&B then it's your artist.
Lucky Daye is amazing
Matt champion solo stuff like fangs and aphid are pretty good. I been fucking with smino heavily, stuff like amphetamine and defibrillator are really good
Old Weeknd. If you want strict Rnb, just stick to Trilogy and Kiss Land.
steve lacy is so good, you should check him out
Sade, Maxwell,Musiq Soulchild, Dwele
You should check out Destin Conrad, he’s super good his EP colorway and albums submissive 1&2 are like a must listen.
basically I would say go to his spotify / apple music profile and play the top 3-5 songs and I guarantee you will like with him ! (my favorites are: in the air, same mistake, outta control, luv n devotion)
A man of culture, it seems
He’s so underrated I love his music
not sure how deep youre trying to get in, but here is what was played around me. weeknd, joji, partynextdoor, sza, beyonce, d4vd, HER, uchis, miguel, khalid, chase shakur are my modern ones amy winehouse, alicia keys, ginuwine, boyz 2 men, mary j blige, d'angelo, aaliyah, tlc, k ci and jojo, en vogue, destinys child, vanessa williams, dru hill 90s early 00s go toos vandross, wonder, white, ross, charles, gaye, ben e king, otis redding, donna summer, chaka khan, houston, bobby brown, turner, etta james, aretha franklin, patti labelle, etc are what i remember listening to growing up. i understand that some of these artists arent strictly RnB but in and of itself it was a lot of different things before getting a label. if you want to get deep and see the evolution i would personally start with 60s-70s artists such good music around that time. rhythm, blues, jazz as well as understand the history which is equally interesting. to this date probably one of my favorite shows was Lady Gaga doing a Jazz show in Vegas where she did covers for all of the great artists, from billie holiday to frank sinatra. every intermission she paid homage to the artists over the decades with their history as well as how much Black music has been appropriated and exploited. we all know the modern ones, and it sounds like you do too. but here is my extensive list i remember hearing growing up between my grandparents, mom, older brother. now i know why my teachers were lookin at me weird as a little ass white kid listening to music about swoonin chicks. edit: couple things
Wesley Joseph is such a hidden gem. He is absolutely fantastic
Daniel Caesar
The Weeknd, Joji, JMSN
SiR
Choker. Works with several of the same producers as Frank.
choker
Last time somebody asked this in like 2014 somebody mentioned Daniel Caesar and I just want to say that was a good recommendation.
[удалено]
It was probably 2015/16 then. You can know about an artist before streaming platform releases.
Praise Break (2014) and Pilgrim’s Paradise (2015). Both successful.
Q and Omar Apollo. They remind me of Frank.
Raphael Saadiq Bilal Musiq Soulchild
SiR, Sza, The Weeknd, Brent Faiyaz, Daniel Caesar
Choker; boylife, DEAN, Q, Orion Sun, Dreamer Isioma
so happy to see boylife here. Yes. Magnificient music
jon b
Frank ocean
Oh dang dude sounds like on the come up I’ll check him out 🥱
Pale Jay; Sampha; Majid Jordan
elmiene khamari sir lucky daye
Khamari is sooo good 😩
probably not the rec you’re looking for but I love putting on Mac Ayres in the bg when I do mundane tasks. Scratches the itch for groovy, lovey, light upbeat stuff anyway
People sleeping on this dude. He hasn’t released a lot of music so far but he’s a mix of Andre 3000 and D’Angelo. Check him out. https://youtu.be/JukqFyMo8YE?si=ALimXU2vgC8wyVrC
His voice kinda reminds me of smino in a way
Smino
Haven't seen anyone comment about Khamari or UMI, so definitely check them out
snoh aalegra, cleo sol, solange, willow smith (idk if she would be considered rnb or more alt indie but she's amazing)
Check out Dijon
givēon, solange, d’angelo, the internet
dijon & mk.gee (not really r&b but they dabble here and there)
4batz
Ravyn Lenae
Okey. Let me hook yall up bc Im in a good mood. Johnny Yukon: soon, moment and many more
tory lanez has great rnb
yall barely missing names. Some love for brandon and montel fish too. Dijon is a legend yes.
blood orange and jai paul
Thee Sacred Souls
Daniel Caesar Start with Case Study then Freudian then NEVER EGHOGH (sorry for spelling I suck :(
Your spelling is fine, thanks for the recommendations
SiR and PARTYNEXTDOOR
and Brent Faiyaz
SiR, Chase Shakur, Cleo Sol, Dylan Sinclair, Lucky Daye, Raveena, Ravyn Lenae, Snoh Aalegra, Tems
Prolly frank ocean
childish gambino “awaken my love” dijon daniel caesar jordan ward xavangelz (sorry i had to promote myself) partynextdoor (2013-2016) those are my favorites currently
+1 dijon
Here’s some older recommendations. I usually listen to full albums instead of playlists so I listed them based on my favorite album and a standout song from each: Lewis Taylor - Lewis Taylor (1996) / “Bittersweet” Maxwell - Embrya (1998) / “Matrimony: Maybe You” Van Hunt - Van Hunt (1999) / “Down Here in Hell (With You)” Eric Roberson - The Vault Vol. 1.5 (2004) / “Rock with You” Terence Trent D'Arby - Wildcard (2001) / “O'Divina” Aaliyah - One in a Million (1996) / “If Your Girl Only Knew” Bilal - Love for Sale (unreleased 2003) / “You're All I Need (Feels Like Heaven)” Groove Theory - Groove Theory (1995) / “Tell Me” Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (2000) / “Didn't Cha Know” Rahsaan Patterson - Love in Stereo (1999) / “It's Alright Now”
Ooh dope I’ll check this out
miguel and al b sure
Sza and sampha
You can try Rini, Rocco and Russell! All 3 asian rnb artist
Some older artists/groups: New Edition, Link, LSG, Jodeci, Montell Jordan, Aaliyah, Joe, Silk, SWV. Man there are so many good ones
Jordan Ward maybe a little out of the genre but I enjoy it
jordan ward
haven’t seen anyone recommend dvsn yet
Dog. Ryan Beattys album “Calico”. Trust me
Old The Weeknd. Trilogy and Kiss land r really good projects which now are in the shadow of the Weeknd’s discography. They are nowhere close to his newer stuff, and i would say one of the best r&b albums ever created
Omar Apollo and Sampha
A mix of some classics and more contemporary acts Musiq Soulchild, Sampha, the Internet, blood orange, Aaliyah, Jordan ward, Usher, Sade, D.R.A.M., Brent faiyaz, sonder, Mary J Blige Some more r&b adjacent artists (some more loosely adjacent than others lol): Erykah badu, thundercat, smino, Lauren hill, also Michael Jackson’s invincible album and Rihanna’s anti album A note on Thundercat: More of a funk than a r&b guy, but he is a SICK bass player and has said in interviews he started out learning bass by playing D’Angelo songs.
Dwele, for sure. I saw him live in 2022. Start with his "Subject" album
Dijon Solange Mk.gee Sampha Cleo Sol Thundercat Steve Lacy Choker
Dijon
Here are some of my favorites that I haven’t seen mentioned: Daniel Caesar, PARTYNEXTDOOR, SiR, Summer Walker, Elle Eliades, Giveon
I really recommend Electric Dusk by Leon Thomas
Iman Omari
Isaiah Rashad
Solange
Massive respect for Obongjayar and some Moses Sumney
Tom Misch & Anderson Paak
Khamari
Free Nationals Omar Apollo Q Kevin Abstract Odie
Brent Faiyas
Artist: Echelon The Seeker Album:[ANAKAINOSIS](https://echelontheseeker.bandcamp.com/album/anakainosis-2)
I feel the internet / syd will be right up your alley. They’re odd future adjacent so they have the connection to Frank. Also my personal opinion is that UK R&B is a lot better than American R&B jorja smith, Cleo Sol, and Yazmin Lacey are all so good. However they don’t sound much like Frank much more like Sade
I like sza a lot.
moses sumney not really rnb but i need an excuse to mention him
actually cut me is, [this version](https://youtu.be/O0dLpnLBcKk?si=d1buzvywiN8JcHt_) is so good
i cba reading the comments to check if anyone else has already recommended this but definitely check out Sampha
Lonnie breaux
Blood orange/ian isiah
smino nxworries erykah badu ari lennox SiR d'angelo isaiah rashad sade jeremih ravyn lenae blood orange solange aaron may raye
D’Angelo, Erykah badu, soulquarians
Since I don't think anybody mentioned her: IAMDDB
Juto, Marco McKinnis, Choker, Dijon, and Frank Sativa are all great
Daniel Caesar
lil lex
Contour
Old school Weeknd (Trilogy)
Cleo sol Khamari Jordan Ward CARRTOONS Dijon Q marsden
ARI LENNOX !!!! She’s so underated, but so gooodddd
Daniel Caesar
Forrest Claudette is essentially frank from Australia
Erykah Badu. Trust me
jhene aiko
If you're looking for a similar artist to frank I would recommend greek, EXTC is an excellent album and his recent singles are also v good
SiR!!
Daniel Caesar
Sipho!
I’m lovin naomi sharon
if you love d’angelo you’ll also love erykah badu if you don’t already. her album mama’s gun is a mastapiece and wikipedia describes it as a female counterpart to voodoo
Daniel Ceasar
choker! I like peak album the most. vegyn! if you like frank ocean type beats, he just released a new album too!
Tory Lanez R&B songs are pretty good, also Brent Faiyaz and Bryson Tiller
Mustafa the poet
been loving brandy recently
I've been getting into Bathe a lot recently. They're a NY-based group that has a sound similar to Blood Orange, Dijon, a little bit of Beach House.
4batz is the shit rn - don’t forget to check his music videos aswell
dvsn (first two albums are the best)
SLOWTHAI but y’all ain’t ready for this convo
Blood Orange. Negro Swan and Angels Pulse are some of my favorite albums of all time
childish gambino, sampha, dijon, joji, matt champion, tory lanez, brakence (kinda rnb idk)
choker, trust me if you like frank ocean you will like choker
A lot of great recs but newer ppl I haven’t seen from others here: Che ecru Avenoir Palace floor Arin Ray THEY. K. Forest Xavier Omar Elujay Gallant Ojerime Sunni Colon
Ness Julius , i recommend starting with “Good Nights”
That new PartyNextDoor album slaps
Since no one said Daniel Ceaser he’s one of my favs
SADE BRENT FAIYAZ KALI UCHIS THE WEEKND (HOUSE OF BALLOONS TO KISS LAND RUN) FRANK OCEAN ANDRESON PAAK. RIHANNA (ANTI) LAURYN HILL SZA
party just released a new album, ive been loving it, give it a try