Category: Hip Hop

Toronto singer Chxrry has linked up with R&B star Mariah the Scientist for a new song, “Bottles & Lights.” The track continues the rollout for Chxrry’s debut album, U, Me, and My Ego, which is due later this spring and which she launched last month with the lead single “Hall of Fame.”

Chxrry and Mariah the Scientist have a history of working together, after the former opened for the latter on her European tour earlier this year. On “Bottles & Lights,” the pair trade verses over a slow-burn R&B groove produced by Believve, dressing down unfaithful partners and grappling with the trials of romantic devotion. The new song also arrives alongside a visualizer which follows the duo as they go for a long, luxurious ride in a stretch limo.

Toronto-born and Los Angeles-based, Chxrry is the first woman signed to the Weeknd’s label XO Records. In addition to her stint onstage alongside Mariah the Scientist, she has toured with The Weeknd and FLO and performed with Rema and Destin Conrad. She also appeared on The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow, contributing to “Reflections Laughing” alongside Travis Scott and Florence + The Machine, and featured in the “Cry For Me” visual. Her 2025 single “Main Character” accumulated millions of streams and became a viral hit, popping up in social media transmissions from Chlöe Bailey, Angel Reese, and others.

Mariah the Scientist is coming off a significant run of her own. Her most recent album HEARTS SOLD SEPARATELY debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart and No. 11 on the Billboard 200, and her single “Burning Blue” reached No. 1 on both the Rhythmic Airplay and Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop charts. She also received the Honda Rising Star Award at this year’s Billboard Women in Music Awards.

Listen to Chxrry’s “Bottles & Lights” here.

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British-Sudanese vocalist and songwriter Elmiene has unveiled a new version of his single “Honour,” this time featuring rising Atlanta soul star Baby Rose. The collaboration arrives in tandem with the beginning of Elmiene’s North American headline tour, which kicked off April 30 in Detroit, and runs through May 31 in Los Angeles. Later this year, Elmiene will bring his tour back to Europe, closing things out at London’s Eventim Apollo on December 8.

Taken from Elmiene’s 12-track debut album sounds for someone, which he released in March, the reworked “Honour” marks the two artists’ first song together. It’s not, however, Elmiene’s first time reworking one of his own releases—he previously retooled his 2025 mixtape Heat The Streets into a remix EP, Heat The Streets Some Mo’. He shared his breakout EP’s, El-Mean and Marking My Time, in 2023, following them up with a steady stream of releases throughout 2024, including two live albums and another remix EP with reworks from Timbaland, Blxst, and more. He’s also collaborated with the likes of Syd, Stormzy, ASAP Ferg, and Lil Silva over the years.

No stranger to duets, Baby Rose solidified herself as an emergent force in contemporary soul by working with the likes of Georgia Ann Muldrow, BADBADNOTGOOD, and, most recently, Leon Thomas. She has also long been associated with J Cole’s Dreamville label, appearing on the 2019 compilation Revenge of the Dreamers III and opening for Ari Lennox on her Shea Butter Baby tour the same year. She shared her most recent full-length LP, Through and Through, in 2023.

Per a press release, Elmiene’s debut sounds for someone traverses “two decades of familial trials and triumphs that have profoundly shaped Elmiene’s personal worldviews, and sense of self.” It features production from Sampha and GRAMMY Award-winners No I.D. and Raphael Saadiq, the latter of whom also appears as a guest. Since its release, the record has garnered critical acclaim, earning Elmiene nominations for Best R&B/Soul Act and Best Male Act at the 2026 MOBO Awards, and Outstanding New Artist at the 2026 NAACP Image Awards. Another key single, “Reclusive,” has received over 13 million streams across platforms.

Listen to “Honour” here.

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You don’t always get to choose how a song will speak to its times. Once it hits the ears and hearts of the people, what you thought (or at least said) was a song about the universality of love becomes a powerful anthem for civil rights. That’s the story for “My People…Hold On” from Eddie Kendricks’ 1972 album People…Hold On.

Though never released as a single, the song found its way onto compilations steeped in Black pride, like 2004’s Black Power: Music of a Revolution – alongside Stokely Carmichael speeches and the proto-rap of The Last Poets – and 1995’s Movin’ On Up Vol. 2, right before War’s “The World Is a Ghetto.”

Listen to Eddie Kendricks’ “My People… Hold On” now.

Kendricks has an unmistakable sound. A clear and smooth falsetto, either floating over Melvin Franklin’s rich bass, playing tag with David Ruffin’s gritty lead or Paul Williams’ confident baritone, blending harmonies with Otis Williams or taking the lead for himself. The Temptations were essential parts in an intricate machine. But machines break down. Those perfectly-matched parts wear thin, and grooves that once worked smoothly grind against themselves.

For Kendricks, the wear became too much.

He left The Temptations in 1971 after eleven years. Soon before leaving, Kendricks told Soul, “I sometimes feel that being with a group can really be a drag. […] Even when I’m singing I’d like to be a little freer than I am.” As he released his second solo album, 1972’s People…Hold On, Kendricks had a new backing band – The Young Senators from Washington, D.C. – providing hazy psych-soul. And long-time Motown producer, Frank Wison, who’d produced his debut was again on board along with a sharp team of songwriters, Leonard Caston and Anita Poree, the writers behind the album’s (almost) title track.

If Eddie was looking for freedom, he found it in this album. Not just musically and vocally, but politically. Heroes had been murdered, cities were burning, but Black was still beautiful, and change was slowly but steadily coming.

“My People…Hold On” is a syncopated chant, a call to action. Kendricks alternates between his signature falsetto and a deeper, earthier register throughout the track. “People were pretty surprised by it,” Kendricks told Disc in 1973. “I’ve always been able to sing like that, it’s just that I’ve never had the opportunity.” But Kendricks pushed back against the politics of the song, telling Disc, it’s “a spiritual song; it says ‘people hold on, hold on to love, that’s the only lasting thing.’ To me, that’s singing the truth. But I’m not hung up on getting political messages across. I leave that to the politicians.”

“I can see the struggle in your eyes,” he sings, the drums beating against a wailing guitar. What Kendricks may have intended as a spiritual message, spoke to people’s more earthly needs. Amiri Baraka explained it in a 1966 essay: “Black people’s songs have carried the fire and struggle of their lives since they first opened their mouths in this part of the world.” Maybe Kendricks didn’t intend it, but he was carrying fire with every note.

Listen to Eddie Kendricks’ “My People… Hold On” now.

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Formed in 1988 at Philadelphia’s High School For Creative Arts, Boyz II Men had their big break the following year when they snuck into New Edition man Michael Bivins’ dressing room in Philadelphia. So impressed was he with their impromptu audition – an a cappella version of his group’s “Can You Stand The Rain” – he agreed to manage them on the spot. With Bivins at the helm, Boyz II Men soon scored a deal with Motown and set to work on Cooleyhighharmony, the 1991 debut album which kick-started their stratospheric career.

Written largely by the band and produced by Dallas Austin – the man who’d later oversee some of TLC’s biggest hits – Cooleyhighharmony is a choice work that melds old-school R&B with contemporary influences, and the album’s two lead singles showcased the group’s versatility. “Motownphilly,” co-written by Michael Bivins and featuring a rap cameo that detailed that fateful first backstage meeting, utilized the upbeat, hip-hop-influenced New Jack Swing genre that dominated the charts that year. Meanwhile “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday,” a spine-tingling a cappella cover of GC Cameron’s 1975 hit, perfectly showcased each member’s classically trained vocals and close harmonies. Both singles raced up the charts to become Top 5 US hits.

Listen to Cooleyhighharmony now.

Elsewhere, there were slow jams in the form of “Please Don’t Go” and “This Is My Heart”; the Boyz showcased their sensual side on the silky smooth “Uhh Ahh”; and there was another upbeat New Jack Swing-influenced anthem in the irresistible form of the James Bond-referencing “Sympin’.”  With its pitch-perfect close harmonies over tough hip-hop beats, “Under Pressure” was perhaps the purest example of the sound the boys themselves dubbed “hip-hop doo-wop.”

With the band presenting a preppy, clean-cut look that was a fresh change from the street-tough image that dominated R&B at the time, Cooleyhighharmony proved a huge success. After its release on April 30, 1991, it reached No.3 in the US Billboard chart and quickly went multi-platinum. Repackaged the following year to include “End Of The Road,” the song recorded for the Boomerang soundtrack and which had scored Boyz II Men their first No.1 single, the album hit even greater commercial heights as it went on to sell over nine million copies. There was more success come awards season as Cooleyhighharmony won the nod for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals at the 1992 Grammy Awards, setting the stage for their chart-topping, multi-platinum-selling follow-up, II.

Listen to Cooleyhighharmony now.

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Tank and the Bangas have released “No Invite,” the second single from their upcoming album The Last Balloon, which is due May 15 via Verve Forecast. The New Orleans group also unveiled a new music video for the track as they continue the rollout for the LP, their first full-length release since the spoken-word project The Heart, The Mind, The Soul. “No Invite” follows lead single “Move,” which featured Lucky Daye and introduced the next chapter in the band’s recording career.

The Last Balloon follows the group’s earlier albums Green Balloon and Red Balloon, completing a trilogy while opening what bandleader Tarriona “Tank” Ball described as a new phase. In the release, Ball said she chose the title because she did not want people asking when Purple Balloon might arrive, adding, “It’s the end of the balloons; we’re moving into a new space now.” The album was executive-produced by Austin Brown and recorded primarily at The Complex Studios in Los Angeles. Its guest list includes Iman Omari, Tane Runo, Ledisi, and Jelly Joseph.

Ball also said the band has been “working with new people and cultivating new sounds,” describing the material as part of a broader evolution in the group’s approach. She added that listeners may not always be able to categorize the band’s sound, but can still connect with how the music makes them feel. That idea runs through the album’s framework, which the release says moves between vulnerability, release, and communal uplift while keeping the dynamics of the band’s live performances in focus.

The announcement follows a notable stretch for Tank and the Bangas. In 2025, The Heart, The Mind, The Soul won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. Before that, Red Balloon earned a nomination for Best Progressive R&B Album at the 2023 Grammy Awards, while Green Balloon helped secure a Best New Artist nomination in 2020. The band first broke through after winning NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2017, and they are extending that momentum into 2026 with new tour dates in Brooklyn, Boston, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and other cities tied to the release of The Last Balloon.

Listen to “No Invite” here.

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Ne-Yo is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of his debut In My Own Words with special vinyl formats. The original album has been remixed and remastered and will feature bonus tracks. In My Own Words will be available on standard edition 2LP and a limited edition ‘Enchanted Night’ Color 2LP.

In My Own Words is considered Ne-Yo’s breakthrough album. The album debuted at No. 1 on US Billboard 200, sold over 300k units, and received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album category. It includes the smash hit “So Sick.” Produced by Norwegian duo Stargate, the song reached number one on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.

Last year, “So Sick” joined Spotify’s Billions Club, which celebrates songs that have eclipsed more than one billion views on the streaming platform. It was the singer’s third song to reach this milestone.

“It’s definitely the one that started it all. So this is when I learned a little something about the way that records are released — or at least in the book of [record label executive] L.A. Reid,” Ne-Yo previously told Billboard. “He says, ‘So we’re going to put out ‘Stay’ first and it’s not going to blow up … but it’s going to be enough to get their attention. And then once we get their attention, ‘So Sick.’ He was right.”

Ne-Yo began his music career writing for R&B stars like Mary J. Blige and Christina Milian. His star began to rise in 2004, when he penned the hit single “Let Me Love You” for Mario, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2023, he released a mini-documentary highlighting his life and career, entitled In My Own Words. In the visual, Ne-Yo discusses his origins in the R&B genre, journaling, and melodic passion.

Shop Ne-Yo’s In My Own Words 20th anniversary releases here.

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Amy Winehouse remains one of the most singular artists in modern music history, her raw contralto voice and extraordinary songwriting leaving an indelible mark across jazz, soul, and R&B in a career that produced just two studio albums — Frank and Back To Black — yet earned her five Grammy Awards in a single night. Her cultural legacy endures through her music, her unmistakable aesthetic, and the passionate global fanbase she continues to inspire. Whether you’re shopping for a lifelong devotee or a newly converted admirer, this guide brings together the best vinyl, box sets, films, and officially licensed merchandise to honour the Queen of Camden in style.

Vinyl

Amy Winehouse – Frank 2LP Picture Disc

Marking the 20th anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s debut album, Frank is released as a picture disc for the very first time across this stunning 2LP set. Housed in a gatefold sleeve, the disc artwork draws on original imagery from the album shoot, making it as visually striking as it is musically essential — featuring classics like “Stronger Than Me”, “F**k Me Pumps” and “Take The Box”.

Pick up Amy Winehouse’s Frank 2LP Picture Disc here.

Amy Winehouse – Lioness: Hidden Treasures 2LP

A posthumous treasure trove for devoted fans, Lioness: Hidden Treasures collects rare recordings, unreleased tracks, and reimagined classics that showcase the full range of Amy Winehouse’s extraordinary talent. Spread across two LPs, highlights include her soulful take on “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”, a stunning duet with Tony Bennett on “Body And Soul”, and an original version of “Tears Dry” that reveals a different side of her creative process.

Pick up Amy Winehouse’s Lioness: Hidden Treasures 2LP here.

Amy Winehouse – Frank 2LP

Amy Winehouse’s landmark debut Frank arrives on this limited double vinyl LP pressing, showcasing the raw talent and unflinching honesty that earned her an Ivor Novello Award and announced her as one of the most singular voices of her generation. Featuring standout tracks like ‘Stronger Than Me’ and ‘Take The Box,’ it remains an essential document of where it all began.

Pick up Amy Winehouse’s Frank 2LP here.

Amy Winehouse – Live at Glastonbury 2007 (Limited Edition Clear) 2LP

Amy Winehouse’s legendary 2007 Pyramid Stage performance at Glastonbury arrives on vinyl for the very first time with this limited-edition clear 2LP. Capturing one of the most emotionally charged live sets of her career, this release is an essential document of her inimitable artistry at its most electrifying.

Pick up Amy Winehouse’s Live at Glastonbury 2007 limited edition clear 2LP here.

Amy Winehouse – 12×7: The Singles Collection Box Set

This stunning box set brings together all of Amy Winehouse’s singles from Frank, Back To Black, and Lioness: Hidden Treasures, pressed on black vinyl and housed in individual picture sleeves. Highlights include Ivor Novello Award-winning tracks “Stronger Than Me,” “Rehab,” and “Love Is A Losing Game,” alongside the Grammy Award-winning duet with Tony Bennett, “Body and Soul.” Rounding out the set are a 20-page lyrics booklet and a collection of art cards, making it an essential piece for any serious fan.

Shop Amy Winehouse’s 12×7: The Singles Collection box set here.

CDs & Box Sets

Amy Winehouse – The Collection 5CD Box Set

This essential 5CD box set brings together the full breadth of Amy Winehouse’s remarkable legacy, spanning her debut album Frank, the multi-platinum Back To Black, and the posthumous Lioness: Hidden Treasures, alongside a live concert recorded at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in 2007 and a disc of remixes — the latter two appearing on CD for the first time. It’s a definitive portrait of one of the most distinctive voices of her generation.

Shop Amy Winehouse’s The Collection 5CD Box Set here.

Amy Winehouse – Amy Winehouse at the BBC CD/DVD

This essential CD/DVD set captures Amy Winehouse at her magnetic, soulful best across a series of landmark BBC performances and interviews. Spanning her celebrated career, it offers an intimate look at one of the most singular voices of her generation in some of her most compelling on-screen appearances.

Pick up Amy Winehouse’s Amy Winehouse at the BBC CD/DVD here.

Apparel

Amy Winehouse – Heart Frame Hoodie

This black washed pullover hoodie features Amy Winehouse’s iconic script logo on the front and a striking photographic design on the back, making it a bold statement piece for devoted fans. Crafted from a cotton-polyester blend for everyday comfort, it’s a wearable tribute to one of music’s most unforgettable artists.

Get the Amy Winehouse Heart Frame Hoodie here.

Amy Winehouse – Queen of Camden Zip Hoodie

Celebrate the icon of Camden Town with this bold black zip hoodie featuring striking screen-printed Amy Winehouse imagery on both the front and back. Crafted from a soft cotton-polyester blend, it’s a wearable tribute to one of the most distinctive artists of her generation.

Get the Amy Winehouse Queen of Camden Zip Hoodie here.

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black Portrait Washed Hoodie

This washed black hoodie channels the iconic aesthetic of Amy Winehouse’s landmark album Back To Black, featuring her name screen printed on the front and a striking illustration on the back. Crafted from a soft ringspun cotton-polyester blend, it’s a wearable tribute to one of the most influential artists of her generation.

Get the Amy Winehouse Back To Black Portrait Washed Hoodie here.

Books & Collectibles

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black Tote Bag

This sleek black tote bag puts Amy Winehouse’s iconic Back To Black era front and center, featuring screen-printed artwork and a quote drawn directly from Amy’s own diary. Made from 80% recycled cotton and 20% recycled polyester, it’s a functional and meaningful piece for any devoted fan.

Get the Amy Winehouse Back To Black tote bag here.

Amy Winehouse – Back to Black Ornament

This sleek black glass ornament pays tribute to one of the most iconic albums in modern music, featuring the Amy Winehouse logo on one side and the Back to Black logo on the other. A stylish nod to her enduring legacy, it’s a must-have for any devoted fan of her timeless sound.

Get the Amy Winehouse Back to Black Ornament here.

Other Gifts

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black: The Real Story Behind The Modern Classic [Blu-ray]

This revealing documentary goes behind the scenes of Back To Black, featuring previously unseen studio footage and new interviews with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi that shed fresh light on Amy Winehouse’s extraordinary gifts as a singer and songwriter. Also included is An Intimate Evening In London, a never-before-seen recording of a private show Amy hosted in February 2008, making this an unmissable document of her legacy.

Pick up Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black Blu-ray here.

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black: The Real Story Behind The Modern Classic [Blu-ray]

This revealing documentary goes behind the scenes of Back To Black, featuring previously unseen studio footage and new interviews with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi that shed fresh light on Amy Winehouse’s extraordinary gifts as a singer and songwriter. Also included is An Intimate Evening In London, a never-before-seen recording of a private show Amy hosted in February 2008, making this an unmissable document of her legacy.

Pick up Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black Blu-ray here.

Amy Winehouse – Black Poem Crewneck

This black crewneck celebrates Amy Winehouse’s iconic personal style, featuring screen-printed diary doodles on the front and her name across the back. Her signature is embroidered on the sleeve cuff, making it a wearable tribute to one of music’s most beloved and distinctive voices.

Get the Amy Winehouse Black Poem Crewneck here.

Amy Winehouse – Back To Black Ringer

Channel Amy Winehouse’s iconic aesthetic with this classic black ringer tee featuring contrast piping and a screen-printed Back To Black graphic on the front. Made from 100% cotton, it’s a timeless piece for fans who want to wear their love for one of the most celebrated albums of its era.

Get the Amy Winehouse Back To Black ringer here.

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Nashville, globally recognized as Music City, is primarily hailed as the capital of country music. Its central role in the development of gospel music is a less-known fact. But when record store owner Ernie Young founded Nashboro Records in 1951, he began a label that would become one of the most prolific creators and sellers of the genre, capturing the wide range of sounds that gospel encompassed.

The enterprising Young built a studio above his record shop, and later broadcast gospel programs on multiple radio stations from the front of his record shop, which gave him the ability to both record in-house and promote the artists he was recording. He recorded well-known groups from around the country when they passed through Nashville, like the Angelic Gospel Singers, Brother Joe May, and Edna Gallmon Cooke, regional favorites like Morgan Babb’s Radio Four and the Fairfield Four, and got in on the ground floor of the careers of artists like Candi Staton, then just eleven years old singing with the Jewel Gospel Trio, and Jackie Shane, then a teenaged drummer for various Nashboro sessions. The Best of Nashboro Gospel encapsulates some of the greatest moments from this period, now recognized as “the golden era of gospel.”

Listen to the best of Nashboro Records now.

When Young sold the label to Crescent in 1967, Shannon Williams was promoted from Young’s record shop to vice president of production. Williams produced over 200 singles and albums for the label until he left the label in the early 80s, generating hits for gospel icons like Dorothy Love Coates, Alex Bradford, and Sister Lucille Pope. He also conceived the label’s subsidiary, Creed Records, which played a major part in the development of contemporary gospel, signing The New York Community Choir, Benny Cummings & the King’s Temple Choir, Milton Brunson & The Thompson Community Singers, and Harrison Johnson’s Los Angeles Community Choir, all of whom were visionaries of the burgeoning new choir sound, converging gospel with soul, funk, disco, and pop.

At a time when many labels abandoned traditional gospel, Nashboro was insistent on representing the full spectrum of the gospel sound. As Williams told Billboard, “The record sales support our idea that there’s definitely a market for this type of traditional music.” “They were it!,” the late Don Butler, co-founder of the Gospel Music Association, once explained to The Tennessean. “At one time, they had that whole area of the business sewn up.” While the label shut down in the early 80s, their catalog continues to capture new listeners. These are three projects that capture the magic of the distinctive Nashboro sound.

Clara Ward – The Very Greatest

When Clara Ward came to Nashboro in the summer of 1971, she hadn’t had a gospel hit in quite some time. Her mainstreaming of gospel by way of television appearances and nightclub performances alienated the gospel audience that catapulted her to stardom. She’d spent most of the 60s recording inspirational pop songs like The Beatles’ “Help” and “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” from the counterculture musical Hair, which further scandalized her more pious listeners. Shannon Williams’ production returned Ward to her gospel core.

Gospel music historian Anthony Heilbut praised Clara’s Nashboro recordings as “pure, hard gospel,” and Clara as an artist who “still has no superiors.” Balancing contemporary tunes written specifically for her by Charles May (a writer for Quincy Jones and James Cleveland) with uptempo, tambourine beaters like “When We All Get To Heaven” and “We’ll Soon Be Done with Troubles and Trials,” and the hymns she loved most like “Beams of Heaven” and “The Last Mile of the Way,” The Very Greatest showcases the talent and spirit that made Aretha Franklin her student as a youngster. “The Last Mile of the Way” earned Ward her last Grammy nomination weeks after her January 1973 death.

John Whittaker & The Twenty-First Century Singers – Triumphant

Johnny Whittaker first came to Nashboro as part of the BC&M Choir, an interdenominational choir that he co-directed, which scored the label major hits including “I Made a Vow” (led by Regina McCrary of the McCrary Sisters) and “Live So God Can Use Me.” He stepped out and formed the Twenty-First Century Singers, initially a large ensemble that he reduced to a trio, composed of himself, Charles Miller, and Lula Jordan. Whittaker’s dazzling soprano, Miller’s Baptist growl, and Jordan’s sterling alto became synonymous with the Nashboro sound – not only because of their albums, but their contributions to the albums of other artists on the label like Isaac Douglas, Morgan Babb, and Rev. Ruben Willingham. Williams wrote of Whittaker, “I personally know of no other male sopranos in the gospel business – with the exception of Roger Roberts with the James Cleveland Singers – who would hit F’s above high C the way John Whittaker could.”

The Triumphant compilation includes the entirety of this Grammy-nominated group’s 1982 masterpiece of the same title which features Whittaker and Jordan with two new group members, Robin Johnson and Shirley Settles. Twenty-First Century Singers provide a masterclass in the wide terrain of gospel sounds that Nashboro championed. Whittaker reaches for the stars on octave-leaping hymns “The Solid Rock,” “What a Friend We Have In Jesus,” and “Blessed Assurance,” making these studio recordings feel like a live church service. “One of These Days” and “I Want To Be Ready” are unabashed gospel-disco-funk, while “I’m Gonna Love You” and “There’s a Better Day Coming” flirt with R&B almost a decade before BeBe & CeCe Winans hit #1 on the R&B charts.

Willie Neal Johnson & The Gospel Keynotes – Feel The Fire

The Gospel Keynotes came to Nashboro in 1964 from Tyler, Texas, inspired by groups like the Swan Silvertones and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama and Mississippi. Over the course of their nearly twenty-year affiliation with Nashboro, they stretched the boundaries of what quartets could do and where they could go. Shannon Williams told gospel music historian Don Cusic, “They’ve done some of the Black college campuses and things of that nature and have been accepted very well. Even though they’re a quartet, they’re not the ordinary quartet. They’re a little more progressive, a little more contemporary.”

Feel the Fire showcases the group’s signature spontaneity in the studio and on stage with burners like “Same Old River” and “I Feel The Fire Burning,” while also going against the grain of convention by venturing into disco with their Grammy-nominated cover of McFadden and Whitehead’s “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now,” and interpreting choir hits of the time like James Cleveland’s “God Has Smiled On Me,” Walter Hawkins’ “Be Grateful,” and Harrison Johnson’s “I Decided To Make Jesus My Choice.”

Browse our R&B / Soul / Funk collection featuring limited edition vinyl and CDs here.

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Jessie Reyez has dropped a new song titled “N.Y.F.F.” The raw kiss-off track tears an unfaithful man to shreds: “But you’re allergic to the truth/Like the truth just ain’t your shoe size.” “N.Y.F.F.” asserts Reyez’s status as one of the most compelling voices in pop and R&B, and is available to stream now.

“N.Y.F.F” follows last month’s surprise $till Paid EP, a five-track project celebrating one year since Reyez’s critically acclaimed 2025 album Paid in Memories. The EP features a remix with BRIT Award-winning rapper Stormzy and arrived after Reyez completed her massive sold-out Paid in Memories headline world tour in 2025.

Paid in Memories includes the tracks “Goliath,” “NYB,” the viral fan-favorite “Culdn’t B Me,” and “Psilocybin & Daisies,” which samples The Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979.” The album features collaborations with artists such as Ari Lennox, Big Sean, Miguel, Lil Yachty, 6LACK, Lil Wayne, and Deyaz.

In 2025, Reyez released the book Words of A Goat Princess II: The People’s Purge, the second volume in her USA Today Best-Selling poetry series.

In 2024, the Canadian singer-songwriter appeared alongside Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Caesar and more on the soundtrack EP to the biopic Bob Marley: One Love. Reyez contributed a cover of the 1978 song “Is This Love.”

Reyez released her debut studio album, Before Love Came to Kill Us, in 2020. The album includes collaborations with Eminem, 6lack, Rico Nasty, Melii, JID, and A Boogie wit da Hoodie. Before Love Came to Kill Us debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and was short-listed for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.

In 2022, she released her second album, Yessie. The following year, she shared the steamy new R&B cut “Jeans,” a collaboration with Miguel. She has since toured with Billie Eilish, Sam Smith, and Jhené Aiko.

Listen to “N.Y.F.F.” here.

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A new greatest hits compilation celebrating the work of New Jack Swing pioneers Tony! Toni! Toné! is coming soon. The 11-track collection will compile some of the group’s most memorable numbers, including “Feels Good,” “Anniversary,” and “Me & You.”

Formed in 1986 after a stint on Prince’s Parade tour, Tony! Toni! Toné!’s catalog spans four studio albums released between 1988 and 1996. Consisting of brothers D’Wayne Wiggins and Raphael Saadiq and their cousin Timothy Christian Riley, the trio became one of the pre-eminent R&B groups of the 1990s, and paved the way for the neo-soul moment that would emerge in the latter half of the decade. Today, they remain one of the top-selling R&B outfits of all time. The group disbanded in 1997 following the release of their final album House of Music, widely considered their strongest work.

Among the tracks featured on the new compilation is “Feels Good,” the band’s breakthrough crossover hit from their 1990 album The Revival. Recorded and produced largely by the group themselves, the single topped the R&B chart for two weeks and reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, eventually selling over one million copies. It was the group’s first single to crack the Top 10 of the Hot 100. The record also features “Anniversary,” from their 1993 double-platinum album Sons of Soul, is also set to appear, as is their 1991 track from John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, “Me & You.”

The Hits Of Tony! Toni! Tone! is just the latest greatest hits compilation the trio has released.They also shared Hits in 1997, which peaked at No. 54 on the Top R&B Albums chart. The new collection, however, is the first retrospective to be released since Wiggins passed away from bladder cancer in March 2025, at age 64. In 2023, the original lineup reunited for what would be their final tour, a US tour marking the 30th anniversary of Sons of Soul. At the time, it marked their first tour together in 25 years.

Buy The Hits Of Tony! Toni! Toné!’s here.

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