Christopher Brent Wood is a 22-year-old, R&B singer/producer from Columbia, Maryland. Recently, he dropped his latest project ‘Lost’, the EP which consists of six songs. For those of you who don’t know, Brent has been in the music business for some time now, but he didn’t blow up until he featured on Goldlinks’ ‘Crew’ in 2017. The song was a MAJOR hit, ranking number 7 on Billboards’ ‘10 Best Rap Songs of 2017’ and number 11 on Complex ‘Best Songs of 2017’. On top of the song being ranked as one of the best songs of the year from multiple media platforms, it went Platinum. In 2014, Faiyaz began releasing his music on Soundcloud and moved from his hometown in Maryland to Charlotte, North Carolina before eventually settling in LA to continue building his music career. On June 1st, 2016 he released his single ‘Invite Me’ which was a part of his debut album ‘A.M. Paradox’. Just a few weeks later Faiyaz formed a group with fellow producers, Atu and Dpat named, Sonder. So far, the Trio has only released one EP, ‘Into’, In January 2017, that was almost two years ago. While the trio recently dropped a single titled, ‘One Night Only’ I don’t think we’ll be getting another album anytime soon.
A couple of months ago, I published an article about another R&B artist who had also just dropped an album and to say I was disappointed with it would be an understatement. But the release of ‘Lost’has given me hope for the future of R&B. This EP is the most soulful project of this year, no other album has had this much of an impact on me and it was even more exciting because there aren’t as many men making r&b music anymore. I’ve noticed that our generation has trouble making good, soulful r&b and still, there are artists who have the AUDACITY to try and claim the title of king or Queen of R&B when they don’t have the numbers or the talent to back up their claims (Jacquees). Smaller artists like Brent Faiyaz, DVSN, and Daniel Caesar are so overlooked in the industry even though they have a clear, raw talent. While Jacquees will continue to make a million songs about taking a girl home from the club or all the different things he wants to do to her in bed, Brent Faiyaz is making music to connect with his fans.
In Sonder Son, Faiyaz got deep with his fans, giving them a detailed image of his life growing up in a single parent home, in Maryland and just the conversations he has as a man with his peers. He gives a deeper understanding of what a man goes through as he’s growing up and going through his different stages of life. It’s rare to see an artist be that open with his fans because it is hard for us as humans to be vulnerable with anyone, let alone thousands of people. Brent, I applaud you for doing what very few artists are, you are unique and might just be the king of R&B for our generation.