With nearly 10 million records sold across his 21-year career, singer-actor Mario stands as one of the most critically acclaimed male R&B vocalists of his generation.

Boasting Billboard top 10 hits like ‘Crying Out for Me,’ ‘Just a Friend,’ and ‘Let Me Love You,’ the GRAMMY nominee (born Mario Barrett) has gotten more than his fair share of love from fans, critics, and industry peers alike over the years for his agile vocal stylings and delivering some of his genre’s most memorable hits from the 2000s.

For those reasons and others, the 37-year-old isn’t shying away from receiving his flowers – even if he has to give them to himself.

Chatting it up with TMZ recently, Mario staked his claim among R&B’s greatest of all time after being quizzed on who should make the cut for the genre’s “Mt. Rushmore” – a colloquial reference to who ranks as the greatest of all time.

“Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, me,” he said. “You know why I say that? Hold on. I grew up listening to so many different types of music — my mother and my grandmother — so I got like two generations of soul music, just great R&B.”

He concluded his list with inclusion of R&B veteran Usher and late Pop icon Whitney Houston.

And while the somewhat braggadocious quote definitely got tongues wagging, it wasn’t all he said. On a more inspiring tip, Mario not only nodded the greats of the past but suggested R&B isn’t done churning out great acts.

“I think what can help with R&B culture is getting back to raw music. Really taking your time to create timeless music, instead of just hits,” he said. “Get back to artist development. Back to just creating music that can stand the test of time.”

Did you miss his commentary when it first made headlines? Check it out in full above.

[main photo source: Billboard]

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