Homeboy Runny-Ray you my guy dawg. I enjoy reading your posts. You have a grand knowledge on present and past r&b but it boggles me that you are fighting to the ends for Beyonce.
To make this clear,
Beyonce is no longer R&B/Soul. She is full pop. Compare her to Gaga or Madonna, and even against them she can't win.
Beyonce is the most popular current black female entertainer of all time, which is not saying much because there are not a lot of black female entertainers out now compared to previous decades. Their is no competion and no one to compare her too. She can easily take the title and run with it, just like
Jay-Z, Wayne or Ye can say that they are the best rapper of all time.
I honestly do not have any albums of hers, maybe a song or two.
I have an aaliyah album though.
Aaliyah should be compared to brandy and monica.
I would say Aaliyah has an edge between the two because her popularity did not die entering the 2000's like theirs did.