This page is about my R&B healthy addiction. It’s rhythm and blues, funky music, race music, soul music, as they call it. Truth of the matter is, it’s the one and only genre that keeps me fly and alive 24/7.

I was in junior high when I became addicted to this genre. From that moment onwards, I began to have my own countdown every week. By the end of the year – I got My Year-End Countdown. It’s crazy, isn’t it?

Don’t worry a thing, I am still in my good mind until now. I am not experiencing any hallucination or delusion. I work five days and 40 hours (sometimes, more than that) a week. I also make sure I am well-rested during weekends by listening to R&B, Hip-Hop and Soul, old or new school.

Consider it as an unbreakable chain that for as long as I live, Rhythm and Blues rules!!! It’s in my blood and I love these R&B artists. Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years They have their own identity and style. Though, the following artists have changed my life for the better. Their music are food to my wounded soul.

Usher (October 14, 1978)
Alicia Keys (January 25, 1981)
John Legend (December 28, 1978)

Bits and Pieces

MY 2023 YEAR-END COUNTDOWN

MY 2022 YEAR-END COUNTDOWN

MY 2021 YEAR-END COUNTDOWN

MY 2020 YEAR-END COUNTDOWN

MY 2019 YEAR-END COUNTDOWN

MY 2018 YEAR-END COUNTDOWN

My Top 5: November 2017
My Top 5: September-October 2017
My Top 5: August 2017
My Top 5: July 2017
My Top 5: June 2017
My Top 5: March – April – May 2017
My Top 5: February 2017
My Top 5: January 2017

Have You Tried Sleeping With A Broken Heart?
SurvivorDean Top 5 (October 2009)
Just to Satisfy You!
SurvivorDean’s Top 5 (September 2009)
Best Duo Singles of All Time
Usher Performs Man in the Mirror, Fantastico!
Michael Jackson: Gone Too Soon
SurvivorDean Top 5 (March 2009)
The Unforgettable R&B Song
What’s Truly Goin’ on In Our World Today?
Absolute & Finest Duo of All Time
Goodbye and Nothing More
The Old Me’s Dead and Gone
SURVIVORDEAN Year-End Countdown 2002-2007
****************************************************
Two thousand eight was a fruitful year in R&B. Several giant names such as Usher, Ne-yo, and Beyonce came back and before the new year unfolds, I find it hard to enumerate the bestest 2008 singles in chronological order. But geez, I did it and here are they: SurvivorDean Year-End Countdown 2008

THE BEST TEN!

(10) So Fly : Slim ft. Shawty Lo and Yung Joc

What’s SO FLY? This is the first question that pops in my head when the title caught my eye. To satisfy my curiosity, I immediately went to YouTube and search for this single. Whoa, the beat is a bomb! The message is all about telling yourself how hot and high you are

“I’m so fly, so fly, im so, feels like im taking off im so high, so high, don’t mean nothing, looking for a shorty to break me off, can’t nobody tell me nothing, so fly, peace up a town top down calling young jock till you know its going down, so fly, feels like im taking off im so high, looking for a dhotrty to break me off peace up a town top down calling young jock till you know its going down.”

And yes, whoever we are, we can be hot in our own ways.

(9) Sexy Can I : Ray J. ft. Baby Bash

Probably the coolest hit by Ray J. The first time I heard it in IMEEM, my insides were just dancing to the fullest. Some critics say Ray J. was no good. His hits, including this one, was all about sex, sex and more sex. Geez, I don’t mind as long as it’s HipHop, it absolutely rules and what can I ask? “Sexy can I, please pardon my manners,” hahaha

(8) With You : Chris Brown

The female version of Beyonce’s hit Irreplaceable- that’s all they say! But no matter what, Chris Brown rocks this song like a hurricane in my mind. Hands down, the lyrics were all cheesiness, sweetness and having someone so special to you. Still, like to play it all over again. The one line that struck me hard:

” I don’t need another woman, I just need it all or nothing, ‘Cause if I got that, Then I’ll be straight, Baby, you’re the best part of my day.”

(7) Like You’ll Never See Me Again : Alicia Keys

This a a depressing song! I was in goosebumps and like saying goodbye to the world the next day while listening to the lyrics. But you know what, Alicia Keys conquered the R&B Year-End Billboard Charts with this melancholy masterpiece.

Like You’ll Never Me Again was at number 1 in R&B Billboard Singles, Alicia was also named as the Top R&B Artist this 2008, and her third studio album, As I Am, was crowned as the Best-selling R&B album. One thing I ask for those people who know me, please play this song when I die. But not now, Lord God!

(6) Just Fine : Mary J. Blige

Just fun and surviving! This is what this single (from her album “Growing Pains”) is all about. If you listen to the lyrics, it tells you all— Living life without regrets, if mistakes made, learn from it and just move on. And you can’t deny the song’s powerhouse and groovy stroke of a genius.

(5) Take A Bow : Rihanna

She is smokin’ beautiful when she says “You’re so ugly when you cry.” Hell yeah, probably, Rihanna at her best umbrella! True to its revengeful message, got unstoppable breezy flavors and whee, this song is written by Shaffer Smith aka Neyo. In fact, I immediately knew this song got the groove the first time I heard the opening beat.

(4) Low : Flo Rida ft. T-Pain

Who doesn’t know this HipHop Anthem? Everybody wants it, you know you like it, the chipmunks sing it and I am addicted to it. Just can’t stop waving and flying up high while it’s on, right? So, the next time you spell party at your nerves, don’t forget the “apple bottom jeans and boots with the fur.”

(3) If I Were A Boy (remix) : Beyonce ft. R. Kelly

No strings attached, I learn volumes of insights listening to this Beyonce’s jewel. Try to forget the chauvinistic side of you and you will understand how those superwomen think and feel. I am in my deepest thoughts when Beyonce blurted it all out,

“It’s a little too late for you to come back | Say its just a mistake | Think I forgive you like that | If you thought I would wait for you |You thought wrong”

When the remix was out and R. Kelly made his thing here and there, this soulful jewel shines loads of magical forces to humanity. This is absolutely the song of substance and can’t be easily forgotten especially when Kels sang, “You’re not a perfect woman and I’m not your perfect man.”

(2) Go On Girl : Neyo

“Trust me when I say that I’ll be OK” – the most striking line of this smooth flowing song. This is what I like about this hit by Neyo. He knows how to articulate the things when he’s moving on. This song only tells you to still rock the boat even your romantic tides are way too high for you. In some ways, why need a girl beside you when there is a lot of things aside from loving a girl who can’t love you in return. Don’t fret and just love yourself even more and say in front of her, go on girl! And the next time your heart is broken, just remember: “You’re too fly to be depressed.”

(1) Moving Mountains : Usher

Who else will top my year-end countdown than the R and B man himself! The world has witnessed a different and mature version of Usher Raymond IV when he released this second single from his fifth studio album, Here I Stand.

“She, she don’t touch me, I don’t touch her| We aint really even ever say a word. | I really want to give her everything she deserves |But, the bad took away the good”

I just can’t see the big picture why Moving Mountains didn’t do good in music charts. Nevermind, no matter what the Billboard says, this song is still an explosion that magnets the two sides of agony into one. The opening beat is undeniably powerful (Thanks to Timbaland), the lyrics were all thumbs-up and who can forget the song’s signature that says- JUST LEAVE ME. Happy New Year folks!

Photos Courtesy of: Blogspot, Amazon, Tiny Pic