You could say he’s the founder of the funk that is currently back on the rise thanks to Bruno Mars, but Charlie Wilson himself has long found his way within that smooth r&b sound. I think, for many of my generation, his name rings a bell due to the many features and collaborations he’s done, but he is one of those living legends.
As part of The Gap Band he created the upbeat funk that still gets our pinky rings reaching for the moon today. It has been said, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this were true, that their music is the most sampled music around. You may know then best from “Oops Upside Your Head”.
But at age 63 Charlie Wilson (dubbed “Uncle Charlie” by Snoop Dogg, apparently) is showing no signs of retirement whatsoever. His latest release, “I’m Blessed”, is doing pretty well on streaming services. The version featuring T.I. starts of sounding a little bit like a prayer, but there’s also one without T.I.’s additional vocals, which in my opinion is slightly better.
It must be the fact that I listened to this around the holidays, but I really like this song. It’s got an upbeat and very positive vibe to it. It’s no wonder it’s popular around that period of the year, because this is the moment you look towards what you have and hopefully all of us are enjoying a feeling of being blessed as well.
Even though the song is lyrically upbeat, the music is pretty slow. It’s that kind of mid-tempo smooth r&b that a lot of us 90s r&B fans always claim we miss, with a catchy simple chorus to boot.
The song is the lead single for his new album. The title is hinting at a completely different state of mind though. It is called “In It To Win It”. His album will feature Snoop Dogg and Lalah Hathaway. It’s expected to be released in February of 2017. As I said, Charlie is showing no signs of retiring any time soon. He’s already embarked upon the tour to promote the album with special guests such as Johnny Gill and Fantasia.
