First Spin, Soul Cynic
When Bad Remixes Happen to Good People: Jennifer Hudson Edition
Remember a time when a song's remix was often hotter than the original song itself? Mixologists would take an R&B song and put their foot in it, whether it was a hip-hop heavy remix for the jeeps or a dance mix for the house heads. Artists such as Mary J. Blige, SWV and Diddy--who we all know invented the remix, natch--released entire remix albums because the joints were so hot and the demand was high for them to be packaged and available for purchase. Nowadays it's a different story. Anyone with a computer and some choice software can put on their DJ hat and make their own remixes sitting at home in their drawers and give their creations away for free. It's also commonplace for rappers to just hop on a song or beat that's hot and spit a few bars whether they need to or not. Such is the case with Jennifer Hudson's single "Spotlight," which has been manhandled by both Rick Ross and Young Jeezy alike in recent weeks. I really don't understand why they are trying to Keyshia Colate and Fantasiacize Jennifer Hudson. She's not that artist, y'all. J.Hud doesn't need some rapping clown on her songs talking about "shawties" and "40's" to give her hood appeal. She already has it by virtue of singing her face off whenever she opens her mouth. But clearly that isn't enough in today's marketplace. This ongoing trend of coupling real singers with flava of the moment rappers has got to stop, especially if the results are just gonna be wack. And I swear, if any of the ghetto triumvirate of Lil Wayne, T-Pain or Plies shows up on her album I'm going to scream.
I contemplated putting these "Spotlight" remixes up against each other in a Battle of the Beats but couldn't muster up enough energy to give a damn about either of these cuts. However, feel free to choose the best of the worst for yourselves.
Jennifer Hudson feat. Rick Ross: "Spotlight" Remix
Jennifer Hudson feat. Young Jeezy: "Spotlight" Remix
Tags: audio, diddy, fantasia, jennifer hudson, keyshia cole, lil wayne, mary j. blige, plies, rick ross, swv, t-pain, young jeezy
Comments
I'm soooooooo glad that I'm not the only one who don't agree with the excessive rap collabos in R&B songs. Too many great singers are conforming to todays hip trends and diluting their music by having all these different rappers and producers on their albums. I almost fell out my seat when I head that new Whitney Houston song with Akon. I'd be damned if Anita Baker was to do a song with T-Pain. It's all about selling records over making quality music. I miss the those days of the 80s and early 90s when R&B was about 'real talent'. Also back then, the music videos focused on the artist; the producers weren't all up in the videos (i.e. Diddy).
Brian | September 18, 2008 2:03 AM | PermalinkAnd AGAIN, I say...what is wrong with grown folk singing grown folks' music? These remixes are hot doo-doo. A hot seller does NOT a masterpiece make, necessarily (and these, most often, not).
And for the modern remix masters, let me put in a shout for Kwame and his Stimulated remixes. He's done more than justice to a whole host of artists, including Mary J, Aaliyah, Erykah, Janet, Lauryn and Amerie.
Stephanie Renee | August 12, 2008 2:37 PM | PermalinkI also predict a flop of epic proportion. In her quest to be the queen of all she sees, J-Hud will stop at noting short of gun play in trying to make herself into a pop diva:) 20 to 1 she has T-pain, weezy, jeezy and maybe even 50 on this debacle of an album. Jenny babe, stick to acting, while you at it tell Terrence Howard the same thing:) everybody wants to be a triple threat now a days when only a few can even pull it off or even have the talent to do it...............
stoneyisland | August 11, 2008 11:19 PM | Permalink"colate," hahaha.
touche.
dar | August 11, 2008 4:50 PM | PermalinkLOL I predict a flop..
Mutada al sader the king | August 11, 2008 4:12 PM | Permalink