Who is the real king of R&B for the under 40 group R. Kelly or Brian McNight?

Question

I would choose Brian McKnight because he has sold just as many albums as R. Kelly without the help of Hip Hop. Brian McKnight has a four octave vocal range so we know who can sing the best. R. Kelly is childish and brags on himself that’s ridiculous. B McKnight allows the fans to judge his greatness. R. Kelly gave soul music a black eye with his obvious pedophilia. Brian McKnight fits the mold of classics like Luther Vandross, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Babyface and Donnie Hathaway. R. Kelly could have been the King of R and B if he wouldn't have sold out to mainstream to sell albums. To me this is not even close. Brian McKnight gets played in heavy rotation on the classic R&B stations. R Kelly doesn't because his music appeals more to teenagers now though he's 38. What do you think Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Luther Vandross, The Ojays, Keith Sweat and many more greats who built R&B would think of R Kelly's new album? Those are the true judges of the current King of R&B.

You know there is a new term for R&B it is "grown and sexy" how grown and how sexy is R. Kelly "Double Up" ablum compared to B. McNights "10"

Is R Kelly better known than B McNight because if his antics? This a very important question. Brian McNight has at least one gospel song on EVERY album and he wrote a song to our troops on his Gemini album. He not a gimmick. R. Kelly made a gospel album when he thought he was going to jail plus he compared his nasty self to Marin Luther King and Jesus recently. I like R. Kellys first 4 albums the rest are childish and mainstream.

Answer 1

Brian McKnight

Answer 2

That depends on how you define R&B these days. In the original sense of Rhythm and Blues - a throwback to classic soul, then Brain McKnight's got this one; I can easily listen to the Ojays then him and not miss a beat. However if you define it as the "bump n grind" variety, then that title would go to R Kelly hands down; he wrote the song for crying out loud!!
Both men are extremely talented singer/songwriters, however R Kelly has more mass appeal, having done many projects for other artists as well including producing - (remember MJ's You Are Not Alone?). The sad part is that although R Kelly is large in that respect, he could be so much greater! His antics have hurt him.

Answer 3

R. Kelly because the people of the 40 and under crowd know more about him than Brian McKnight. And R. Kelly has all the baby making music too and almost everyone has grown with hearing him.

Answer 4

R Kelly would be my choice simply because his music is more catchy and appeals to a greater cross section of listeners. I agree that his older work is better - production and lyrics. He even had songs like Summer Bunnies and Thank God its Friday that didn't even make top 10 status when they totally should have. The 12 Play cd is one of the best ever in any genre of music.
Brian McKnight is a great singer with much more muscial talent than R Kelly. But his talent didn't turn out too many hit singles. Too focused on ballads, which is great if you like to hear alot of ballads on a cd. Personally, I like to see it 60/40 fast paced to slow paced songs. I should note that You should be mine is one of my favorite songs ever, probably more than any R Kelly song.
Overall though I do agree with the other poster, Babyface is hands down the KING of R&B for our age group.

Answer 5

Well,well, well....Don't we have a Mr. Know It All on the panel. For the record, R Kelly has 12 albums, B McKnight has 9. In total, 176 songs for R Kelly, 121 songs for B McKnight. Yes I agree B McKnight has a WONDERFUL voice but can never come close to R Kelly's GENIUS. Ohhhhh, tell me this. Did B McKnight ever write songs that meant something to a STATE. For example, R Kelly wrote "Rise UP" for the tragedy in VA Tech. So in your face BUDDY.... and you know you've played some of R Kelly songs when you wanted to get your swerve on so stop hatin............... PEACE

Answer 6

R. Kelly obviously has more fame, but Brian McKnight has far more talent. My favorite R&B song is 'Never Felt This Way' by Brian (although I do favor Alicia Keys' version). To be honest, I always thought Keith Sweat had R. Kelly beat anyway.

Answer 7

R. Kelly... All of ya'lll u should know this he even say's it in his No.1 R&B Hit single ( billboard.com shows it too =) ) " IM A FLIRT REMIX - R.KELLY FT. T.I. & T-pain / BOW WOW. R Kelly has song more than 121 songs have U FORGOTTEN THE REMIXES? Better make that 300 buddy. Brian Mcknght is a hell of a good guy don't get me wrong u brian lover's im not hating okay? R.KElly has one hell of a voice. His new album is a success the only problem wit all yall is that ur getting old and can't accept his shout outs in his songs. VI va r kelly

Answer 8

i feel ya. R. Kelly's new album is a mess. It seems like his music suddenly got commercialized. But his older hits (I Believe I Can Fly, Bump N Grind, Honey Love, Sex Me, Happy People, When A Woman's Fed Up, etc.) are the only things thats keeping me loving him as an artist [not to mention he has written a ton of other songs for other artists]. I'm only 15 and I still agree his 'teenage, radio music' is tragic....it's like his style COMPLETELY changed :O(

so Brian clearly won this one. So far he's always stayed true to his style of music.
But at the same time, i wouldnt call him the king. I would give that title to Babyface. He's an amazing songwriter, singer, etc. I even got the honor of seeing him in concert ;O)

Answer 9

I would say R. Kelly for the over and the under. I love the fact that he writes a lot or maybe the majority of his music and it always touches me. Also his voice is awesome !!!!!!! Leaving his personal life out of it of course, because I don't know the whole story on that.
Brian also has an awesome voice so I guess it's really a hard decision after all ,they are both are so good.

Answer 10

I would have to say R.Kelly on this one. Though I think Brian McKnight is so gifted and talented, he doesn't show as much flexibility as R.Kelly. R.Kelly writes, sings, and produces.......WOW! Also R.Kelly manages to stay current and hip in the game. More younger listeners relate to his music. Brian McKnight is unfortunately.......Kinda played out now.