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 18th 27th 23:59 GMT PART II NOW OPEN
Amerie Why Don't We Fall in Love 1 Thing Touch Talkin' About Take Control Gotta Work Why R U Heard 'Em All Curious Ashanti Foolish Happy What's Luv? (Fat Joe feat. Ja-Rule & Ashanti) Rock Wit U (Awww Baby) Only U Good Good I Got It (feat. Rick Ross) Early In The Morning (feat. French Montana) Say Less (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) Cassie Me & U Long Way 2 Go Is It You Official Girl (feat. Lil' Wayne) King Of Hearts Paradise (feat. Wiz Khalifa) Love a Loser (feat. G-Eazy) Don't Play It Safe Don't Let Go Christina Milian AM To PM When You Look At Me Dip It Low Say I (feat. Jeezy) I Gotta Get To You Us Against The World Rebel We Ain't Worried Liar Ciara Goodies (feat. Petey Pablo) 1, 2 Step (feat. Missy Elliott) Like A Boy Work (feat. Missy Elliott) Ride (feat. Ludacris) I'm Out (feat. Nicki Minaj) Overdose Dance Like We're Making Love Level Up Kelis Caught Out There Good Stuff Young, Fresh 'N' New Milkshake Trick Me Bossy (feat. Too $hort) Blindfold Me (feat. Nas) 4th Of July (Fireworks) Jerk Ribs Keri Hilson The Way I Are (Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.) Return The Favor (feat. Timbaland) Turnin Me On (feat. Lil Wayne) Knock You Down (feat. Kanye West & Ne-Yo) Scream (Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger) Million Dollar Girl (Trina feat. Diddy & Keri Hilson) I Like Pretty Girl Rock Lose Control Tweet Oops (Oh My) (feat. Missy Elliott) Call Me Boogie 2Nite Thugman (feat. Missy Elliott) No Panties (Trina feat. Tweet) Turn da Lights Off (feat. Missy Elliott) When I Need a Man International Affair (Mark Ronson feat. Sean Paul & Tweet) Magic PM list Spoiler Amerie Why Don't We Fall in Love 1 Thing Touch Talkin' About Take Control Gotta Work Why R U Heard 'Em All Curious Ashanti Foolish Happy What's Luv? (Fat Joe feat. Ja-Rule & Ashanti) Rock Wit U (Awww Baby) Only U Good Good I Got It (feat. Rick Ross) Early In The Morning (feat. French Montana) Say Less (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) Cassie Me & U Long Way 2 Go Is It You Official Girl (feat. Lil' Wayne) King Of Hearts Paradise (feat. Wiz Khalifa) Love a Loser (feat. G-Eazy) Don't Play It Safe Don't Let Go Christina Milian AM To PM When You Look At Me Dip It Low Say I (feat. Jeezy) I Gotta Get To You Us Against The World Rebel We Ain't Worried Liar Ciara Goodies (feat. Petey Pablo) 1, 2 Step (feat. Missy Elliott) Like A Boy Work (feat. Missy Elliott) Ride (feat. Ludacris) I'm Out (feat. Nicki Minaj) Overdose Dance Like We're Making Love Level Up Kelis Caught Out There Good Stuff Young, Fresh 'N' New Milkshake Trick Me Bossy (feat. Too $hort) Blindfold Me (feat. Nas) 4th Of July (Fireworks) Jerk Ribs Keri Hilson The Way I Are (Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.) Return The Favor (feat. Timbaland) Turnin Me On (feat. Lil Wayne) Knock You Down (feat. Kanye West & Ne-Yo) Scream (Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger) Million Dollar Girl (Trina feat. Diddy & Keri Hilson) I Like Pretty Girl Rock Lose Control Tweet Oops (Oh My) (feat. Missy Elliott) Call Me Boogie 2Nite Thugman (feat. Missy Elliott) No Panties (Trina feat. Tweet) Turn da Lights Off (feat. Missy Elliott) When I Need a Man International Affair (Mark Ronson feat. Sean Paul & Tweet) Magic Youtube playlist Spotify playlist Region locked: Paradise (feat. Wiz Khalifa) Us Against The World Million Dollar Girl (Trina feat. Diddy & Keri Hilson) Thugman (feat. Missy Elliott)
Profile | Songs we could have rated #1: Amerie Profile | Songs we could have rated #2: Ashanti Acts we could have rated #1: Estelle Acts we could have rated #2: Jamelia Profile | Songs we could have rated #3: Cassie Profile | Songs we could have rated #4: Christina Milian Acts we could have rated #3: Jazmine Sullivan Acts we could have rated #4: Blu Cantrell Profile | Songs we could have rated #5: Ciara Profile | Songs we could have rated #6: Kelis Acts we could have rated #5: Kelly Rowland Acts we could have rated #6/#7: Michelle Williams & LeToya Luckett Profile | Songs we could have rated #7: Keri Hilson Profile | Songs we could have rated #8: Tweet Acts we could have rated #8: Mýa
Eliminations Spoiler #72: We Ain't Worried #71: Early In The Morning (feat. French Montana) #70: Liar #69: Rebel #68: International Affair (Mark Ronson feat. Sean Paul & Tweet) #67: I Got It (feat. Rick Ross) #66: Talkin' About #65: Don't Let Go #64: Turn da Lights Off (feat. Missy Elliott) #63: Magic #62: Turnin Me On (feat. Lil Wayne) #61: Official Girl (feat. Lil Wayne) #60: Love a Loser (feat. G-Eazy) #59: Thugman (feat. Missy Elliott) #58: Gotta Get to You #57: When I Need a Man #56: No Panties (Trina feat. Tweet) #55: Curious #54: Say Less (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) #53: Why R U #52: Don't Play It Safe #51: Why Don't We Fall in Love #50: Heard 'em All #48 (1): Us Against the World #48 (2): Happy #47: Paradise (feat. Wiz Khalifa) #46: Good Good #45: Young, Fresh n' New #44: What's Luv (Fat Joe feat. Ashanti) #43: Say I (feat. Young Jeezy) #42: Blindfold Me (feat. Nas) #41: Rock Wit U (Awww Baby) #40: Call Me #39: Scream (Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & Nicole Scherzinger) #38: Gotta Work #37: Take Control #36: Is It Love #35: Foolish #34: Good Stuff #33: Boogie 2Nite #32: Million Dollar Girl (Trina feat. Diddy & Keri Hilson) #31: Return The Favor (feat. Timbaland) #30: Jerk Ribs #29: Bossy (feat. Too $hort) #28: Knock You Down (feat. Kanye West & Ne-Yo) #27: I'm Out (feat. Nicki Minaj) #26: Level Up #25: Pretty Girl Rock #24: Caught Out There #23: Touch #22: When You Look At Me #21: Long Way 2 Go #20: King of Hearts #19: 4th of July (Fireworks) #18: Ride (feat. Ludacris) #17: Dance Like We're Making Love #16: Lose Control (feat. Nelly) #15: I Like #14: The Way I Are (Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.) #13: Oops (Oh My) #12: AM To PM #11: Work (feat. Missy Elliott) #10: 1 Thing #9: Me & U #8: Goodies (feat. Petey Pablo) #7: Trick Me #6: Overdose #5: Only U #4: Dip It Low #3: Milkshake #2: Like A Boy #1: 1, 2 Step (feat. Missy Elliott) Part 2 Eliminations Spoiler #42: I Don't Care (Ricky Martin feat. Fat Joe & Amerie) #41: Miss Your Touch #40: Sexual Healing (Oops Pt. 2) #39: Redrum #38: I'm Coming Out #37: Do It (feat. Lil Wayne) #36: Ditto #35: Smoking Cigarettes #34: Like Me (feat. Snoop Dogg) #33: Somebody Else Will (feat. Missy Elliott) #31 (tie): Turn My Swag On #31 (tie): Rain On Me #30: Paradise (LL Cool J feat. Amerie) #29: The Way You Love Me (feat. Rick Ross #28: Let's Get Crazy (feat. Akon) #27: Make Ur Move #26: The Boys (with Nicki Minaj) #25: Someday One Day #24: Bounce (Calvin Harris feat. Kelis) #23: Saturday (DARKO feat. Christina Milian) #22: Get Along With You #21: Pucker Up #20: Crush #19: Focus #18: The Way That I Love You #17: Call Me, Beep Me! #16: Gimmie Dat #15: Sophomore #14: Got To Have You #13: Keep It Down #12: Millionaire (feat. André 3000) #11: All The Boys #10: Acapella #9: Brave #8: Love Sex Magic (feat. Justin Timberlake) #7: Promise #6: Oh (feat. Ludacris) #5: Got Me Good #4: Always On Time (Ja Rule feat. Ashanti) #3: Whatever U Want (feat. Joe Budden) #2: Play (feat. Christina Milian) #1: Energy
Spoiler: Individual voter picks Voter picks: Amerie (part 1) Voter picks: Amerie (part 2) Voter picks: Amerie (part 3) Voter picks: Ashanti (part 1) Voter picks: Ashanti (part 2) Voter picks: Cassie (part 1) Voter picks: Cassie (part 2) Voter picks: Cassie (part 3) Voter picks: Cassie (part 4) Voter picks: Christina Milian (part 1) Voter picks: Christina Milian (part 2) Voter picks: Ciara (part 1) Voter picks: Ciara (part 2) Voter picks: Ciara (part 3) Voter picks: Kelis (part 1) Voter picks: Kelis (part 2) Voter picks: Kelis (part 3) Voter picks: Keri Hilson Voter picks: Tweet (part 1) Voter picks: Tweet (part 2)
You can post now! And before anything else, a huuuuge thank you for @vague for making all these amazing gifs!
What a list!!! Luckily I actually know more songs by Ashanti, Kelis and Ciara so I'll be able to tell you which songs of theirs I love most that aren't rated fairly easily! :D Can't wait to see how this will go! I can already see @londonrain tanking one of my potential 11s dddddd PS- love that we get to Rate Boogie 2nite once a year! :D
This... might be the rate where I'll hand out the most 10s ever so far. All of these girls are a part of my high school years except for Tweet.
I Bet is a 10 for sure, but I was going for, well, bops, for this rate, and it doesn't really qualify. Dance Like We're Making Love seemed like a better representative for that album. Choosing the Ciara songs was the hardest part here, because she has the longest discography out of these acts, and I wanted at least one song from each album. Don't forget to mention your favourite songs not featured in the rate in your ballot though!
Oh, I actually missed that part. Fairly confident that I'll be voting though, aren't we hmm? Don't worry, I wouldn't miss it.
I'm pretty sure Tweet is the least popular/well-known act in the rate, but her songs here are really good. Her work with Missy and Timbaland
@soratami not to add even more work (maybe somebody else can do it, maybe I could have the time who knows) but after reading this I thought: maybe it would be cool to send a separate ballot with, I don't know, 5 songs or one "missing" song from each gurl and do some kind of list (after the winning song) in the style of @ohnostalgia monthly charts. Just writing this now because I know I'll forget it tomorrow.
I was already planning something along those lines actually, my idea is to reveal the top "missing" songs by each of the eight acts either before, after or during the main reveals, as a sort of micro-rate. That's why I need everyone to remember listing them in their ballots!
I'm totally here for this. I'm not really familiar with any of their discographies, so this should be a good introduction.
I'm pretty confident that the Ciara selection will get a full 10 average from you. It's so strong it's almost ridiculous. Amerie and Kelis too.
Get ready to make some amazing discographies! I think all these songs are great. I actually had one song in the rate I couldn't stand so earlier today I ended up replacing it with a different one because 1) honestly, I don't want the rate to feature songs I just don't like and 2) I didn't want [redacted]'s average to get lower because of it. Anyone want to try guessing which song I'm refering to? ddd
Also, I'm planning on doing a rate Plug.dj session this Sunday, is anyone up for that? I was thinking of starting at 4PM BST but I don't mind doing it a bit earlier or later.
