Bigg Robb (21st Century)

Daddy B. Nice's #10 ranked Southern Soul Artist

"Good Loving Will Make You Cry (w/ Carl Marshall)"

Bigg Robb (21st Century)

Composed by Carl Marshall

Listen to Bigg Robb & Carl Marshall singing "Good Loving Will Make You Cry (Remix)" on YouTube.

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July 24, 2021: "I Did My Time" is now the 12th-ranked southern soul single...

...and Bigg Robb is the #12-ranked southern soul artist on Daddy B Nice's new Top-100 Chart---The New Generation. Click here.

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Daddy B. Nice's Profile:

Bigg Robb may be the biggest surprise of all the "young guns" in Southern Soul. How has this one-time rapper with the 80's synth-funk style conquered the Southern Soul world--fans, deejays and critics alike? We're a long way from Kansas, Dorothy, and we're a long way from the "golden-mean" southern soul of Ernie Johnson's "Love's On The Other Line."

Faced with the stark contrast between the warm, Johnnie Taylor-Tyrone Davis-Marvin Sease-style Southern Soul of "Love's On The Other Line" and Bigg Robb's computer-dominated funk, it seems almost incomprehensible that the "big man" could pull off such a feat.

But that's exactly what Bigg Robb has done, evolving stage by stage over the years, earning every bit of his place in the current top ten artists in Southern Soul music, having out-worked, out-thought, out-performed and out-arranged (to mimic his "fronting" style) just about everybody else in the business.

Above all, the "fat man's" had the desire, the willingness to do anything, whatever it took, from the early days when he shamelessly donned a satin diaper to the formative days when he decided to bring in other lead singers to compensate for his own weak vocals to the latter days when he began lead-singing himself through an auto-tuner.

The Southern Soul fan's fascination with Bigg Robb was mutual. Robb was always fascinated with the South, and he worked to make it more so. You never heard him singing about "northern ladies." You did hear him singing about both "southern ladies" and "big women," another signature Southern Soul topic.

Your Daddy B. Nice wasn't a big Bigg Robb fan in the early years (read more about that in Daddy B. Nice's Original Artist Guide to Bigg Robb (90's-00's), but with each succeeding album my respect and even anticipation for his seemingly never-depleted musical product has grown.

Robb's turning-point in my mind was the Problem Solva's "I Thought She Was At Home," in which Robb negotiated the old creeping-husband-meets-creeping-wife-in-the-motel story with the panache, scope and extraordinary detail of a master.

The pinnacle of Robb's career is without a doubt the point, near the end of "Good Loving Will Make You Cry (Remix)," when the computer-enhanced vocal takes over completely from the passionate but earth-bound Carl Marshall, like an eagle soaring over a vast vista:

"I'm cryin', cryin', cryin'
Over your love."

That's the cathartic moment when Bigg Robb proved to every Southern Soul fan that he could sing with passion through the "heart" of a computer. Ever since, Bigg Robb's enhanced vocals have sounded as natural as if they were real.

Read more of DBN's critique of Bigg Robb's early years in Daddy B. Nice's Original Artist Guide to Bigg Robb (90's-00's).

Listen to Bigg Robb singing "Everybody Makes Mistakes" on YouTube while you read.

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Note: Bigg Robb also appears on Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artists (90's-00's). The "21st Century" after Bigg Robb's name in the headline is to distinguish his artist-guide entries on this page from his artist-guide page on Daddy B. Nice's original chart.

To read the latest updates on Bigg Robb, including interviews, YouTube links and CD reviews, scroll down this page to the "Tidbits" section.To automatically link to Bigg Robb's charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other citations and references on the website, go to "Bigg Robb" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.

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--Daddy B. Nice

About Bigg Robb (21st Century)

Robert Smith (aka Bigg Robb) was born July 12, 1967, the "summer of love," in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the eighties Robert, still in his early teens, became a long-running Cincinnati deejay ("Sugar Daddy From Cincinnati," playing commercial R&B, rap and hiphop), a position from which he secured interviews with Bootsy Collins (of Funkadelic) and Roger Troutman (of Zapp). In an interview with Blues Critic's Dylann DeAnna in 2007, Bigg Robb described the importance of these two masters of eighties' funk on his life:

"Bootsy Collins came to the radio station and did an interview with me at 6 in the morning and people swarmed to the radio station for this interview with Bootsy. And Bootsy came looking like you've always seen him look. Star glasses, spikes, the clothes and, dude, I was stunned! That was the moment. The defining point and I knew I wanted to be an entertainer. Whatever Bootsy does that's what I wanted to do. Be an entertainer! Then I saw Roger and once I saw Roger perform I was, like, "It's a wrap! I'm going to be up in this music thang!".

Collins and Troutman had recording studios in the Cincinnati-Dayton, Ohio area in the eighties and nineties, and Troutman in particular became Bigg Robb's mentor--Robb working as valet, personal assistant and eventually studio mate. (Roger Troutman was shot to death by his brother Larry in a Cain & Abel-style murder/suicide on April 25, 1999).

By the time Roger Troutman died, Bigg Robb had a rap album and other hiphop studio work under his belt. Robb had joined Zapp, playing mainline synth-funk, and on a tour date in Greenwood, Mississippi he met Mel Waiters, whom he admits he had never heard of.

Robb's remix of the Southern Soul master's "Hole In The Wall" (a perennial Top 10 Daddy B. Nice's Southern Soul Singles 90's-00's) marked Bigg Robb's entry into the world of chitlin' circuit, Southern Soul-styled music.

However, the Southern Soul influence wasn't apparent right away. Robb's first albums (both those under the name Bigg Robb and those under the name Da Problem Solvas) were very much in the northern-funk style of George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Roger Troutman.

But there were pronounced affinities to Southern Soul music as well. "Grown Folks music," which became the title of Robb's first non-rap CD, was one such connection, because it played to the Southern Soul fans' exhaustion with hiphop-dominated, contemporary youth culture.

Another theme in common with the traditional Southern R&B fans (and one which became the title of his second LP) was Robb's fascination with "big" in general and "big women" in particular (usually spelled "bigg" in Bigg Robb's world). Bigg Robb's first signature single was "The Big Woman Song," memorialized in the The Big Woman CD in 2003.

Both were largely funk-rapping concoctions, with Robb playing "master of ceremonies" to a musical format that varied greatly in quality from song to song. Witty, flamboyant, and a charismatic speaker, Robb was nevertheless not a "lead singer."

As a matter of fact, the occasions on which Robb's talents really shone were collaborations with lead singers: "I Miss You" w/ Mama Big, "Guajira" with Don Cisco and "Big Robb's House Party" with Karen Brown.

So Robb took the "next" step, putting together a band called Da Problem Solvas (not to be confused with the Problem Solvaz, a Sourthern rap quartet), with its three principals being Robb, longtime collaborator/co-writer Bart "Sure 2 B Thomas (see song credits for "Good Lovin'" above) and lead singer Big Woo, whom they picked up from a Toledo, Ohio-based band.

Da Problem Solvas' Every Woman Deserves To Be Satisfied arrived in 2004, and it marked another milestone for the hard-working, "driven" performer/producer.

And yet, there was a relative hiatus of a couple of years (a Christmas album, a Hurrican Katrina album, and other-artist projects) before Bigg Robb returned to form with a vengeance on 8 Tracks N 45's in 2006.

This eighteen-track, funk-slash-Southern Soul CD featured a roster of artists executing a big-tent, three-ring-circus musical agenda that dwarfed anything seen before on the chitlin' circuit.

Robb brought in talent from the Gap Band, the Ohio Players and seemingly anywhere else he could get his hands on it. Bigg Robb repeated the formula in 2007's Blues, Soul and Old School , crossing the line into "compilation" album territory by even presenting full-fledged guest-artist songs such as Pat Cooley's popular Southern Soul hit, "Older Woman, Younger Man."

The jewel of the album, however, was Robb's collaboration with Carl Marshall on Marshall's already-established Southern Soul hit, "Good Lovin' Will Make You Cry."

In awarding Bigg Robb the first annual "Daddy" Award (2007) for Southern Soul Producer of the Year (and #3-ranked Southern Soul Song of the year), Daddy B. Nice wrote:

"Good Lovin' Will Make U Cry" (Remix)------------Bigg Robb w/ Carl Marshall

"For the first time ever, the technical edge and clarity of hiphop and funk were fused seamlessly and naturally with Southern Soul, serving notice that a new and masterful Southern Soul producer had come of age."

Blues, Soul & Old School became one of the best-selling CD's in Southern Soul rhythm and blues history.

The same year (2007), Robb released a compilation of earlier songs entitled The Best Of Bigg Robb & Da Problem Solvas. The collection included the early hits with other lead singers: "Man Next Door" (one of the first songs to openly address beaten-women advocacy) and "Keep On Stepping" (Robb's most purely northern-soul tune).

Jerri Curl Music (Over 25 Sound), a nineteen-track collection, was released in 2009, compiling popular singles with "Float On," "Everybody Makes Mistakes," "Family Reunion," "Party Tonight," "It Ain't A Party Until You Play The Blues" and "If I Get Drunk."

A gospel-oriented collection of old and new songs, Grown Folks Gospel: Songs Of Encouragement, including "Mama's Song" and "Everybody Makes Mistakes," was published the same year.

Soul Prescription, another typically-generous Bigg Robb collection (18 tracks), followed in 2010. Once again, Southern Soul radio singles abounded. "Remix Our Love," "The Crying Zone," "Young Folks Love The Blues" and "Backtracking" were extremely popular with fans, and Bigg Robb's star power continued to rise.

Juke Joint Music (Over 25 Sound, 2012) was equally successful, repeating the formula used on 8 Tracks & 45's of including signature hits by other popular artists, i.e. L. J. Echols ("From The Back") and Klass Band Brotherhood featuring Nelson Curry ("Sugar Shack"). The album also featured Robb's accomplished remix of "Sugar Shack" and a number of well-received collaborations with artists such as Mel Waiters, Ghetto Cowboy, Omar Cunningham and Carl Marshall.

Bigg Robb Discography:

2000 Cheddar Cheddar (Robb Music)

2002 Grown Folks Muzic (Over 25 Sound)

2003 The Bigg Woman CD (Over 25 Sound)

2004 Every Woman Deserves To Be Satisfied (Da Problem Solvas) (Over 25 Sound)

2004 Merry Christmas From The Bigg Man (Over 25 Sound)

2005 Southern Soul Cares (Over 25 Sound/Robb Music)

2006 8 Tracks N 45's (Over 25 Sound)

2007 Blues, Soul and Old School (Over 25 Sound)

2007 Best Of Da Problem Solvas (Robb Music)

2009 Jerri Curl Muzik" (Over 25 Sound)

2010 Grown Folks Gospel: Songs Of Encouragement"(Over 25 Sound)

2010 Soul Prescription (Over 25 Sound)

2012 Juke Joint Music (Over 25 Sound)

2013 Think Bigg (Over 25 Sound)

2015 Showtime (Music Access)

2016 Got My Whiskey Party (Robert Smith Jr / Over25sound / Jennermusicgroup)

2017 Born 2 Do This (Bigg Robb / Jennermusicgroup / Over25sound)

To shop for all of Bigg Robb's albums, go to "Bigg Robb" in Daddy B. Nice's Bargain CD Store.

Song's Transcendent Moment

"If you want to go
To crying zone,
Find someone
that turns you on."

Tidbits

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May 12, 2013: Bigg Robb on YouTube:

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BIGG ROBB TAKES DOWN BISHOP BULLWINKLES'S "HELL NAW TO THE NAW NAW" FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

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BIGG ROBB: Showtime (Music Access/Robb Music/Over 25 Sound)

Five Stars ***** Can't Miss. Pure Southern Soul Heaven.

"Good, Good" is the culmination of all of Robb's diligence, an easy-going anthem that perfectly sums up not only his charisma but the very popularity of southern soul itself.

Bigg Robb has as much claim to being the heart and soul of chitlin' circuit music as anyone. He is Latimore's true heir: the current king of the southern soul voice-over.

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Best Songwriter: Bigg Robb & Bishop Bullwinkle: "Hell Naw To The Naw Naw"

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Track List:

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News & Notes:

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New Album Alert!

BORN 2 DO THIS Track List:

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New Album Alert!

GOOD MUZIC TRACK LIST:

Daddy B. Nice notes:

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Bigg Robb New Album Alert!

SMOOTH GROWN & SEXY TRACK LIST:

Daddy B. Nice notes:

Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles For. . .

-------APRIL 2020-------

…..8. "Take It Off"-----Bigg Robb feat. Wendell B.

Whew! What a team these two musical giants would make. From Bigg Robb's otherwise marginal new album, Smooth, Grown & Sexy, this tune shoots up from the "smooth" debris like an awesome rhythm and blues star-ship. Unlike Wendell's own overly-dense mixes, you can hear his phenomenal voice with crystal-clear brilliance.

Listen to Wendell B. and Bigg Robb singing "Take It Off" on YouTube.

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Honorary "B" Side

"Sugar Shack (w/ Mz. Jackson) "

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