Welcome back to This Week in R&B, your weekly catch-up on everything happening in the genre we love. From the albums worth spending time with to the industry moves you might’ve missed, consider this your one-stop shop for staying in the know.
This week, B2K is taking us back to the early 2000s with their first album in nearly 24 years, Ella Mai has a birthday surprise for the R&B lovers, and hitmaking duo Louis York is putting its own spin on American soul music. Elsewhere, the Grammy nominations are right around the corner, and we’re already thinking about who deserves their flowers.
Let’s get into it.
B2K Is Back Like They Never Left
Somebody check on the millennials, because B2K has officially released its first album in nearly 24 years! Omarion, J-Boog, Lil’ Fizz, and Raz-B reunited for ECLIPSE, which arrived November 6 through BPC Music Group. The project marks the group’s first studio album since 2002’s Pandemonium! and features production from The Underdogs, Sean Garrett, Troy Taylor, Hitmaka, and more.
But this reunion is about more than getting the band back together. When we caught up with B2K ahead of the release, the guys opened up about growing up in the music industry, navigating life outside the group, and what it means to finally have more control over their careers. After spending their early adulthood years navigating the machinery of a major record label, the four are now approaching their music as grown men with families, new perspectives, and a lot more experience under their belts. As J-Boog told YAMS, they’re finally in the driver’s seat.
Whether you grew up practicing the “Bump, Bump, Bump” choreography in your living room or you’re just discovering the group, ECLIPSE offers a chance to hear what B2K sounds like more than two decades later. And if you missed our conversation with the guys about their reunion and the making of the album, now’s a perfect time to catch up.