Tag Archives: rick-james

After years of trying to funk his way to stardom, Rick James finally broke through in 1978 on the back of a pair of dynamite singles: “You and I,” an eight-minute dance-floor workout that includes a lovely, soaring falsetto kiss-off (“they all can go to hell”), and “Mary Jane,” the …

“Time’s slipping away,” Niia notes on “Macaroni Salad,” the second track from her new EP If I Should Die. “When’s my big start?” she wonders. It’s a pointed question from a gifted R&B singer trying to navigate a world that doesn’t always care all that much for R&B. Niia released …