Syleena Johnson Brings The Soul Of R&B To Noochie’s ‘Live From The Front Porch’ – SoulBounce

D.C.-based artist and creative visionary Noochie may be a rapper, but he clearly loves R&B. He has made a home for the genre on his Live From The Front Porch series alongside hip-hop and go-go. In recent months, Noochie has welcomed a few of our favorite singers to the porch, such as Eric Roberson and Tweet, and the latest to perform at his crib is the soulful R&B Diva Syleena Johnson.

Before Syleena stepped out onto the front porch stage, her background vocalists Kevian “KB” Bateman and Rae Evans set the tone. These two gentlemen showed that they have the range and showed out with their stunning falsetto vocals as they sang a bit of Aretha Franklin’s “Day Dreaming.” They moved into Mary J. Blige’s “I’m The Only Woman” with lyrics tailored to Syleena who then made her grand entrance.

The songstress came out swinging and singing down, joining the fellas to sing MJB’s classic before they segued into the original song Blige sampled, Curtis Mayfield’s “Give Me Your Love (Love Song).” After grabbing our attention with that introduction, Syleena kept the energy up and jumped into her own catalog of bangers.

She rewound the clock to 2002 to lay down the law on “Guess What” from Chapter 2: The Voice. Syleena showed some love to Erykah Badu by adding a “Bag Lady” breakdown in the middle of the song that set it off. She followed with something for the steppers with her very first single “I’m Your Woman” from her major label debut, 2001’s Chapter 1: Love, Pain & Forgiveness. The final chapter she explored was Chapter 3: The Flesh from 2005, and she turned the heat outside up with the album cut “Slowly.” Syleena and her background singers had to sit down on the stairs to collect themselves to deliver this sensual slow jam.

For her last song, Johnson decided to sing her latest single “Black Balloon.” Featuring a sample of her father Syl Johnson, the track is all about Black empowerment as she encourages our people to “just keep rising to the top.” Near the end of her performance, Syleena and her singers stepped off of the porch and broke out into a little line dance choreography.

Syleena Johnson, her exceptional band and her out-of-this-world background vocalists brought the soul of R&B to Noochie’s Live From The Front Porch. Watch the whole performance when you press play below.