Best R&B Artist

R&B cycles through divas faster than a high-school girl goes through crushes. Where is Erykah Badu? Why did it take four years for a Jill Scott follow-up? Where, oh where, is hometown star Toya? Beware, Coco Soul. A prodigiously talented singer built on the Jill Scott template, Soul is big and beautiful, with an even larger, even prettier voice. Like Scott, she harkens back to the laidback old school of R&B, and, also like Scott, she could sound sexy reading a Chinese takeout menu. In time we'll know whether Soul is treated to the moment in the sun Jill Scott got. She certainly deserves it.