a little while ago i caught an infomercial that was selling the greatest soul ballads from the 70's,80's, and early 90's in all there were 120 songs and EVERY fucking song was great! my question is what the hell happened to r&b music like that.. what killed it? was it the popularity of rap? i mean i know what killed rock n roll and that was Nirvana but as far as r&b goes i wonder happened to make it as bad as it is today

Usher killed R&B

Raijuan said:

hi Raijuan naww i think it started before Usher

Puf Daddy.
He commercialised it in such a way that all it could do was go ass up

i think that when B.E.T stopped playing r&b videos and adopted a pretty
hardcore rap mentality,we lost alot of great r&b music and alot of those great r&b artist's got replaced with gold-chain swingin',cussin',goldinyomouth,cant speak english,crystal swiggin,no-talent fucks!
remember Al B. Sure!,Video Soul,etc..
there isnt much of an outlet anymore for r&b.
hip-hop has everything constipated,not a popular opinion, but, so what!it's the truth...

R Kelly and when the big dollars came in.....

Mazerati said:

-----
Rap, Rap, Rap, and more rap.

wallysafford said:

Exactly.Hip-hop has pretty much killed R&B.In fact,these days,most so-called "R&B songs" sound exactly like the hip-hop songs.Take away the vocals on a song like "Crazy In Love" and you're basically left with a hip-hop track that any rapper could easily use.You got singers like Mary J.Blige working with (non-musician) hip-hop producers like P.Diddy.As a result,much of today's R&B is simply mimicking the hip-hop trends.....samples galore (just ask Angie Stone),heavy bass,and not much else.Not much else is the operative phrase here.


...
[Edited 12/17/04 4:56am]

DavidEye said:

This is the most accurate statement i've eva read!

Usher, i'll I defend his music for the last time, but he has had some solid releases. The past 3 cds where solid r&b cds. Along with Joe and Avant....

I saw this commercial too and at first I thought it was corny but like every song up there was a classic or a serious jam. I have to agree with the explosion of hip hop especially in the 90s. Most R&B nowadays does sound like hip hop. Actually sometimes I can't distinguish nor do I care to because most of it sounds bad. I wonder how some of these songs will be classic 20 years from now when the lyrics are so explicit or littered with slang. I know there was slang back in the day too but I can't imagine being 40 or 50 at one of those reunion concerts and feeling nostalgic over thug lovin', hoe poppin' and bling blingin'.

AMEN and BRAVO dammitt! Speak the truth because it sure as hell shall set you free! I couldn't have said it any better. Clear Channel has a BIG hand in it also...may they get poison ivy in their underwear.

My sister ordered that CD set (from Time-Life) and it is just superb.They really included all of the major slow jams from the 60,70s,80s and some 90s stuff.It makes a great Christmas present for somebody.

Killed? Like 50% of songs in the Top 40 are R&B.

Novabreaker said:

are they R&B or Hip Hop....


Hip Hop and R&B are different.....

I believe it's a combination of artists who are afraid to do something different, and a portion of the audience who will not accept something different. Forget about Hip Hop. Hip Hop isn't killing R&B, but it is overshadowing it, because hardly anyone in R&B is doing anything interesting. We can't keep copying Stevie and Marvin thinking that's gonna cut it.

I had a long post on this a long time ago. Suffice it to say, R & B is not dead. It's just broader than the radio-driven crossover singles.

And if it is dead, its so-called fans killed it by not supporting new talent like Res, Dwele, Donnie, Remy Shand, etc. (as well as certifiable geniuses like Me'Shell Ndegeocello) who have tried hard to revitalize the genre.
[Edited 12/17/04 9:32am]
[Edited 12/17/04 9:32am]

namepeace said:

RnB is dead and not coming back and you are right RnB fans don't support artist who try to keep it real. We have been brainwashed with Rap music and there is no turning back at this point.

It's an easy answer. Radio killed R&B.

I don't consider RnB to be dead. It may be on life support, but it's not quite dead. Right now, it's not popular and the only thing most people seem to give a shit about is what's popular. Take Anthony Hamilton for example. This dude has some great tunes and you do see him occasionally on tv, but no one talks about him. His name is not discussed in the news or all over BET. Al Green put out an amazing cd last year and people barely noticed. Remy Shand is another one. He has amazing talent, but gets no attention. Most of the people getting attention these days can barely sing, can't write a song, don't know anything about their craft and don't care either. All they have are looks, tits and dance moves. Take the new Gwen Stefani. I like her a lot and I love No Doubt, but her solo cd is pure pop crap! The first single absolutely sickens me and so does the video. People say music today sucks and sometimes I have to agree, however, if you know where the good music is, there is still lots of great stuff to choose from.

OdysseyMiles said:

kisscamille said:

I'm a huge supporter of Remy Shand.

CynicKill said:

That's great to hear, but most people don't even know who he is and if they do know him they don't care about him because he's not showing off his bling, bling or his Rocawear clothes.

I'm hesitant to say that it's the fault of hip-hop, but in truth, it has a lot to do with it. But half of it is because of the people who now control the music industry and the media. So it's 50/50.

It has a lot to do with profit in the music industry and media, Hip-hop is a profitable genre, and (real) R&B took a backseat, much like Pop music did to R&B in the 80s, and Disco in the 70s. So this is nothing new. It's about profit, and a lot of artist either had to get with the problem or be forgotten (i.e., Mr. Biggs aka Isley Brothers)

Notice next time you read a Billboard Magazine, Hip-Hop and R&B are combine rather than seperated, but it always been like that (back then it was called 'Black Music' category). Plus the absence of media outlets for musicians, back then if a Black artist couldn't get on American Bandstand, they found a home at Soul Train, just like MTV and BET.

So media subsidizing and profit is to blame mostly.

I've seen Anthony Hamilton in Rocawear (t-shirt)....the world could be ending

Rhondab said:

Was he able to pull it off, so to speak?

Rhondab said:

He's a So So Def artist, so it's not a stretch. He's a great singer but needs to dump the cameos on rap tracks IMHO.

Good points...the Industry has become so adept at being a money making machine , the actual music is, at best, an afterthought, and artists are quite disposable. If George Clinton, Sly, or Earth Wind and Fire were making their debuts right now, most people would never get to hear them. Talent doesn't mean much these days,(Image is Everything now) and if you like artists like Anthony Hamilton, Van Hunt, Martin Luther, or Remy Shand, support'em , cause they definitely aren't gonna get the same chances that their musical ancestors got.

as EWF's Philip Bailey once pointed out, "Back in the day, record companies gave you a chance to hone your craft, tour and gradually build up an audience. they weren't necessarily expecting an overnight smash--they wanted you to gradually build up a loyal following so that you would have longevity...and be a solid artist or group that they could depend on over the years. Artists these days aren't gonna get that chance. you get maybe one, if your lucky, 2 chances to have a mega hit. after that you're out through!

and as Quincy Jones pointed out, "...until the age of video, it didn't matter so much what a person looked like...an singer could come to sessions with rollers in her hair--as long as she could Sing!" Try THAT nowadays!

...
[Edited 12/17/04 11:15am]

CynicKill said:

He still looked dirty...so yeah..i guess he did.....

It's not dead, but the corporatization of radio and youth culture curbed a lot of its growth (and countless other genres).

Note to any R&B singer under 25: Vocal melisma does not make you a good singer. Ad-libbing every line does not mean you can "blow." Emulating Whitney Houston's debut doesn't mean you have chops.

R&B singers ON THE RADIO have become lazy and unadventurous.

I will not settle for Jagged Edge and "R&B Thugs"?! R. Kelly is a modern genius?! No. No.

Crunk & B forever, baby!