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Born in Cincinnati, Ohio Robert "Bigg Robb" Smith started his musical career as a disc jockey dubbed "Sugar Daddy from Cincininnati" for WAIF 88.3 FM at a wee age of 12! Over the next several years he got a chance to meet a long list of R & B stars culminating in a friendship with Roger Troutman.Robb became part of the Zapp & Roger group where he learned his now trademark fuzzy synth Funk style. Eventually he branched out on his own releasing music on his Robb Music imprint. His first disc, a Rap album sporting  a truly grotesque cover, "Cheddar Cheddar" is long out-of-print. He also became an in demand producer putting his spin on tracks like Mel Waiter's "Hole In The Wall". He became a mini-recording star in the Southern Soul world on his own with his well received "Grown Folks Muzic" LP in 2002, followed by "The Bigg Woman CD" in 2003. He then assembled a group of young R & B talent an called them Da Problem Solvas.

Da Problem Solvas "Every Woman Deserves 2 B Satisfied" (Robb Music 2004)

Bigg Robb & Da Problem Solvas "Merry Christmas From The Bigg Man" (Robb Music 2004)

Bigg Robb & The We Care Allstars "Southern Soul Cares" (Over 25 Sound 2005)

Bigg Robb "8 Tracks & 45s" (Over 25 Sound 2007)

Bigg Robb Presents "The Best Of Da Problem Solvas" (Over 25 Sound 2007)

Bigg Ronn Presents "Blues, Soul & Old School" (Over 25 Sound 2007) LISTEN

**** 1/2 Everything Biiiiiiiiiigg Robb touches turns to gold. Midas touch fo' sure. The brutha is busy too! This is the third release this year. His "8 Tracks & 45s" then "Best Of Da Problem Solvas" are already out there and now this party in a box! Good news for those who want to get Pat Cooley's "Younger Man, Older Woman". It's in there. (like Ragu). Bigg Robb's new version of Carl Marshall "Good Lovin' Will Make You Cry". It's in there. "Grown And Sexy", the one with Sir Charles? Yuuuup in there! You get it cuzzin. But that's not all! If you order now you also get the Zappified slow jam "Old School Lovin" by Sure 2 B. Wait! That's not all. We'll also throw in new tracks by Napoleon ("Party Like The Rich Folks"), Special ("Put Your Hands On Me"), Da Problem Solvas ("Pot Liquor N' Cornbread" but too close to "Mississippi Boy"!) remixes Bigg Robb on Bigg Robb ("Keep On Swingin", "I'm Ready To Party") and...sound like a commercial. Sorry Bigg Robb does that to me. Buy this CD. Period. No bad tracks.

"Jerri Curl Muzik" (Over 25 Sound 2009)  LISTEN

***** This CD could easily be recommended merely on the "Bigg" sound it offers. I can't help thinking that if all albums releases in the much maligned "Southern Soul" genre were as sonically full as this one the music would have it's own spot in Billboard. This CD could also be recommended for it's ability to blend Old School R & B with modern Southern Soul and make it feel Now (same can be said of Stan Mosley's new "I'm Comin' Back" effort). That's true of all of Robb's productions as he is unabashed in his Old School sound, as evidenced by the album titles and past throwdowns ("8 Tracks & 45s" for example). Let's not forget his connection to Zapp & Roger afterall.

"Jerri Curl Muzik" is credited as a "Bigg Robb" album, but there isn't much difference between a so-called Various Artists CD like his previous disc "Blues Soul & Old School" and this new one. Both feature fabulous guest stars. This time out he recruits Omar Cunningham, Archie Love and Larry Cunningham of the Floaters on the great Floaters' hit "Float On". A dazzling, if too faithful, cover highlighted but Love's surprising falsetto- something Archie needs to do more of.  The marvelous Carl Marshall sings lead on "I Wouldn't Beg". As most of us know Robb had expertly remixed Marshall's hit "Good Lovin' Will Make You Cry" on "Blues Soul & Old School" (and Robb returns the favor by singing on a track on the new Marshall album "Look Good For You" as well). The Bar-Kays are found on the Fun-Kay title jam. There's also Shirley Murdock, Sir Charles Jones, Kurtis Blow and others on board.

The star of course is the persona of Bigg Robb, producer, main songwriter and ringleader of a collection of "Grown Folks" music or, excuse me, "Jerri Curl Muzik".  There's almost too many potential hits here. The official first single was "The Recipe", which borrows that loping baseline from Johnnie Taylor's "Careless With Our Love".  The aforementioned "Float On" is starting to ascend on radio. There's also a couple notable message songs found on this collection. The bump "If I Get Drunk" is dedicated to "everybody who likes to get your drink on..." but flips the script right away by revealing itself to be a heartening call against drunk driving. Sample lyric: "Going down to the club to have a real goodtime/And party all night long...but if I start looking like I'm tore up y'all/Somebody take my keys and don't let me drive." Robb brings the party music but he cares too! With too much playa hatin', jealousy, hustlin' and what-have-you in the circuit Robb is all about bringing us all together as a "southern soul family". Meanwhile on "Any Man Can Make A Baby" Robb delivers a great slow jam reaching out to fathers to rise above the "baby mama drama" and handle your business. Add this to the relentless ear and booty candy on this CD and you got his masterpiece. On the spoken intro he exhorts listeners to not "let sad times or bad times get you down" and he proceeds to his darndest to lift your mood.