By Felicia J. Barclay

R&B/Soul enthusiasts were buzzing with delight last night as Los Angeles native Leela James and Detroit’s own Dwele drew a packed crowd to BB Kings NYC.

James initially came onto the scene back in 2005 under Warner Bros. She’s since parted ways with the label due to a lack of album sales, and has re-emerged earlier this year with Shanachie Entertainment. Her poor albums sales like many other newer artists isn’t necessarily a reflection of her talent level, because this little lady packs a powerful voice.

She began her set with a “It’s a Mans Man’s Man’s World”, a soulful rock rendition of James Brown’s original while donning a black and white glove on her right hand as an ode to the late Michael Jackson. She then transitioned to one of her best-known records, a jazzed up “Good Time”.

After lecturing the crowd about not dancing and vibing with the music, Leela along with her back-up singers draped in red and black did a mini choreography routine to Rick James’ “Give It To Me Baby”, then grabbed a photographer in the front stage and pulled him up for a dance with the pint-sized chanteuse.

The apex of her set, “Don’t Speak” was delivered with so much conviction; you would have thought she was singing to someone specifically in the audience. She could have ended at this point, only a few songs in and still would have had a stellar night. It was also during this record she paused her set for a moment to answer a text message received from her mother, asking how the show was going. Not sure if this was done for sheer hilarity or if the audience participation was not to her liking as it was mostly women in attendance there to see Dwele.

Her act drew near to the end as she brought several audience members on stage to dance along to “It’s Alright”, intermixed with Frankie Beverly’s “Joy and Pain”. She closed with “You Know How To Love Me” from her latest album Let’s Do It Again (Shanachie), setting the Soul bar pretty high for the night and readying the audience for Dwele.

A few moments later Dwele hit the stage to a collection of screaming women as he opened with “Body Rock” from his latest album, Sketches Of A Man (Koch). He then went into “How I Deal” a track he created in between albums, singing the all too familiar story of chasing the almighty dollar as those in the standing room area of BB Kings moved closer to the stage.

Although things were moving pretty fluid, the sound was a little distracting as his mic made his voice sound a bit muffled. Despite the horrible sound, audience goers didn’t seem to notice or care too much as they sung along to “Know Your Name” and hit single, “I Think I Love You” both from his sophomore album, Some Kinda…(Virgin).

Although Dwele has rightfully earned a spot as one of R&B/Soul’s breakout artists in his short career having appeared on tracks with Kanye West and Slum Village among others, he seemed to be a bit self-absorbed midway through his performance, posing for one too many pictures. Again, this was no deterrent to the women in attendance as screams filled the room when he went into “Travelin Girl” and “Old Lovas.” with the latter starting off harmoniously with the help of his back-up singers as the beat dropped midway through.

With audience recognition a strong component to his set, Dwele sung “Weekend Love” at their request followed by each of his band mates showcasing their talent to the crowd. As Dwele introduced them individually while injecting OJ da Juiceman’s “Ay – Okay” insignia, he transitioned into his controversial hit, “I’m Cheatin”. He wrapped the evening with “Find A Way” as he jumped into the crowed and danced with some of his lucky attendees who didn’t have the honor of snapping a picture with him during his performance.

Overall both performers left patrons feeling as though their money was well spent, although it’s easy to argue that Leela’s performance was surprisingly more heart-felt. However when you compare a female R&B singer to her male counterpart with an audience consisting of mainly women as the focus group, the male crooner always reigns supreme.

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Photography courtesy of Shots By Scott