Jacquees started a massive social media storm when he proclaimed himself the R&B King of his generation. Over the weekend, he took to Instagram to hand himself the title.
“I just want to let everybody know that I’m the king of R&B right now,” he exclaimed. “For this generation. I understand who done came and who done did that but now it’s my time. Jacquees, the king of R&B. You just heard me say it.”
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Jacquees, whose most popular song is a cover of Ella Mai, released his debut album this year. Prior to that, he’s been known for his mixtapes and cover songs that he’s dubbed as “Quemixes”. Though he’s seen some moderate success, is peaking at #28 on the Billboard’s R&B chart good enough to call himself the king?
It seems the young newcomer ruffled a few feathers with his self appointed title. One of the notably bothered was J. Holiday, who no one has heard from since “Bed” in 2007.
J. Holiday created an Instagram video to name the real kings of R&B, Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Chris Brown, himself and some random person we’ve never seen before. But that wasn’t the best part of his video, however. The highlight was Holiday being mistaken for a valet driver — because, why not?
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While J. Holiday does have some cuts under his belt and Jacquees has potential, neither one of these guys are close to being the king of R&B today. So, in an effort to try and settle the debate, here are 10 R&B artists that truly have the potential to reign supreme.
Hit the flip to see who makes our list.
Miguel
Source: Michael Kovac / Getty
Say what you want but not many are touching Miguel’s vocal ability. The man can sing circles around many of today’s industry. He’s one hell of a performer too (when he’s not dropkicking fans).
6lack
Source: @JustInMyView / R1 Digital
Grammy-nominated two years in a row? The people are trying to tell you that 6lack is up next. He’s got two pretty solid albums and has worked with a ton of notable artists. 6lack is well on his way to King status once everyone learns how to pronounce his stage name.
Khalid
Source: Scott Dudelson / Getty
You can’t deny that Khalid has had a great couple of years and he’s spending a lot of time on the charts as well. If King status included all around popularity, Khalid would have this on lock easily.
Daniel Caesar
Source: Tasos Katopodis / Getty
If you’re still sleeping on Daniel Caesar, you’re sleeping on some of the best R&B music out today. On Billboard’s top R&B albums chart, his debut album “Freudian” peaked at #6. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
Trey Songz
Women literally lose their minds over Trey Songz. He’s like the R. Kelly of the under 40, no sextape crowd. To be the king of R&B you have to have some level of sex appeal. Trey Songz has enough for 5 or 6 R&B singers. It’s not without mentioning that his songs are actually pretty timeless.
John Legend
John Legend doesn’t consider himself the king but he’s pretty close as far as level of success is concerned. How many R&B singers have an EGOT? The man has more talent in his pinky finger than most.
Bruno Mars
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Hate it or love it, Bruno Mars is winning! His last album, 24K Magic, is completely a 90’s bop and he’s been able to tour off of it for two years straight. He’s an epic performer and it’s undeniable. If he’s not the king, he’s really really close.
Usher
As long as Usher is alive and breathing, he remains in the discussion of kings of R&B. He may be giving us more trap tunes than we’d like, but the man kills it on stage and has more classic songs than literally any of the aforementioned on this list.
Beyonce
The correct answer to the King of R&B debate is Beyonce. That’s it. End of discussion. She is the king and the queen. There is none higher.
