USHER (with Rawiya Kameir)
Music writer and Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, Rawiya Kameir, is back on the show to discuss the career and confessions of the great Usher. DJ Louie and Rawiya break down Usher\u2019s musical origins singing in the church, the failed boy band he fronted in the early \u201890s, Nu Beginnings, and how his deal with the storied LaFace Records and subsequent \u201cflavor camp\u201d with Sean \u201cPuff Daddy\u2019 Combs set the stage for his self-titled debut record in 1994. They then dive into his breakthrough sophomore album, 1997\u2019s My Way, how it solidified Usher\u2019s persona as a smooth, sensitive, emotionally-conflicted lover boy as well as one of the most dexterous R&B singers of his generation, its blockbuster follow up, 2001\u2019s 8701, which furthered Usher\u2019s thematic fascination with the complexities of and distress caused by love and sex and of course, his magnum opus, 2004\u2019s Confessions, a hit-packed concept album about the aftermath of infidelity that sold over 20 million copies worldwide and stands today as Usher\u2019s signature artistic and commercial achievement. Next, Louie and Rawiya debate Usher\u2019s latter period output, from swings at trendiness on 2008\u2019s Here I Stand and 2010\u2019s Raymond Vs. Raymond to more rewarding experiments on 2012\u2019s Looking 4 Myself and 2016\u2019s Hard II Love. Finally they rank Usher in the official Pop Pantheon.
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