Posted by It’s been over a year since Jacquees made the brow-raising claim of “King of R&B,” and the aftershocks are still rippling through.
Mario has now become the latest singer to lay claim to the throne, though he does have quite a few caveats. While doing an interview with WGCI Chicago on Instagram Live on Tuesday (April 28), Mario said if you’re talking straight skill, he’s your guy.
“If we really talking about just straight, pure skill…” Mario began. “We not talking about relevance, we not talking about who puts out 100 songs a year – we talking about, ‘Nigga give me a mic, you get a mic.’ If we just talking about that, there’s nobody fucking with me. I promise you. On everything, I put that on my grave.”
View this post on Instagram#PressPlay: There has been a lot of talk about who the king of R&B really is, and #Mario has just entered the chat! He says nobody can compare to the amount of skill he has. What are your thoughts, #Roomies? ? (?: @wgci)
He later added he just has “too much flavor.”
While Mario certainly has some classics in the bag, his claim to “King” is definitely going to be contested. And if even not by the legends, he has a few newcomers who may want to challenge him as well, including YK Osiris (as he challenged Jacquees for the title back in October,) Luh Kel (who told HipHopDX that Justin Bieber actually holds the title) and even Tory Lanez.
Jacquees a.k.a. “King Of R&B” Vows To Remix Everyone’s Songs In 2020
Bobby Brown has also laid claim to the title since Jacquees’ original comments, but that feels slightly more appropriate. However, per Bobby, Mario’s going to have to jump in the ring if he wants the crown.
“They want the title, they have to battle me,” Bobby told TMZ in 2018. “That’s If you want the title, you have to battle me. I didn’t really want to talk about it, but I’ve been seeing it on Instagram and social media and to me, it’s like, you want the title, battle me. Live on stage. Me vs. anybody. It doesn’t matter who it is.”
Someone get Swizz Beatz and Timbaland on the phone.