Jagged Edge

With their yearning ballads and amorous uptempo hits, Jagged Edge round the bases of R&B with ease. Identical twins Brian and Brandon Casey teamed with church friend Kyle Norman and emerging singer Richard Wingo in mid-’90s Atlanta—a prime time and place to be taken under the wing of Jermaine Dupri. The So So Def label boss helped the quartet concoct a can’t-lose formula: sing from the heart, convincingly and masterfully, over any type of production, from carnal grooves to celebratory jams. Their silken vocals and uncanny interplay reeled us in on the gently earnest “I Gotta Be” from 1997’s debut, A Jagged Era. But it was their followup, 2000’s J.E. Heartbreak, that explored every angle of devotion with the help of alternatingly assertive and affectionate singles “He Can’t Love U,” “Promise,” and “Let’s Get Married”—blush-inducing love letters in audio form. Never ones to be tied down, Jagged Edge explored pop-rap with Nelly (“Where the Party At”) and old-school hip-hop with Rev Run of Run-DMC (2000’s “Let’s Get Married” remix). While album titles like 2003’s Hard and 2007’s Baby Makin’ Project spoke to the quartet’s sway over bodies, 2010s team-ups with Tory Lanez (“The Trade”) and Jacquees (“Special”) recalled the carefully layered harmonies that first drove Jagged Edge into our hearts. Their dedication to the romantic current that runs through R&B is thorough, steadfast, and genuinely doting.