2013 has to been labeled as the “Blue eyed Soul of R&B. Where as many of the former kings of R&B are now too busy making Billboard Top 40 pop hits or trying to please fickle pop crowds, Guys such as Justin Timberlake and Robin Thick saw this as an opportunity to cash in on a genre thats been considered a graveyard. Both Timberlake and Thick have released what the masses would be considered the “Best R&B” albums in years and dominated the charts throughout this whole year.
While everyone predicted Timberlake to do monster numbers(which he did) It was Robin Thick whom after years of writing hit songs for many acts and releasing solid “Grown and Sexy” albums had his biggest year yet. The credit mainly has to go with his Summer smash single Blurred Lines which is arguably the biggest song of the year and out of Thick’s career. With a loop of the classic Marvin Gaye track Got to Give Up, A guest verse from the King of the South T.I. and Michael Jackson like background vocals from Pharell, The Song became acceptable to both hip hop(due to T.I.) and the masses. You can hear it within every Cookout, Old school party, club, and Family Reunion throughout. The song introduced Thick into a new audience which led to his top-selling album to date.
With the Success comes Controversy and it mainly stems from the fact that Marvin Gaye’s estate sued Thick, Pharell and T.I. for what they felt was copyright Infringement of Gaye’s classic Got to Give Up. Thick then later counter sued claiming that the chords were different and that while it was inspired, is clearly not a jack of the classic. The feud isn’t dying down anytime soon and it raised a bunch of eyebrows. Was Thick paying homage or was he trying to steal Gaye’s work and claim credit? Be the Judge yourselves:
King Eric is apart of Off The Cuff Radio is a North Carolina based Internet radio show(on blog talk radio) set up to give extra promotion for up and coming artists. Off The Cuff Radio is also a platform for legendary acts whom want to reintroduce themselves and tell their story for a new audience. Off The Cuff Radio has interviewed over 365 artists and counting. Many artists have since acquired new label deals, platforms, and received new found acknowledgement after being apart of the show.
King Eric(Eric Massenburg) is a Radio Host, Reporter, Blogger, Music Curator and writer whom got his head start in hip hop media in 2000. He was inspired by the Source and XXL to pursue writing for the culture and started writing reviews for underground hip hop websites . Eric’s reviews were highly favored, respected, and very honest. He later started his own blog page titled Da Shelter where he uses the platform to write reviews, promote new artists, his videos and content related to his shows.
Eric started to see that the game was changing and wanted to attempt to do radio. King Eric started Off The Cuff Radio in 2014 and wanted to become a radio host. He wanted to take his platform to elevate new talent within his city as well as give a new audience to legends whom paved the way. King Eric also added Ila R Da Sandman(From The Bronx NYC) Candice Cooper from( Houston Texas) and Thomas Mitchell(Nofork Virginia later became a addition to the show which was another way to introduce our show into 5 different markets.
Eric has also been on highly recognized radio platforms such as Die 4 Radio, The Murder Master Music Show, OutLaw Radio live, The Ms Toi Show, The Art of Dialogue and the Unscripted Network to talk about his vision and where he wants to take the Off The Cuff Radio brand.
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Da Shelter 