The rate
From early 00s throwbacks to late 10s gems, from huge hits to late career cuts, from Missy joints to Timbaland bangers, and of course with features from everyone from Lil' Wayne to Mark Ronson to Nicole Scherzinger, this rate features some of the best, and boppiest, R&B songs released in the last 20 years.
We'll be rating 9 discography highlights by 8 iconic R&B acts, for a total of 72 songs. Throughout the voting period, each of the acts will be highlighted, and we'll also look at other songs by them we could have rated.
The acts
We'll be focusing on eight R&B singers whose careers started in the 00s (except for one that actually started in late 1999) and continued into the current decade. Some are more successful than others, some longer have longer discographies, some are still active, others not quite, but what they have in common is they're all somewhat commercially underrated but have really strong discographies, with a wealth of flawless R&B bops between them.
The songs
The rate's songs were released between September 1999 and July 2019, so that's literally two decades worth of R&B goodness. In terms of song selection, it goes without saying that priority was given to the bops, but it should be said I use that term loosely. There are some straight up bangers here, but also some much more laidback/lowkey songs, but, well, don't expect to find any ballads. Since some of the acts featured here have explored a variety of sounds, the idea was also to focus on songs that can either be classified as R&B or at least have R&B elements, and also ones that were released as singles. There are a couple of exceptions to these criteria, but the majority of the songs meet them.
The rules
Rate the songs from 0 to 10, including one 11, and PM me your ballot. Feel free to use as many decimals and write as much commentary as you want. Also: for each of the eight acts, list your favourite song that's not featured in the rate in your ballot! These songs will be highlighted through the rate.
The deadline
October
PART II NOW OPEN
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