Essence Fest 2016: Eric Bellinger Is A Lot More Than '90s Samples
When planning my Essence Fest 2016 itinerary I included rising R&B singer Eric Bellinger in hopes he'd surprise me exactly the way he ultimately did Friday night. Lately among us R&B fans there's been a lot of discussion about today's male R&B artists, so I almost felt it my duty to see what was up with one of them.
Like me, if you're an R&B or hip-hop fan, you've probably heard some of Eric Bellinger's hits at least in passing: "Valet" featuring Fetty Wap and 2 Chainz, the Kris Kross-sampling earworm "I Don't Want Her," or the "Oochie Wally"-sampling "Focused On You." The nostalgia-meets-reinvention trend of reworking '90s hits is really big right now in R&B. It's worth noting Bellinger was somewhat ahead of his peers on this wave.
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