Oh, Manchester, So Much To Answer For

As much as I love R&B and hip-hop, there's a lot of bad music at urban radio right now. To wit, I attempted to listen to Launchcast's The Big Jams station at work today (largely because I wanted to hear "Deja Vu"), and here's an excerpt of what I got:

E-40 - "U & Dat"
JoJo - "Too Little Too Late"
Sean Paul - "(When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me"
Chamillionaire - "Ridin'"
Chingy - "Pullin' Me Back"
Shakira - "Hips Don't Lie"
Rihanna - "Unfaithful"
J.R. Writer - "Grill Em"
Lil Jon - "Snap Yo Fingers"
Cassie - "Me & U"
Young Dro - "Shoulder Lean"
Yung Joc - "It's Goin' Down"

These last 4, out of order, are the last 4 songs to go to #1 on the R&B singles chart, and I despise each and every one of them. Honestly, the only one of these songs I don't hate is Shakira's, which is just mediocre (why is she so much better in Spanish than in English? I suspect Wyclef has something to do with that...). I am so fucking over "snap," the most annoying hip-hop subgenre since - well, hyphy. Only worse. I know this is a cranky-old-man rant, but I can't help myself - and I haven't even mentioned what a dud I find the new Kelis single (I mean, c'mon - Too Short?!). What has happened to urban radio this year? Apart from MJB, Ne-Yo, Beyoncé and a few others, it's nearly unlistenable these days. Where's Erykah Badu's weird ass when we most need her? For that matter, where are any of the "neo-soul" class of '96: Badu, Maxwell, D'Angelo, et.al.? Come back to the five and dime, Erykah Badu, Erykah Badu...

Then I returned to the loving arms of my Launchcast, which welcomed me back with Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up." I exhaled in relief. "Makin' love until we drown." "We can do it till we both wake up." God bless America.