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On The Rise: BJ The Chicago Kid

Twenty-one tracks from a Chicago singer with a church-trained voice who has spent his career as the R&B world's most reliable guest.

Check out his Wikipedia bio here…

BJ The Chicago Kid

Bryan Sledge grew up singing in his parents' church on Chicago's South Side, and everything about how he sings comes from there: the runs, the way he sits on top of a beat, and a particular quality of strain at the top of his range that gospel singers use and R&B singers usually smooth away.

His own catalogue is excellent and modest in size. His guest appearances are where he has had the largest influence — on records by Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Anderson .Paak, Chance the Rapper and Kanye West, where his voice is used to supply the human element in an otherwise hard arrangement.

He signed to Motown, which is fitting: he is one of very few modern singers who would have made sense on that label in 1972.

What to listen for

"Church" aside, "Good Luv'n" is the best-known of his own records and the most immediately winning.

"The New Cupid" with Kendrick Lamar is the collaboration to hear first, and ScHoolboy Q's "Studio" is the one that reached the widest audience.

Anderson .Paak's "The Waters" is the best guest verse on this list — the hook is what makes that record work.

"His Pain" is the most gospel-rooted thing here and the track that most clearly explains the whole approach.

"Woman's World" is the most thoughtful piece of writing in the catalogue, and "The Big Payback" is the funkiest.

"Not Coming Back" with PJ Morton pairs two singers from the same tradition — Morton is Maroon 5's keyboard player and a pastor's son from New Orleans — and it is the prettiest thing on the set.

Slum Village's "Expressive" is the Detroit connection, and "I Want You Back | Lady Lady" is the medley that shows what he can do with a standard.

Go deeper

In My Mind (2016) is the album to start with; 1123 (2019) is the more mature record.

For the modern gospel-to-R&B lineage: PJ Morton, Lucky Daye and Leon Bridges. Donny Hathaway is the ancestor every one of them is working from.

Listening note: the strain at the top of his range is the tell. Gospel singers use it deliberately; R&B singers usually smooth it out. Keeping it is why rappers keep hiring him — he supplies the human, slightly frayed element that an otherwise hard and immaculate arrangement cannot generate on its own.

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