Usher aims to lift ailing R and B

Date: 18 Jul 2003 07:31:08 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.gossip.celebrities
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15 July 2003
Singing star Usher hopes his next album will provide a much-needed boost to the
R&B scene - which he reckons is in "jeopardy". The hit maker has slammed
today's R&B stars for spending too much time making themselves look good in
videos, and not nearly enough time on the quality of music they're producing.
The 24-year-old is now keen to bring his sound - and the sound of R&B - back to
its roots. He says, "With this one, I just really wanted to be about my vocal
ability. I wanted to make real music. I feel like soul music, R&B music is
somewhat in jeopardy. It's in trouble right now. If I can make a contribution
to R&B, then that's what I'll do. If you go back to what R&B is, or what soul
really is, I think the work ethic is way down. You look at the videos, you see
women shaking their ass, you see the cars, you see the 22s. It's really
marketing, if anything. It's not real music - that s*** don't make me move. I'm
trying to get back to that. I wanna get back to where it's really about the
performance." (WENN)