Aaliyah vs. Brandy - Who is more of an icon?

[smoothballa81]

Beyonce And Alicia Keys are on the way to iconic status. I forgot to add Tina Turner and Madonna

 

[R.D.]

Beyonce And Alicia Keys are on the way to iconic status. I forgot to add Tina Turner and Madonna

No Sir ! ! ! ! !

 

[Blue Virgo]

Beyonce And Alicia Keys are on the way to iconic status. I forgot to add Tina Turner and Madonna

Beyonce is an icon.

 

[Mrslim1]

What's a "real" icon?

Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker , Sade, Billie Holiday . Those are " real " icons. Brandy and Aaliyah are just bitches that sing

 

[Pun1sher]

Aaliyah And Brandy as Icon's are hilarious. ICONS are Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Luther Vandross, MJB(Almost There) R.Kelly, Luther Vandross, Issac Hayes, M.J, Prince, James Brown, John Lennon, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan.

Brandy And Aaliyah were successful performers. But, they did not change music.

Who said icons have to change music? You guys seem to be talking "legends"...but I never implied that Aaliyah and Brandy were legendary...

 

[Pun1sher]

I'm no expert on r7b record sales...

so u tell me who was in her lane...

MJB was the Queen, Aaliyah was the princess...

there is a lot of revisionist history on the internet... that chick was/is beloved in the streets and industry...

cats also forget she was doing movies too...

Brandy and Monica both outsold Aaliyah, when they were at their peaks...and charted more hits.

In terms of "in demand" status...it would go Brandy, then Monica, then Aaliyah.

If Mary's the Queen, then Brandy is the Princess.

 

[Pun1sher]

The fact that Drake and J. Cole, neither of whom are R&B artists are directly influenced by Aaliyah, speaks volumes of Aaliyah's legacy. She was sampled by artists just shortly after One In A Million was released. She's also been listed as an influence of Rihanna. She's even been cited as an influence on Brandy (see Afrodisiac). Keri Hilson and Ciara are also obvious offsprings of Aaliyah.

Brandy's record sales and arguably her voice>>>>> Aaliyah, but one could make a good argument that Aaliyah's more of an icon musically.

I've never heard nor seen Rihanna imply that Aaliyah was a direct influence on her and her career. Perhaps you're willing to provide proof of this claim...?

Here's Rihanna, speaking on the influence Brandy had on her when she was recording GGGB, however...

"Brandy's Afrodisiac album really helped to inspire that as well, because that album I listen to all day, all night. When I was in the studio that was the album that I listened to all the time and I really admired that every song was a great song. You could listen to the entire album. And I was like, ''You know what? I have to make an album like this.''

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20043298,00.html

 

[Pun1sher]

man, Aaliyah made some joints...

I can't throw on a random Brandy joint that bangs like Aaliyah joints...

I just thru on Pandora and this came on:

[video=youtube;TexYQV6Py0o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TexYQV6Py0o[/video]

man this shit is heat....

[video=youtube;MSvOWnVf-aY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSvOWnVf-aY[/video]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

 

[Pun1sher]

lets agree to disagree....

What's there to disagree with?

 

[TRILLip Brooks]

neither, if aaliyah was alive she'd be ciara

 

[georgia boi]

I've never heard nor seen Rihanna imply that Aaliyah was a direct influence on her and her career. Perhaps you're willing to provide proof of this claim...?

Here's Rihanna, speaking on the influence Brandy had on her when she was recording GGGB, however...

"Brandy's Afrodisiac album really helped to inspire that as well, because that album I listen to all day, all night. When I was in the studio that was the album that I listened to all the time and I really admired that every song was a great song. You could listen to the entire album. And I was like, ''You know what? I have to make an album like this.''

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20043298,00.html

"What came next would completely change the face of R&B music. We talk to Craig Kallman, who decided to introduce Aaliyah to little known producer-writer duo Timbaland and Missy Elliott. Artists such as Sway, Brenmar and Ny reflect on how the relationship between Timbaland and Aaliyah has affected the way they write music. Here we learn how the risks Aaliyah took to experiment with pop music have influenced the biggest artists of today such as Rihanna and Katy B."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015bddr

It's also fitting that Rihanna cited the Brandy album that many critics compared to Aaliyah albums as inspiration:

"Brandy's exciting fourth disc, Afrodisiac, is the best Aaliyah album that Aaliyah never made. Indeed, it sounds like a follow-up to the stellar self-titled CD released by Aaliyah before her death in a plane crash in 2001"

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20150459,00.html

 

[booty-gif-dot-com]

Just exactly what type of impact did One In a Million have on the game? Let's get a little more into specifics...

And to my recollection, it was What's the 411 that made what was hip hop and what was r&b completely indistinguishable...not One in a Million...

Mary's uptempo songs fused 80's Break beat hip hop and then threw some Keyboards on top to smooth it out and then add Mary's Passionate Chaka Khan/Aretha Franklin-esque Yonkers Around The Way Girl vibe to it and yes you did have something fresh and original. like REAL LOVE the beat is Top Billin By Audio 2 and its a classic! The Difference is that when Mary sung Ballads it wasnt a Rap and R&B hybird. The tune Love Without A limit On that album is the NOT HIP HOP its R&B with a jazz fill to it.. or SLow Down. They were all conventional R&B on the ballads.

AALIYAH on the other hand singing One In A Million is a BALLAD and it feels and bumps like a RAP RECORD! Timbaland was inspired by British Trip Hop Music from artist like PortisHead that are not known in the states but are big in the UK. Timbo didnt sample 80's Famous Breakbeats he programmed his Trippy double time sound scapes and the sampling he did do was from random sounds. The background on One In A Million has the sound of CRICKETS.. On Are You That Somebody Its sound of a Babys voice!!

This was all in 1996. and it was Ground Breaking! Other future hip hop ballads learned from it and got hits too like Usher singing Nice and Slow which was 1998.
One In A million is MONUMENTAL!

 

[Pun1sher]

"What came next would completely change the face of R&B music. We talk to Craig Kallman, who decided to introduce Aaliyah to little known producer-writer duo Timbaland and Missy Elliott. Artists such as Sway, Brenmar and Ny reflect on how the relationship between Timbaland and Aaliyah has affected the way they write music. Here we learn how the risks Aaliyah took to experiment with pop music have influenced the biggest artists of today such as Rihanna and Katy B."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015bddr

It's also fitting that Rihanna cited the Brandy album that many critics compared to Aaliyah albums as inspiration:

"Brandy's exciting fourth disc, Afrodisiac, is the best Aaliyah album that Aaliyah never made. Indeed, it sounds like a follow-up to the stellar self-titled CD released by Aaliyah before her death in a plane crash in 2001"

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20150459,00.html

Again...did Rihanna say that she was influenced by Aaliyah? Or is that something that was just assumed by critics that like to bestow impact on Aaliyah that doesn't exist due to pity?

 

[Pun1sher]

Mary's uptempo songs fused 80's Break beat hip hop and then threw some Keyboards on top to smooth it out and then add Mary's Passionate Chaka Khan/Aretha Franklin-esque Yonkers Around The Way Girl vibe to it and yes you did have something fresh and original. like REAL LOVE the beat is Top Billin By Audio 2 and its a classic! The Difference is that when Mary sung Ballads it wasnt a Rap and R&B hybird. The tune Love Without A limit On that album is the NOT HIP HOP its R&B with a jazz fill to it.. or SLow Down. They were all conventional R&B on the ballads.

AALIYAH on the other hand singing One In A Million is a BALLAD and it feels and bumps like a RAP RECORD! Timbaland was inspired by British Trip Hop Music from artist like PortisHead that are not known in the states but are big in the UK. Timbo didnt sample 80's Famous Breakbeats he programmed his Trippy double time sound scapes and the sampling he did do was from random sounds. The background on One In A Million has the sound of CRICKETS.. On Are You That Somebody Its sound of a Babys voice!!

This was all in 1996. and it was Ground Breaking! Other future hip hop ballads learned from it and got hits too like Usher singing Nice and Slow which was 1998.

One In A million is MONUMENTAL!

As a Mary fan, I have to say that I find this post somewhat disrespectful to her.

Mary's music was not an R&B/Hip Hop hybrid? What was it, exactly? Or better yet, maybe you can explain what "hip hop soul" speaks to as it pertains to her? Looking for loopholes is not going to help you here. To your own admission, if Mary was the first to merge r&b vocals with hip hop backing tracks then, by default, she was the first to blur the lines between the two genres...not Aaliyah.

"What's the 411?...a stunning album that bridged the gap between R&B and rap in a way that no female singer had before."

http://www.billboard.com/#/artist/mary-j-blige/bio/43746

One In a Million was not a groundbreaking album. It was landmark for Aaliyah's career...not for the music industry itself. The synths that you speak of that were prevalent in Aaliyah's music in 1996, was a sound that was already popular in the 80's, with artists like Janet, and Michel'le. In fact, albums like "Control" and "Miche'le" were most likely templates that Timbaland used when he was doing Aaliyah's album...

 

[booty-gif-dot-com]

As a Mary fan, I have to say that I find this post somewhat disrespectful to her..

Im a HUGE Mary fan too. but you are starting to sound like a Mary "Stan"

if Mary was the first to merge r&b vocals with hip hop backing tracks then, by default, she was the first to blur the lines between the two genres...not Aaliyah.

The first real Soul/Hip Hop Hybird blur was 1984's "I Feel For You" by Chaka Khan. It was a old Prince Song that she she flipped and it samples Stevie Wonders Finger TIps Part 2. and added Grandmster Melle Mel rapping on it. Chaka was experimenting and didnt go to this sound in the future. So realisitcally FEEL FOR YOU is the first Hip Hop Soul record before either GUY, or MARY J or AALIYAH

One In a Million was not a groundbreaking album.

I didnt say One I A million THE ALBUM was ground breaking. I said ONE IN A MILLION THE SINGLE... please dont twist my words. the 411 is a 5 mic undisputed classic and EVERY SONG on there is a Banger its a much better album over all than Aaliyah's Million record thats still strong enough to get about 4.25 off the power of Million and If Your Girl Only Knew Im 36 years old you dont have to lecture me about this stuff. I am a DJ and I know what is and what was good, and what happened.

In fact, albums like "Control" and "Miche'le" were most likely templates that Timbaland used when he was doing Aaliyah's album..

Yes Aaliyah is influenced by Janet stylistically, and vocally and the choegraphy. but the SOUND is nothing alike. Janet's Control. Thats was Janet's INDUSTRIAL period with the big loud Snare drums and Michelle'??? Cmon Son? Aaliyah got nothing in terms of anything relating to her. and Timbo sonically is more influenced by European producers than American and English Trip Hop In particular. I mentioned PortisHead which you apparently dont know anything about!

I think you twisted my words on this whole thing! heres the real truth!!

Mary J 91-92 was hugely influential on the Hip Hop/Soul merger for Uptempo Songs that everyone copied

Aalliyah's work in 1996 with Timbo. redefined the HIP HOP BALLAD that everyone copied

someone you took it that i was downgrading Mary which is not even remotely true!!

 

[Pun1sher]

The first real Soul/Hip Hop Hybird blur was 1984's "I Feel For You" by Chaka Khan. It was a old Prince Song that she she flipped and it samples Stevie Wonders Finger TIps Part 2. and added Grandmster Melle Mel rapping on it. Chaka was experimenting and didnt go to this sound in the future. So realisitcally FEEL FOR YOU is the first Hip Hop Soul record before either GUY, or MARY J or AALIYAH

Even if what you say here is correct, you're still contradicting yourself. Whether Mary was the first to blur the lines between the two genres, or whether it was Chaka, or Alyson Williams, or Janet...the point is, it wasn't Aaliyah. And that's who you originally gave the credit to which is, obviously, incorrect. And the fact that we can argue about artists from the 80's and early 90's having merged the two, is mere testament to the fact that Aaliyah was only a product of the fusion. She did not start it, she did not revolutionize it, and she did not redefine it.

I didnt say One I A million THE ALBUM was ground breaking. I said ONE IN A MILLION THE SINGLE... please dont twist my words. the 411 is a 5 mic undisputed classic and EVERY SONG on there is a Banger its a much better album over all than Aaliyah's Million record thats still strong enough to get about 4.25 off the power of Million and If Your Girl Only Knew Im 36 years old you dont have to lecture me about this stuff. I am a DJ and I know what is and what was good, and what happened.

No lecturing here...just trying to correct you on a few things. Looking for loopholes, like I said, is not going to make your argument any more or less coherent. So you were talking One in a Million, the single...which was a hip hop influenced ballad that you claim everyone followed and Aaliyah started. Who is this "everyone" that you speak of, exactly? Or better yet, can you name an artist post 1996 that was doing something that wasn't already done in 1992, or 1995, or 1989, or 1986?

Yes Aaliyah is influenced by Janet stylistically, and vocally and the choegraphy. but the SOUND is nothing alike. Janet's Control. Thats was Janet's INDUSTRIAL period with the big loud Snare drums and Michelle'??? Cmon Son? Aaliyah got nothing in terms of anything relating to her. and Timbo sonically is more influenced by European producers than American and English Trip Hop In particular. I mentioned PortisHead which you apparently dont know anything about!

The sound is nothing alike, because it evolved, with the times. But the formula is STILL very much the same. The synthesized production, which was pretty much the anti-thesis to the sample heavy "hip hop soul", was a popular formula with New Jack Swing in the 80's...which Janet forged the template for.

Mary J 91-92 was hugely influential on the Hip Hop/Soul merger for Uptempo Songs that everyone copied

...including Aaliyah.

 

[georgia boi]

Again...did Rihanna say that she was influenced by Aaliyah? Or is that something that was just assumed by critics that like to bestow impact on Aaliyah that doesn't exist due to pity?

She doesn't really have to say that though. It would be different if it was just Aaliyah stans and fans saying Aaliyah is an influence on Rihanna. For example, when T.I. first came out, he didn't say Cool Breeze was one of his influences even though, it's obvious to people familiar with both artists that T.I. is clearly influenced by Cool Breeze stylistically. Aaliyah's influence on Rihanna may not be as obvious, but that's not to say that it it's nonexistent.

 

[booty-gif-dot-com]

no sense with arguing with you dude. you hear what you wanna hear and will just keep posting until you feel youve won some argument on a message board. I'll just sum up what I was trying to say in this short burst!!

Chaka's Feel For You in 1984 was the first real successful hybird of Hip Hop and R&B... GUY starting around late 1988 followed up blending Marley Marl Style Hip Hop Beats, mixed with Doo Wop Throwbacks, Gap Band style Soul (Aaron Hall sounds just like Charlie Wilson) and Mixed with a DC area Go Go Swing.. This mash up of Rap, Doo Wop, Soul, and Go Go was called NEW JACK SWING!!

The Mary Project had some of the same influences in Marley Marl-esque Rugged Beats, and Soul Music on top (especially Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan) and it didnt have the Doo Wop harmony or a Go Go swing it hit much harder and blurred what was Hip hop and what was R&B on the uptempo songs. On the Mary Ballads it was traditional R&B

on the Aaliyah project the Ballads were not traditional. They were just as much Hip Hop as the uptempto songs. They influenced future Hip Hop Ballads like Usher NICE AND SLOW and Kanye and Jaime and Twista on SLOW JAMS!

so my point all along was that

Aaliyahs work with Timbo on Hip Hop ballads hadnt been done before!!

The uptempo Hip Hop/RB blur MARY ALL THE WAY

The hip Hop ballad. AALIYAH ALL THE WAY

if you dont believe that then you must live in an alternative universe or so in love with Mary its twisted your rational thinking!!

Even if what you say here is correct, you're still contradicting yourself. Whether Mary was the first to blur the lines between the two genres, or whether it was Chaka, or Alyson Williams, or Janet...the point is, it wasn't Aaliyah. And that's who you originally gave the credit to which is, obviously, incorrect. And the fact that we can argue about artists from the 80's and early 90's having merged the two, is mere testament to the fact that Aaliyah was only a product of the fusion. She did not start it, she did not revolutionize it, and she did not redefine it.

No lecturing here...just trying to correct you on a few things. Looking for loopholes, like I said, is not going to make your argument any more or less coherent. So you were talking One in a Million, the single...which was a hip hop influenced ballad that you claim everyone followed and Aaliyah started. Who is this "everyone" that you speak of, exactly? Or better yet, can you name an artist post 1996 that was doing something that wasn't already done in 1992, or 1995, or 1989, or 1986?

The sound is nothing alike, because it evolved, with the times. But the formula is STILL very much the same. The synthesized production, which was pretty much the anti-thesis to the sample heavy "hip hop soul", was a popular formula with New Jack Swing in the 80's...which Janet forged the template for.

...including Aaliyah.

 

[Pun1sher]

no sense with arguing with you dude. you hear what you wanna hear and will just keep posting until you feel youve won some argument on a message board. I'll just sum up what I was trying to say in this short burst!!

Chaka's Feel For You in 1984 was the first real successful hybird of Hip Hop and R&B... GUY starting around late 1988 followed up blending Marley Marl Style Hip Hop Beats, mixed with Doo Wop Throwbacks, Gap Band style Soul (Aaron Hall sounds just like Charlie Wilson) and Mixed with a DC area Go Go Swing.. This mash up of Rap, Doo Wop, Soul, and Go Go was called NEW JACK SWING!!

The Mary Project had some of the same influences in Marley Marl-esque Rugged Beats, and Soul Music on top (especially Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan) and it didnt have the Doo Wop harmony or a Go Go swing it hit much harder and blurred what was Hip hop and what was R&B on the uptempo songs. On the Mary Ballads it was traditional R&B

on the Aaliyah project the Ballads were not traditional. They were just as much Hip Hop as the uptempto songs. They influenced future Hip Hop Ballads like Usher NICE AND SLOW and Kanye and Jaime and Twista on SLOW JAMS!

so my point all along was that

Aaliyahs work with Timbo on Hip Hop ballads hadnt been done before!!

The uptempo Hip Hop/RB blur MARY ALL THE WAY

The hip Hop ballad. AALIYAH ALL THE WAY

if you dont believe that then you must live in an alternative universe or so in love with Mary its twisted your rational thinking!!

Just as long as you know Mary's the Queen, and Aaliyah isn't...that's all that matters.

 

[MonRoch]

I am a huge Brandy fan. I also love Aalyiah. i would say neither of them are icons. i will say this though, Brandy has influenced so many people. she has also helped so many people with her music (people using her music to get through relationship problems). right now, Brandy is helping kids who are trying to get in the the business (Majors and Minors show). Brandy has always put out amazing music, and she will do the same with this 6th album comin' up.

so, it really doesn't matter if Brandy reaches icon status or not (although Brandy is highly praised by many of her peers and upcoming artists), as long as she is giving back to the community what God gave to her. so you guys don't see it for Brandy's voice, but Brandy shits and many people see that. take care!