novabrkr said:

Timmy84 said:

^ That is NOT rhythm and blues. It's pop music. Plain and simple.

You should know that what "R&B" once meant and what should be rightfully called "R&B" is really irrelevant to the discussion the point the starter of the topic wanted to convey.

It might not be "rhythm and blues", but these artists have definitely done the type of music what has gotten called "R&B" by the vast majority of audience for the last two decades. Everybody knows it's a misnomer, so there's nothing new about it.

NAH! Not buying it. I'm ashamed they even have the gall to call it "R&B". Should've called it rotating shit on a platter.

[Edited 1/25/11 11:52am]

With all honesty, 70s killed r&b with all of those abstract sounds.

When rhythm and blues (R&B) was first created, the style was that of a fast-paced, saxophone/horn-leading, form of music, more upbeat than actual blues, it was called jump blues at first, then it got the name "rhythm and blues" because people like Roy Brown, Wynonnie Harris, Nappy Brown and Clyde McPhatter started putting GOSPEL hymns and switching them around for secular messages. By the end of the fifties, the leaders of this was Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Little Richard and Sam Cooke.

The R&B of now tries to repeat what '80s pop did and also what "contemporary R&B" did in the late eighties through the nineties. But it's not really R&B when you think about it. It's hip-pop or dance-pop for the most part.

Timmy84 said:

What you're hearing on the radio...

Is...

NOT...

RHYTHM

AND

BLUES!

----

Just get that through your skulls for a minute, please? It's been "black pop" for the last little while.

That ain't dead as far as the music genre is concerned.

Fuck the mainstream. Got it? Good.

I think that is a great term. It is basically just black pop. I wonder how long this phase will last though? I really do think Lady Gaga is a huge reason for this shift in sound. Not that she is or was an r&b artist but somehow I think her success has impacted just about every genre of music out there including hip hop. Take a look at Nicki Minaj who basically looks like a black Gaga.

dancerella said:

Timmy84 said:

What you're hearing on the radio...

Is...

NOT...

RHYTHM

AND

BLUES!

----

Just get that through your skulls for a minute, please? It's been "black pop" for the last little while.

That ain't dead as far as the music genre is concerned.

Fuck the mainstream. Got it? Good.

I think that is a great term. It is basically just black pop. I wonder how long this phase will last though? I really do think Lady Gaga is a huge reason for this shift in sound. Not that she is or was an r&b artist but somehow I think her success has impacted just about every genre of music out there including hip hop. Take a look at Nicki Minaj who basically looks like a black Gaga.

It's simple. Black performers want the DOLLARS. The mainstream has always catered to pop. People think lots cross over to R&B years ago and they did but audiences are fickle and they want something new. For a while when hip-hop was red-hot, "R&B" put hip-hop influences into it and the results were not all that good. Now with Gaga and 'em, they want the dance-pop in their sound. I wouldn't even call what was considered "contemporary R&B" performers as that at all. I always thought people like Beyonce and Rihanna were pop artists first and foremost.

dancerella said:

Notice how R&B is turning into electro/dance music? People like Rihanna, Kelly Roland, Chris Brown, NeYo and several others are turning into dance artists. Where does that leave R&B? There doesn't seem to be much of an interest in it anymore from the public. Keyshia Cole, Brandy, Mya, Monica all seem to be struggling to stay relevant in music. Is R&B a thing of the past?

I'm just waiting for Beyonce, R. Kelly, Musiq Soulchild, Ron Isley, Mary J. Blige, Anita Baker, Maxwell & Aretha Franklin to start making electro/dance albums then i'll really know R&B is dead!

Last but not least is this Lady Gaga's doing? Has she changed the game?

[Edited 1/25/11 1:12am]

Where have you been? R&B/soul has been dead ever since hip-hop soul turned it to hip-hop/r&b.

BlaqueKnight said:

therevolutionwillnotbe said:

YOU AIN'T SAID NOTHING.

I've said plenty on the subject. I'm just tired of re-iterating the same thing over and over. There's plenty of good R&B around.

Neo-soul?!?

Timmy84 said:

dancerella said:

I think that is a great term. It is basically just black pop. I wonder how long this phase will last though? I really do think Lady Gaga is a huge reason for this shift in sound. Not that she is or was an r&b artist but somehow I think her success has impacted just about every genre of music out there including hip hop. Take a look at Nicki Minaj who basically looks like a black Gaga.

It's simple. Black performers want the DOLLARS. The mainstream has always catered to pop. People think lots cross over to R&B years ago and they did but audiences are fickle and they want something new. For a while when hip-hop was red-hot, "R&B" put hip-hop influences into it and the results were not all that good. Now with Gaga and 'em, they want the dance-pop in their sound. I wouldn't even call what was considered "contemporary R&B" performers as that at all. I always thought people like Beyonce and Rihanna were pop artists first and foremost.

You are right. I think they are just trying to go where the money is. Pop used to be perceived as a dirty word in music. Now everyone wants to be pop because you gain more fans, album sales, etc. I'm not even a big r&b fan unless it's 80's r&b but this is just an observation i've made about the way things are changing.

[Edited 1/25/11 12:22pm]

dancerella said:

Timmy84 said:

It's simple. Black performers want the DOLLARS. The mainstream has always catered to pop. People think lots cross over to R&B years ago and they did but audiences are fickle and they want something new. For a while when hip-hop was red-hot, "R&B" put hip-hop influences into it and the results were not all that good. Now with Gaga and 'em, they want the dance-pop in their sound. I wouldn't even call what was considered "contemporary R&B" performers as that at all. I always thought people like Beyonce and Rihanna were pop artists first and foremost.

You are right. I think they are just trying to go where the money is. Pop used to be perceived as a dirty word in music. Now everyone wants to be pop because you gain more fans, album sales, etc. I'm not even a big r&b fan unless it's 80's r&b but this is just an observation i've made about the way things are changing.

[Edited 1/25/11 12:22pm]

I also consider it lazy because no one is coming up with anything fresh (not necessarily a new sound because that's hard to do in this day and age) but at least something that sounds as if it took them some a lot of time and effort to perfect.

I think plain OLD R&B from the 60's and 70's is not dead, not dead at all, but, when you mean by "plain old R&B", most of the junkfood we were forcefed, by that disconcerted horde of industry whores of the last 2 decades, then hell yes, I sure hope that's dead.

Tremolina said:

I think plain OLD R&B from the 60's and 70's is not dead, not dead at all, but, when you mean by "plain old R&B", most of the junkfood we were forcefed, by that disconcerted horde of industry whores of the last 2 decades, then hell yes, I sure hope that's dead.

Like I said "why even call it plain old R&B?" When plain old R&B hasn't been "popular" since the '70s.

Oh yeah I forgot that B.B. King was also one of the kings of R&B in the 1950s.

"R&B" could be the most widely misappropriated term in the history of popular music. I'm not denying that. It's just a fairly meaningless term by this point. Bands like The Who and The Cream were called "R&B" too back in the day. See, they mixed "rhythm" with "blues", hah.

It's odd that the term itself connotes certain type of "rootsiness", but what at least most Europeans would call "R&B" these days is exactly the flimsier end of African-American music. A lot of people still seem to make a firm distinction between what they call "pop" and what gets called "R&B", which of course doesn't make too much sense either when you think about it.

Rhythmless Bullshit will always be alive. There's too many dull asses around that like it.

I don't usually contribute to these types of threads anymore because it's all rather pointless in the end. But I'd like to make a couple points.

1) I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there isn't even an R&B chart anymore. Hip Hop Soul is not R&B. Neo Soul is not R&B. Black Pop is not R&B. R&B/Hip-Hop is not R&B. There is a lot a fusion music being made but just because it is being sung by a person with brown skin does not make it R&B. And really, I am pleased as punch that some of you have found joy and happiness with whatever you define as good R&B. But I have not heard much in the way of new "R&B" music that I am willing to spend my hard earned money on. The last new "R&B" CD I bought was probably back in 2005. And it was made by a woman who was dropped by her major label after her first single and video did not perform as they felt it should have. When they dropped her they shelved the album and gave her the masters [suddenly they were of no worth to them], which she self-released a few years later. As far as I'm concerned, the R&B genre is dead, and we as the music buying public let it die. This is my OPINION. You need not like it or agree with it.

2) I remember being a very small child in the late '70s/early '80s when Rap records started coming out. The dominent consensus from my peers and older sidling and cousins about the music I was listening to and loving (Chaka Khan, Stephanie Mills, Al Jarreau, Sister Sledge, etc...) was that it was "wack" and something must be wrong with me for liking it. This was/is a common sentiment shared by those making Rap/Hip-Hop music. [So excuuuuussssse me if I don't break my neck rushing to the record store to buy the new LL Cool J tape.] All they care about is the beat. There are people who make a very good living riffling through crates of these old "wack" records for the sole purpose of finding a hot beat or break. That's what it's been reduced to. Hot beats and breaks from some song recorded before you were born, looped, with some really lazy, stupid, classless, senseless, pointless, insulting lyrics thrown atop. And there is this cockiness from these new artists like they are really the greatest thing to come along since sliced bread. Like they are really doing something; things nobody has ever even thought of; and with such exquisite skill and ability. There's also an unfathomable level of disrepect for the music and musicians whom some blatantly steal from like it's their God-given right. It's all very unappealing to me. Again...This is my OPINION. You need not like it or agree with it.

therevolutionwillnotbe said:

I don't usually contribute to these types of threads anymore because it's all rather pointless in the end. But I'd like to make a couple points.

1) I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there isn't even an R&B chart anymore. Hip Hop Soul is not R&B. Neo Soul is not R&B. Black Pop is not R&B. R&B/Hip-Hop is not R&B. There is a lot a fusion music being made but just because it is being sung by a person with brown skin does not make it R&B. And really, I am pleased as punch that some of you have found joy and happiness with whatever you define as good R&B. But I have not heard much in the way of new "R&B" music that I am willing to spend my hard earned money on. The last new "R&B" CD I bought was probably back in 2005. And it was made by a woman who was dropped by her major label after her first single and video did not perform as they felt it should have. When they dropped her they shelved the album and gave her the masters [suddenly they were of no worth to them], which she self-released a few years later. As far as I'm concerned, the R&B genre is dead, and we as the music buying public let it die. This is my OPINION. You need not like it or agree with it.

2) I remember being a very small child in the late '70s/early '80s when Rap records started coming out. The dominent consensus from my peers and older sidling and cousins about the music I was listening to and loving (Chaka Khan, Stephanie Mills, Al Jarreau, Sister Sledge, etc...) was that it was "wack" and something must be wrong with me for liking it. This was/is a common sentiment shared by those making Rap/Hip-Hop music. [So excuuuuussssse me if I don't break my neck rushing to the record store to buy the new LL Cool J tape.] All they care about is the beat. There are people who make a very good living riffling through crates of these old "wack" records for the sole purpose of finding a hot beat or break. That's what it's been reduced to. Hot beats and breaks from some song recorded before you were born, looped, with some really lazy, stupid, classless, senseless, pointless, insulting lyrics thrown atop. And there is this cockiness from these new artists like they are really the greatest thing to come along since sliced bread. Like they are really doing something; things nobody has ever even thought of; and with such exquisite skill and ability. There's also an unfathomable level of disrepect for the music and musicians whom some blatantly steal from like it's their God-given right. It's all very unappealing to me. Again...This is my OPINION. You need not like it or agree with it.

Hell you're goddamn right about all of that. The public definitely played a part in its financial collapse.

therevolutionwillnotbe said:

I don't usually contribute to these types of threads anymore because it's all rather pointless in the end. But I'd like to make a couple points.

1) I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there isn't even an R&B chart anymore. Hip Hop Soul is not R&B. Neo Soul is not R&B. Black Pop is not R&B. R&B/Hip-Hop is not R&B. There is a lot a fusion music being made but just because it is being sung by a person with brown skin does not make it R&B. And really, I am pleased as punch that some of you have found joy and happiness with whatever you define as good R&B. But I have not heard much in the way of new "R&B" music that I am willing to spend my hard earned money on. The last new "R&B" CD I bought was probably back in 2005. And it was made by a woman who was dropped by her major label after her first single and video did not perform as they felt it should have. When they dropped her they shelved the album and gave her the masters [suddenly they were of no worth to them], which she self-released a few years later. As far as I'm concerned, the R&B genre is dead, and we as the music buying public let it die. This is my OPINION. You need not like it or agree with it.

2) I remember being a very small child in the late '70s/early '80s when Rap records started coming out. The dominent consensus from my peers and older sidling and cousins about the music I was listening to and loving (Chaka Khan, Stephanie Mills, Al Jarreau, Sister Sledge, etc...) was that it was "wack" and something must be wrong with me for liking it. This was/is a common sentiment shared by those making Rap/Hip-Hop music. [So excuuuuussssse me if I don't break my neck rushing to the record store to buy the new LL Cool J tape.] All they care about is the beat. There are people who make a very good living riffling through crates of these old "wack" records for the sole purpose of finding a hot beat or break. That's what it's been reduced to. Hot beats and breaks from some song recorded before you were born, looped, with some really lazy, stupid, classless, senseless, pointless, insulting lyrics thrown atop. And there is this cockiness from these new artists like they are really the greatest thing to come along since sliced bread. Like they are really doing something; things nobody has ever even thought of; and with such exquisite skill and ability. There's also an unfathomable level of disrepect for the music and musicians whom some blatantly steal from like it's their God-given right. It's all very unappealing to me. Again...This is my OPINION. You need not like it or agree with it.

I've done enough diatribes on this subject - so many so that I'm exhausted. I get tired of people IGNORING new artists' work just because they are stuck in some nostalgistic time warp and have tunnel vision about an era.

R&B didn't die because of Mary J. Blige or any one artist. R&B is not dead. It has changed and evolved but there have always been R&B albums. No matter how many I (or Graycap for that matter) list, you people are gonna whine and bitch and moan.

R&B didn't die in the 70s.

What the hell was Luther Vandross and Patti LaBelle doing in the 80s, then?

Whaaa, whaa, whaa, boo-hoo hoo. Music changes. It evolves. Eric Benet put out a really good R&B record just a couple of months ago. Don't give me that "neo-soul" shit, either. Its R&B. If you have a narrow view of the genre, you're going to call it something else. People are dropping records; y'all just too lazy to check them out and when you do, its always compared to a past era's work instead of being taken for what it is. If you don't like any new music, then fine - stop listening. Stick to your casettes and 8-tracks and sip on some Martini and Rossi on the rocks or champale or whatthefuckever. Cool, you don't like NOTHING. That's y'all. Just don't try to arrogantly profess that it doesn't exist just because the radio isn't delivering what you ordered. You'll be waiting forever because they will NEVER play what you want them to EVER AGAIN. There are opinions and there are FACTS. The FACTS are that there are still artists making R&B, soul and funk. If you don't want it, step the hell out of the way for those that do.

Now, I believe what Dancerella was talking about was how a lot of the recent "R&B" artist are doing songs that are by nature DANCE TRACKS.

That's the current trend. I understand her frustration. I suppose its how the rock crowd feels right about now as well. The rhythm is being flushed out of radio music in general. They are attempting to make everything as generic as possible so that they can have more control over the market. Lady Gaga was a market spark, and stupid music execs who know nothing about music think that there is a sudden interest in dance music rather than there being a sudden interest in Lady Gaga. They are "covering the bases" by pushing their artists to do more "dance friendly" (translation: white sounding) songs in order to have a larger appeal because the overseas market is very open to dance music artists. Its just a way for them to try to squeeze income from other areas because nobody is really buying new music right now. Whenever the economy collapses, this sort of thing takes place. It will change but for now, this is an attempt to generate income. More and more "R&B" artists will do this because there's untapped money there. When things get better, they will try to "come black" again but the top selling R&B artists - the crossover artists - the pop artists, will do what they feel they have to in order to keep from getting dropped because the bulk of the label's promo budget goes into making them.

Damn, diatribed again! [img:$uid]http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/joan5075/Smileys/smileyDoh.gif[/img:$uid]

novabrkr said:

A song like "Only Girl" wouldn't have been a hit in the States just a few years ago, although that type of music has been around in Europe for ages by that point.

[Edited 1/25/11 11:30am]

I had never heard that song. It sounds incredibly dated, like 90s London dated.

Fuck "R&B" I'm on some rock and roll shit now. Call me when Mary J. Blige finally discovers you can't be hip-hop anymore then we can talk.

Timmy84 said:

When rhythm and blues (R&B) was first created, the style was that of a fast-paced, saxophone/horn-leading, form of music, more upbeat than actual blues, it was called jump blues at first, then it got the name "rhythm and blues" because people like Roy Brown, Wynonnie Harris, Nappy Brown and Clyde McPhatter started putting GOSPEL hymns and switching them around for secular messages. By the end of the fifties, the leaders of this was Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Little Richard and Sam Cooke.

The R&B of now tries to repeat what '80s pop did and also what "contemporary R&B" did in the late eighties through the nineties. But it's not really R&B when you think about it. It's hip-pop or dance-pop for the most part.

Yeah im sorry but no one is getting what R&B is, i dont think the word should even be applied today at this point, there was such a movement in the early-mid 90's to merge every genre under the sun, im not for that, people are different, no, i dont believe in labels, i think music is good and bad, but you still have to have that distinction and thats not there. The goal in the 90's was to bring RB RAP and POP all under the umbrella of ONE and it was done, some pop pushed over into dance, thats kind of why you have a cloudy picture of the dance scene today, Gaga to me is not dance, shes pop. So now to me the genre should be called Rythym Pop Hip Hop Dance. I mean between collabos and remixes and this and that. To me SOUL is basically gone, im not hearing good soul singers anymore and there are no more RB bands, real ones, instruments the works, and please dont say Mint Condition, thats one band two decades old, wheres the future? I think the further issue is that people/listeners, honestly dont care in majority, they want it quick, digital, and to the point, they dont have time to buy into catalogs and go to shows, its sad but true.

lastdecember said:

Timmy84 said:

When rhythm and blues (R&B) was first created, the style was that of a fast-paced, saxophone/horn-leading, form of music, more upbeat than actual blues, it was called jump blues at first, then it got the name "rhythm and blues" because people like Roy Brown, Wynonnie Harris, Nappy Brown and Clyde McPhatter started putting GOSPEL hymns and switching them around for secular messages. By the end of the fifties, the leaders of this was Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Little Richard and Sam Cooke.

The R&B of now tries to repeat what '80s pop did and also what "contemporary R&B" did in the late eighties through the nineties. But it's not really R&B when you think about it. It's hip-pop or dance-pop for the most part.

Yeah im sorry but no one is getting what R&B is, i dont think the word should even be applied today at this point, there was such a movement in the early-mid 90's to merge every genre under the sun, im not for that, people are different, no, i dont believe in labels, i think music is good and bad, but you still have to have that distinction and thats not there. The goal in the 90's was to bring RB RAP and POP all under the umbrella of ONE and it was done, some pop pushed over into dance, thats kind of why you have a cloudy picture of the dance scene today, Gaga to me is not dance, shes pop. So now to me the genre should be called Rythym Pop Hip Hop Dance. I mean between collabos and remixes and this and that. To me SOUL is basically gone, im not hearing good soul singers anymore and there are no more RB bands, real ones, instruments the works, and please dont say Mint Condition, thats one band two decades old, wheres the future? I think the further issue is that people/listeners, honestly dont care in majority, they want it quick, digital, and to the point, they dont have time to buy into catalogs and go to shows, its sad but true.

Like I said when they realize they're not R&B and real R&B is pushed again, I'm crossing over to other genres or just sticking it old school on all genres I feel interest me. Right now, it's punk, rock, some metal, early '90s alternative, etc., and I'll move on to some jazz and funk. But I can no longer connect to "R&B".

[Edited 1/25/11 16:46pm]

Timmy84 said:

lastdecember said:

Yeah im sorry but no one is getting what R&B is, i dont think the word should even be applied today at this point, there was such a movement in the early-mid 90's to merge every genre under the sun, im not for that, people are different, no, i dont believe in labels, i think music is good and bad, but you still have to have that distinction and thats not there. The goal in the 90's was to bring RB RAP and POP all under the umbrella of ONE and it was done, some pop pushed over into dance, thats kind of why you have a cloudy picture of the dance scene today, Gaga to me is not dance, shes pop. So now to me the genre should be called Rythym Pop Hip Hop Dance. I mean between collabos and remixes and this and that. To me SOUL is basically gone, im not hearing good soul singers anymore and there are no more RB bands, real ones, instruments the works, and please dont say Mint Condition, thats one band two decades old, wheres the future? I think the further issue is that people/listeners, honestly dont care in majority, they want it quick, digital, and to the point, they dont have time to buy into catalogs and go to shows, its sad but true.

Like I said when they realize they're not R&B and real R&B is pushed again, I'm crossing over to other genres or just sticking it old school on all genres I feel interest me. Right now, it's punk, rock, some metal, early '90s alternative, etc., and I'll move on to some jazz and funk. But I can no longer connect to "R&B".

[Edited 1/25/11 16:46pm]

Yeah i hear ya, and its not just "mainstream" because really what is "mainstream" right now, almost nothing gets played or aired, but still im seeing the same ideas all over the place. I really feel that it will take a generation to actually bring it along again, and this one is the one to do it.

lastdecember said:

Timmy84 said:

Like I said when they realize they're not R&B and real R&B is pushed again, I'm crossing over to other genres or just sticking it old school on all genres I feel interest me. Right now, it's punk, rock, some metal, early '90s alternative, etc., and I'll move on to some jazz and funk. But I can no longer connect to "R&B".

[Edited 1/25/11 16:46pm]

Yeah i hear ya, and its not just "mainstream" because really what is "mainstream" right now, almost nothing gets played or aired, but still im seeing the same ideas all over the place. I really feel that it will take a generation to actually bring it along again, and this one is the one to do it.

Yeah because my generation has failed.

Timmy84 said:

lastdecember said:

Yeah i hear ya, and its not just "mainstream" because really what is "mainstream" right now, almost nothing gets played or aired, but still im seeing the same ideas all over the place. I really feel that it will take a generation to actually bring it along again, and this one is the one to do it.

Yeah because my generation has failed.

I just think its been greatly outnumbered and sold off, i mean everything has been sold off, Mtv,Vh1,Bet, no longer dedicate time to music, that now is a rarity in a lineup of reality shows. But the building blocks were laid in the 90's as mtv was sold off in the later 80's and then soundscan moved in and it all became about week 1 and making it to the dome" as LL called it (meaning number one) thats what you had. Thats not saying that artists before didnt want hits and number one and sales, but the difference was back then MOST of those artists, were musicians and artists who did music, now you have media stars who happen to have a record out

R&B is too generic of a term to describe some of the urban oriented music of today.

Nowadays Janet Jackson and Rihana are place alongside Jill Scott and Jennifer Hudson.

Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake are also sometimes called r&b.

When I think r&b, in its purest sense, I think Al Green, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Millie Jackson, Betty Wright, Don Covay, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett - today they call Ciara, Ashanti, Usher, Ne-Yo and Keisha Cole r&b.

Go figure.

So to answer so question, it has been dead. Disco, and hip-hop hybrid music helped to kill it and the failure of radio to keep playing in heavy rotation artists like the ones I named earlier post the disco era.

RnBAmbassador said:

R&B is too generic of a term to describe some of the urban oriented music of today.

Nowadays Janet Jackson and Rihana are place alongside Jill Scott and Jennifer Hudson.

Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake are also sometimes called r&b.

When I think r&b, in its purest sense, I think Al Green, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Millie Jackson, Betty Wright, Don Covay, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett - today they call Ciara, Ashanti, Usher, Ne-Yo and Keisha Cole r&b.

Go figure.

So to answer so question, it has been dead. Disco, and hip-hop hybrid music helped to kill it and the failure of radio to keep playing in heavy rotation artists like the ones I named earlier post the disco era.

Very well said!!

RnBAmbassador said:

R&B is too generic of a term to describe some of the urban oriented music of today.

Nowadays Janet Jackson and Rihana are place alongside Jill Scott and Jennifer Hudson.

Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake are also sometimes called r&b.

When I think r&b, in its purest sense, I think Al Green, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Millie Jackson, Betty Wright, Don Covay, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett - today they call Ciara, Ashanti, Usher, Ne-Yo and Keisha Cole r&b.

Go figure.

So to answer so question, it has been dead. Disco, and hip-hop hybrid music helped to kill it and the failure of radio to keep playing in heavy rotation artists like the ones I named earlier post the disco era.

Real talk.

.

[Edited 1/25/11 19:10pm]

Timmy84 said:

Unholyalliance said:

'Plain old r&b' hasn't been existence since the 70s and it definitely died when Janet Jackson and her minions Jam & Lewis came onto the scene.

Doesn't really matter because r&b never really had a set sound from what I remember. I thought that it was just always considered to be music made by 'black people.'

Yeah R&B is a blanket term nowadays. Real R&B was made by ALL COLORS. Not this "R&B", which I don't prefer much anymore.

Yeah, because it was . . . . less not go here . . .

========

[Edited 1/25/11 19:56pm]

BlaqueKnight said:

I've done enough diatribes on this subject - so many so that I'm exhausted.

therevolutionwillnotbe said:

Who are you trying to convince? Us or yourself?

I get tired of people IGNORING new artists' work just because they are stuck in some nostalgistic time warp and have tunnel vision about an era.

I listen to a lot of new atists' work. Some of it is great some of it is really shitty.

R&B didn't die because of Mary J. Blige or any one artist. R&B is not dead. It has changed and evolved but there have always been R&B albums. No matter how many I (or Graycap for that matter) list, you people are gonna whine and bitch and moan.

Why is someone have different tastes than yours a whiner, bitcher, or moaner?

R&B didn't die in the 70s. What the hell was Luther Vandross and Patti LaBelle doing in the 80s, then?

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Whaaa, whaa, whaa, boo-hoo hoo.

That's not attractive.

Music changes. It evolves. Eric Benet put out a really good R&B record just a couple of months ago.

I know Eric Benet. I've heard enough of him over the past 15 years to know that he does not move me.

Don't give me that "neo-soul" shit, either.

That's exactly what I said after listening to Rahsaan Patterson's and Bilal's last albums.

Its R&B. If you have a narrow view of the genre, you're going to call it something else. People are dropping records; y'all just too lazy to check them out and when you do, its always compared to a past era's work instead of being taken for what it is.

Whose payroll are you on?

If you don't like any new music, then fine

Who said they didn't like any new music? I like lots of new music.

- stop listening.

Sales indicate many have.

Stick to your casettes and 8-tracks and sip on some Martini and Rossi on the rocks or champale or whatthefuckever.

Why such hostility? What did an 8-track cartridge ever do to you?

Cool, you don't like NOTHING. That's y'all. Just don't try to arrogantly profess that it doesn't exist just because the radio isn't delivering what you ordered. You'll be waiting forever because they will NEVER play what you want them to EVER AGAIN.

AIN'T NOBODY intentionally listening to the radio in 2011.

There are opinions and there are FACTS. The FACTS are that there are still artists making R&B, soul and funk. If you don't want it, step the hell out of the way for those that do.

How is people voicing their opinion about music on an internet message board hindering your ability to enjoy you Eric Benet mp3 collection?

Now, I believe what Dancerella was talking about was how a lot of the recent "R&B" artist are doing songs that are by nature DANCE TRACKS.

That's the current trend. I understand her frustration. I suppose its how the rock crowd feels right about now as well. The rhythm is being flushed out of radio music in general. They are attempting to make everything as generic as possible so that they can have more control over the market. Lady Gaga was a market spark, and stupid music execs who know nothing about music think that there is a sudden interest in dance music rather than there being a sudden interest in Lady Gaga. They are "covering the bases" by pushing their artists to do more "dance friendly" (translation: white sounding) songs in order to have a larger appeal because the overseas market is very open to dance music artists.

Please don't blame white people for the shitty dance tracks all over Billboard's Hip-Hop/R&B chart. Brown-skinned folk are not innocent victims in this game. Everybody needs to take responsibilty the their actions. Nobody put a gun to Jamie Foxx's and T-Pain's heads and forced them to record, release, perform, and promote "Blame It".

Its just a way for them to try to squeeze income from other areas because nobody is really buying new music right now.

The reason nobody is really buying new music right now is because the product is bad.

Whenever the economy collapses, this sort of thing takes place. It will change but for now, this is an attempt to generate income. More and more "R&B" artists will do this because there's untapped money there.

What untapped money? The shit ain't selling. And instead of changing up their stroke they burrow deeper and deeper into the soulless pit they've dug and cast blame to the consumer. Only in the music industry is it the standard business model to fault the customer when the product doesn't sell. That's ingenius!

When things get better, they will try to "come black" again

I don't know what that means. Music has no color. My music purchases are not based on the skin color of the peformer.

but the top selling R&B artists - the crossover artists - the pop artists, will do what they feel they have to in order to keep from getting dropped because the bulk of the label's promo budget goes into making them.

So while the top selling artists are giving us the bare minimum in order to keep their jobs, we people should keep our whining, bitching and moaning to ourselves? Or at least not post any of it on the Org?

Damn, diatribed again! [img:$uid]http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s144/joan5075/Smileys/smileyDoh.gif[/img:$uid]

Seriously, who do you work for?