Flashback Friday: We Miss '90s R&B Music

Motown music was classic, the music of the ’70s is straight funky, and the music of the ’80s made us move, however, there is nothing quite like the smooth grooves of ’90s R&B. Twenty years ago, this new smooth melismatic sound labeled “contemporary R&B” soothed both our ears and our hearts. It was a time when Mariah and Whitney’s music helped coin the term quiet storm, and Teddy Riley new jack swing was in full force, while Diddy was trying to make us understand hip-hop soul, and neo-soul was birthed. We’re talking everyone from H-Town teaching us how to knock boots while Xscape wanted us to kick off our shoes and relax our feet. SWV had us getting weak in the knees, while TLC explained to us why if need be, it was okay to creep around. Sisqo had us all in the stores purchasing thongs because we wanted to be a freak like Adina, just so our men could tell us we had that Butta Love as described by Next. Up until now many us still arguing who the boy belongs to in Brandy/Monica fashion, while still trying figure out what the hell are candy coated rain drops are. These were the artist that helped bring R&B mainstream, re-popularized classic soul-inspired vocal harmonies, and broke and set records on the billboard charts. These days it seems impossible to ask the DJ to get the party started like Zhane did in 1993 because we don’t know where these talented 90s R&B acts went. Sure we still have Badu, Mariah, and Monica but where is everyone else? We couldn’t find everyone, but here are a few of our favorite ’90s R&B artists currently on tour and filling our nostalgic void.