Best of 2007: Soul/R&B

In 2007, R&B was more like a year of discrete, memorable moments than it has been in the past. Sure, you could ascribe many of these moments to various momentous -- no, monumental -- singles, or perhaps to the ever-diminishing importance of the album, but there's more to it than that. Many of the year's most successful songs and acts carried a greater mystique than usual; that is, their songs managed to capture not merely most of themselves as artists, but also the particular perfect moment at which they arrived. It is both a model of how music is supposed to function -- for artist and listener -- and a sure sign that 2007 was a bumper year. Here, in no particular order, are the year's most memorable moments.

Moment One: R. Kelly Discovers the Telephone
It wouldn't be a year in R&B without mentioning the man who through sheer force of will -- and swagger -- added a second syllable to the alphabet's thirteenth letter: The Arr-uhh's masterful manipulation of this familiar form of communication -- and wonderful ear for the rhythms of conversation itself -- on "Same Girl" (featuring Usher) and "Real Talk" assured that his springtime album, Double Up, would reach conversation-piece status for years to come. Let's see, what else? Oh yeah: new chapters of Trapped in the Closet, scene-stealing guest spots on tracks with Jeezy, Swizzy and Fat Joe, and perhaps the most amazing live-performance DVD ever released. It was a very good year.

Moment Two: T-Pain Steps Up to the Bar
Who knew that so mundane of an act could inspire two of the year's most irresistible club tracks: "Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin')" and "Bartender." The ambassador of auto-tune -- who dropped his own LP Epiphany this summer -- was in high demand on many other artist's albums, lending hooks and verses to Kanye West and DJ Khaled among others, though maybe most famously, and most in keeping with club etiquette, to R. Kelly on his "I'm a Flirt (Remix)".

Moment Three: Rihanna Makes Syllabification Cool
Perhaps taking a page out of R. Kelly's book of modern English pronunciation, Rihanna took over-phoneticizing to a new level with her hit "Umbrella," and scored what was perhaps the most ubiquitous radio jam of the year.

Moment Four: Amy Winehouse Invents Irony, Over and Over Again
Ha-ha. Though "Rehab" and "You Know I'm No Good" (both her solo version and the version featuring Ghostface) are legitimately fantastic songs, Winehouse became more notable this year for her and her husband's well-documented struggles with drug and alcohol addictions which, of course, are no laughing matters.

Moment Five: Beyoncé Realizes She Can Still Kill It
Though her album, B'Day, was released in September of last year, 2007 was the year that no one could give directions without being tempted into singing "Irreplaceable"'s "To the left, to the left." A sold-out tour and a still-selling deluxe edition of her album allows her public as much B as they can get.

Moment Six: Robin Thicke Melts the Hearts of Women Everywhere
The first white male artist to top the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart since George Michael, Thicke's "Lost Without U" helped his album to certified platinum status by late March -- no small feat, considering the music business' current album sales malaise.

Moment Seven: Keyshia Cole Brings It Back ...
... to when we had the red and black lumberjack. In what may or may not be the first song to perfectly evoke the mid-'90s and make the artist, and the song itself, seem super-retro, Cole's "Let It Go" (featuring Missy Elliot and Lil Kim) brought back for many a warm rush of memories of cooling out to what was then a new genre of Rap&B hits -- and of course, to Biggie Smalls' "Juicy" -- while firmly establishing her as one of R&B's now-and-future lodestars.

Moment Eight: Chris Brown Exiting Puberty on Live TV
If you watched his performance at the MTV Video Music Awards this year, then I'm sure you felt just as exhausted as he did after that near-non-stop, seven-minute stunner of a set. You also saw a schoolgirl's crush of a boy become very much a man in those few minutes, and one who knows how to move at that.

Moment Nine: The-Dream Encourages Gratuities
What was easily the year's most lovable, sweetheart-making jam, "Shawty Is Da Sh*!," was on the lips of teenage girls listening to mp3 devices -- and the boys who wanted to holler at them -- everywhere, whether or not they were named Sonya, Tonya or Monique. The-Dream, who penned Rihanna's aforementioned "Umbrella," J. Holiday's "Bed" and Mary J.'s "Just Fine," may also go down as perhaps the year's most courageous artist, staunchly refuting the need for a hook, sung either by himself or Jay-Z, hook-mongers Akon and T-Pain -- or even this next artist.

Moment Ten: Lil Wayne Guesting on Every Song Released This Year
Okay, so this is cheating. This moment is really a collection of many, which shall be enumerated forthwith: Lil Wayne singing the hook for Playaz Circle's "Duffle Bag Boy." Lil Wayne singing a love song to Ciara over her "Promise" beat on his Drought 3 mixtape. Lil Wayne's live performance (and video) with Lloyd on Lloyd's "You." Lil Wayne rapping perhaps the year's best freestyle over Beyoncé's "Upgrade U" (also on his Drought 3 mixtape). Lil Wayne and Robin Thicke's "Oh Shooter" (appearing on both Wayne's Carter II and Thicke's The Evolution of Robin Thicke), and finally, Lil Wayne just talking over Thicke's "Lost Without U." He might be the Akon, or even the T-Pain of his era, which is, naturally, some time in the near future, perhaps perpetually as much as three and a half weeks ahead of our own space-time. Which means he's already in 2008, by my watch.