According to Gifted Gab, true R&B has a specific sound. And most contemporary R&B artists are way off the mark.
“What they call R&B now just breaks my heart,” she told Seattle Weekly. “I like to sing about love. Not just trying to hit it. It’s so vulgar now. I just can’t rock with it.”
You can hear that permeating through every single one of her songs. Gifted Gab, born Gabby Kadushin, has the vocal talent to back it up too. When you listen to her songs, she seamlessly transitions between smoky, sultry vocals and sharp, hip-hop influenced rhymes.
All of it comes from her early interest in music and growing up in an environment that fostered it. She sang with her mother in their church choir and also, growing up in Seattle’s Central District, historically the city’s center of African-American culture, she idolized legends of the neighborhood like Mac Dre and E-40.
So I think she’s earned the right to dictate what real music in her genre should sound like.
In tracks like “Show You Right” and “Change Your Mind,” she practices what she preaches. She weaves complicated lyrical tales of love and desire, while balancing the edge of harder golden age hip-hop, the heights of gospel, and the softness of jazz.
She’s certainly one who commands attention. If you’re in Seattle on June 3rd, 2017, you can catch her as she plays for her hometown at Neumos with Jarv Dee, Swisher Sleep, and Fantasy League DJs.
Event:
Gifted Gab: Rollin’ with the Homies
Date & Time:
June 3rd, 2017 | 8 PM
Location:
Neumos
925 East Pike Street
Seattle, WA, 98122
Age Restriction:
21+
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