In a string of nine tweets this past Saturday, Solange wrote that R&B has long been experimental, and expressed frustration at music critics for, "acting like it just popped off last year." She suggested a familiarity with Brandy as a pre-requisite for writing about R&B:
Some of these music blogs could actually benefit from hiring people who REALLY understand the culture of R&B to write about R&B. Like you really should know about deep Brandy album cuts before you are giving a "grade" or a "score" to any R&B artists.
Following Solange's tweets, Brandy fans shared their pet tracks using the hashtag #DeepBrandyAlbumCuts. Whether or not an extensive knowledge of Brandy's back-catalog is really key to thoughtful writing about R&B, her albums are a pleasure to revisit, marked by incomparable singing and well-chosen production (from Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Kanye West, Sean Garrett and more). Here are 14 favorites, spanning Brandy's five studio albums. For more on her two-decade career, check out this Staff Selects playlist and our 2012 interview with Brandy about her album Two Eleven.
Prod. by Rodney Jerkins
Prod. by Rodney Jerkins
Prod. by Rodney Jerkins, Stuart Brawley and Jason Derlatka
Prod. by Kanye West
Prod. by Timbaland
Prod. by Kanye West, Jon Brion
Prod. by Rico Love and Medor
Prod. by Rodney Jerkins and D'Mile
Prod. by Switch
Written by Robin Thicke, Prod. by Damon Thomas
Prod. by Rodney Jerkins, Big Bert
Prod. by Walter "DJ Walt" Millsap III
Prod by Rodney Jerkins and Fred Jerkins III
Prod. by Guy Roche and Fred Jerkins III
(Two of these aren’t actually ‘deep cuts’: “Almost Doesn’t Count” was released as Never Say Never’s fourth single in 1999; Kanye West’s “Bring Me Down” is not from a Brandy album.)
