VIBE Magazine editor tells the truth... the colours have come out in the wash....

By Ben Westhoff
Published on January 07, 2009 at 10:53am
VIBE music editor Sean Fennessey recently posited that contemporary R&B music has gone soft. He's on to something: There are too many emasculated, blue-balled crooners on the radio right now with no true identity. (Hell, whispering whiner/platinum sensation Lloyd's last name is Polite.) But Fennessey overlooks a larger point: R&B isn't just ineffectual right now; it's pointless, derivative and boring. In terms of social relevance, innovation and pure originality, no one approaches titans of earlier generations like Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding or even Michael Jackson and Prince. R&B is missing a transformative star but seems unlikely to find one right now, because as a genre, it barely exists.


What's really going on?
Subject(s):
R&BThough always something of a hodgepodge, R&B was once a formidable format, a combination of soul, gospel and funk whose best artists didn't hesitate to experiment with style. But in the '90s and '00s, R&B became pigeonholed. Attempting to piggyback on hip-hop's popularity, its artists use rap beats and hire MCs for guest verses, resulting in a sound that's virtually indistinguishable from rap. (Try turning off the vocals of Ray J's "Sexy Can I," for example, and see if you can tell the difference.) In fact, one of R&B's biggest names, Akon, is so strongly associated with hip-hop that he's sometimes mistakenly referred to as a rapper.

Fusing genres was traditionally a big part of rhythm and blues — Ray Charles initially made a career out of it. But since New Jack Swing injected a street mentality and rowdy back beats in the late '80s, R&B has shown little desire to evolve or take creative risks. Its crooners have become largely segmented onto urban radio stations, inspiring one mildly successful format-following clone after another.

The watering-down of the genre is one reason it's been disparaged as "Rap & Bullshit." Another is because it's artistically moribund. The vast majority of R&B lyrics are sappy, disingenuous, corny and cliched. Enough already with promises of everlasting fidelity sung by men sleeping with King models, and to female empowerment anthems written by women with multimillionaire husbands. The contrast with hip-hop is especially stark considering rap's creative breakthroughs of late. Lil Wayne wtf?, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and plenty of others are challenging the status quo; for proof, look no further than 808s & Heartbreak, West's top-selling, experimental elegy.

The most successful R&B artists, meanwhile, aren't nearly as compelling. Take Ne-Yo, a decorated singer-songwriter who has become the new face of the format. His recent album Year of the Gentleman is a commercial smash and was well-received by the likes of Rolling Stone — which gave it four stars out of five — and the Los Angeles Times, which gave it three and a half out of four. Even I didn't totally trash it.

And yet...were we not so starved for R&B possessing even a whisper of creativity, we might have more soberly assessed this banal work. Monster hit "Miss Independent" is arguably the most derivative piece of pop in recent memory. Profoundly asserting that women who have their own thing going on are cool, the song rips off a concept espoused by Webbie and Lil Boosie last year, by Destiny's Child in 2000, and by Susan B. Anthony in 1852. The track's beat is stolen wholesale from Justin Timberlake's 'My Love' and any number of other Timbaland joints, while Ne-Yo's singing is filled, like Chris Brown's, with grating melisma. I'll give him credit for collaborating with NKOTB — even I can't resist "Single" — but let's be honest: If Ne-Yo were to stop making records today, would anyone remember him in twenty years?

In truth, Ne-Yo and R&B's other reigning king, Usher, are little more than bland, well-dressed Michael Jackson wannabes with good choreographers. Neither has done as much to push the genre forward as R. Kelly, who's at least got a stack of undeniably addictive singles to his credit and is willing to take musical chances. (Unfortunately, Kels doesn't qualify as a respected R&B icon because he hasn't made strong albums and his legacy is tied up in his perversions.)
As for queens like Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé and Keyshia Cole, they offer little more than overproduced girl jams that only discerning fans can tell apart. None seems to take any pleasure in craft. While all three women have fascinating life stories — Cole's mother was a prostitute and drug addict — you'd never know it from their bland discographies, full of boilerplate love-lost laments and CVS-friendly stay-strong anthems. The music from second-tier soulstresses like Ciara and Ashanti, meanwhile, doesn't hold up without the benefit of gruff male voices to contrast their meek vocals. ( If you've heard Ashanti's latest album, The Declaration, you know this, but like most everybody else in the world, you haven't.)

Crooners such as John Legend, Anthony Hamilton, Robin Thicke and Raheem DeVaughn have gotten critical kudos as well, but they all fall short. Take DeVaughn's latest album, Love Behind the Melody. Though almost universally praised, the work contains some of the most basic, cliched lyricism imaginable. His Grammy-nominated hit "Woman" is about, get this, how great the female gender is. The words aren't even original; lyrics like "You a lady in the streets and a freak when it's bedroom time" should be credited to Ludacris, and "I appreciate so much/Like the 'I love you' feeling girl when we touch" should be credited to a poor translation of an Italian Hallmark card, perhaps. Meanwhile, DeVaughn's offer to "appetize ya or main course ya" on "Customer" is less poetry than soundtrack to a porno flick filmed at Red Lobster.

I make no claims to have heard everything out there, of course, and I'm not contending that the entire genre is devoid of anything worth listening to. Erykah Badu remains an influential, endearing talent, though her recent New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) veers closer to neo-soul and psychedelic funk than to R&B. Inventive Detroit producer/singer Dwele and Philadelphian Jazmine Sullivan, meanwhile, have found success by taking risks, and Atlanta's Janelle Monae's brand of retro-futurism is refreshingly eccentric. She dresses like a robot and inhabits an alter ego named Cindy Mayweather, for starters.

None of these artists fills the bill, however, as a true R&B icon for the new millennium. In fact, no one from the genre has recently captured the public's imagination. It's obviously a lot to ask for another Marvin Gaye or Sam Cooke, both of whom pushed for social change and helped revolutionize the role of the black singer-songwriter in the music industry. It may be too much to ask for another purple one or gloved one, both of whom affected everything from rock and pop to popular culture and marketing. But is it too much to expect a single, standout talent? I don't think so — and as a result, I suggest that we amend the "Rap & Bullshit" moniker to simply "Bullshit."[Edited 1/10/09 6:41am]
[Edited 1/10/09 6:49am]

to be fair, R&B has been sucking since the 80's, It got a little better after New Jack Swing... But then it reached a peak in 2000 and just started to become bland a repetitive.
However this could be said for every other popular genre.
In truth
Pop MUSIC is a shadow of it's former self.

Solution is simple,folks: just listen to the old stuff Pull out those old Stevie Wonder and EW&F albums.You couldn't pay me to listen to a new Usher album!!
[Edited 1/10/09 8:14am]

SoulAlive said:

co-

wtg Ben Westhoff!

SoulAlive said:

Problems with this article....ONE would be, Vibe Magazine has been one of the biggest contributors to the death of RB. Someone i knew who wrote an article for Vibe in each issue, she was called on to report on RB, and she was talking about peopl like Rashaan Patterson,Kem,Meshell,India Arie,Jaguar Wright, and Vibe would give her half a page of space to write, all the while VIBE was giving the covers to the Lil Johns and Lil Waynes and the Ciaras of the RB world. So VIBE can pretty much go the route that Rolling Stone is going....down the drain. You cant bitch about a problem that U created.
[Edited 1/10/09 9:22am]

lastdecember said:

When VIBE debuted I thought it was going to be a little different. And maybe it was initially I can't recall but after the couple of years it seemed to be the same old thing.

Wasn't there a thread about this same article or am I having deja vu?

JackieBlue said:

JackieBlue said:

Yeah there is another thread somewhere in the last few days on this article. But for VIBE they like other magazines are total double standards and contradictions, because its all about a check and bottom line. They can bitch about the images and things like that, and yet there are 50 pages of ad's that promote the "IMAGE" all through the magazine. I mean this is like them doing a story on the "N" word and then in the same issue interviewing Lil Wayne and during the interview all he says is the N word. So till VIBE can clear the double standards, and NOT be afraid with losing money, then it like the other RAG-A-ZINES are useless.

EmbattledWarrior said:

That's true that when the 00's came in R&B basically died or took on a new form of "manufactured" artists. No real creativity. The 90's had way too much sampling (stealing actually) of artist's music from the 70s. So-called talentless artists borrowing images and dance styles from 80s artists, and the "fly-by-nighter" so-called artists or "here today, can't remember them tomorrow" were dropping like water from a faucet. Using actual instruments in the 90s? Where? Then there was the influx of the Boy Band wave of the mid (?) to late 90s INSYNC,(?sp) Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, as the manufactured R&B trying to be the Stylistics/Delfonics, but were really Pop groups, and the Britney Spears/Christine Aguilera/Jessica Simpson/Mandy Moore, solo copycat Janet Jackson girl groups competition. While Brandy/Monica were hanging on to a little of what was left of R&B, but slightly at the tip of pop, as Destiny's Child were in the crossover section of R&B/Pop.

In the 00's there seems to be no creativity, uniqueness or originality or basically an artist that can take the world by storm like Prince and Michael did early in their careers and became household names in the music industry. Beyonce seems to have made herself a household name since leaving Destiny's child and looks like she is making sure no one forgets that, while trying to beat out the previous once popular careers of Janet Jackson and Tina Turner..

I did notice however in the mid-00's, after Alicia Keys and also after Prince's musicology tour, I noticed that several so-called artists started using actual musicians during their performances/tour, like Timberlake, Beyonce and even Kanye West. Anyway, that's just some of my take on this so-called R&B Bullsh*t.
[Edited 1/10/09 10:07am]

music 2day not just r&b is in a serious recession its cum 2 a stumbling block called commmericalism that has killed the freedom and the style artist once created without being boxed or controlled 2 sell 2 the masses.wouldnt it be xtra funky 2 turn on the radio and hear all sorts of real music and every song b different and as strong as the previous song? r&b is a stripped down version of pop music pop music is dead as well cuz listening 2 britney spears womanizers that tramp gotta b on that stuff cuz that song suck whatever happend 2 songs like dont speak by no doubt?? good music

kaptainkrunk said:

Yes. I can't believe that I stopped listening to the radio. I now buy and download music from independent artists. I want to hear. I found so many independent artists with some uniqness, like "Billy Miles," she sort of sounds like a touch of Sade with a little bit of Billie Holiday and Eartha Kitt; the there is "Skye" from the U.K. who has a bit of Joni Mitchell/Sara McLaughlin;she has a beautiful voice. Many of her songs have been used in movies and commercials. If you like singers with powerful voices, then you can listen to "Imani Uzuri," sort of like a progressive rock opera soul sound, kind of hard to explain her sound. I saw her perform live and I love her voice.
I like so many different forms of music, like french-flavored, lounge music, sort of fused together with so many elements of latin/french/bosonova type (can't really describe it, but I'm sure you'll get the point. I also like some blues music as well. There's a plethora of music out there to enjoy, you just have to find what makes you tick.

Most of what this editorial stated is accurate. I don;t get the praising of glam-person Ne-Yo, but oh well.
R&B let Rap kill it. Talent was scarficed for marketing schemes by the labels.
No we have a bunch of one name people that no one will remember five years from now.
VIBE, isn't it part 2 of THE SOURCE? Oh well, hard to tell the difference.
I say once again, rock legends stay treated with respect and support from their fan base - no matter how old, gray or wrinkled. R&B stars are put to pasture when the gray comes, the spare tire around the mid-section and they are not caught up, 'What do they have out on the radio?' syndrome.
I loved it when real music prevailed.
Cream seet rises to the top. To hell with all of this bullshi+!
P.S. I gave away the two Ne-Yo cds I purchased, totally regretted I purchased them as I did the first Jamie Foxx album and the current Raphael Saadiq album.
Now Mr. Wiggins has talent, but xeroxing te Motown sound didn't work for me. Personally I liked the Memphis soul and Philly soul a lil better than the homogenized sound of many of the Motown classics.

SCNDLS said:

Double co-sign. It's rare that I listen to the new stuff.

Timmy84 said:

I actually read the article this time.

I wonder if this is going to be published IN VIBE because that would be ironic

Does this man have a death wish? I would not be flattered if my name was dropped in there.

BlaqueKnight said:

That's exactly what I stated in another post as well. Where the heck are the R&B bands?? I grew up with musicians on my block, where on Saturday mornings and afternoons, you would hear them rehearsing and they would challenge other bands in a "Battle of the Bands" and play at clubs all around NYC. Tragic that I can't even name one that isn't from the late 70s. My question is...where are the current ones? I was just discussing this with my son, like where are the real musicians of your generation? They are a dying or non-existent breed now. You never see them on Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and the like. Sad, because I'm sure they are out there but record labels don't seem to be interested in them.
[Edited 1/10/09 11:42am]

BlaqueKnight said:

But hes the editor, make the change, dont just write it, walk the talk. This is the issue with every magazine, every label, every internet site, every news outlet, they are all afraid to LOSE MONEY. The person i spoke of was Sonya Askew who had an article in Vibe and she would talk on artists that would NOT get the play, the face time, the attention, but VIBE reduced that article to half a page, because she wasnt talking about what got the magazine $$$, and thats what its all about. So this cat can preach all he wants but hes not saying anything new, and hes not going to back it up. If he wants to prove his points, make the change, throw someone no one knows on the cover and shake the shit up, lose some money next month on an issue because you dont lil wayne on the cover, but instead you put Q-tip or Lupe.

The other issue is Prince called all of this over a decade ago, when interviewed by Tavis Smiley, when Prince wanted the Vibe cover and they told him he wasnt relevant to be on the cover, THIS IS WHEN everyone should have known what the game was, not 12 years later when the shit is at chin level. The best thing for everyone would be if vibe and rolling stone just called it a day.

In my opinion R&B nowadays is not dead but it is being held back by the money making machine music business.

There are good R&B artists out there today who try to keep the R&B alive Alicia Keys is just one but there are so many of them who are underground and get no exposeure

For example Goapele, Conya Doss, Dwele, are those people who keep it alive.

The one true soul singer who i think is being held back and in my opinion is the voice of her time is Syleena Johnson.

Listen to the song Another Relationship

Real R&B is alive and kicking but the money has made the posers become "the standard bearers" and real R&B fans know that they're not. That's the frustrating part. I know what you mean about Goapele, Syleena and Dwele.

lastdecember said:

I totally agree with you and I think Vibe has an issue with Prince too. On his Musicology whirlwind Prince was on almost every magazine cover...except Vibe! That's another issue, but yes we do need to move forward as there are some artists out there up for the challenge....but radio nor magazine will give them a branch

For VIBE to put this article but yet not put OUR legends on that thing is as shady as the music industry thinking some "R&B" singers are really doing R&B music, lol.

Timmy84 said:

the funny thing is that when the whole PRINCE thing went down back in 1998, people said Prince was foolish and that VIBE was right and he wasnt "relevant" to get a cover. No one backed him up, everyone called him crazy, immature, an ego maniac. But as he said on the Tavis interview in 1998, "the only reason i asked for the cover, and i will ask for covers, is because i think im great, and people know im great", but none of these magazines gave him covers, because he was going to do nothing in his interviews but talk about, taking "business" out of music, and he was going to preach "freedom" for artists, and that is why he wasnt going to get the cover.

lastdecember said:

And now one of them is bitching about the fall of R&B, well you put the artists you accuse of destroying R&B on y'all's covers so don't all of a sudden bite the hands that feed you.

Wait, what happened in 98 with P and vibe?

scriptgirl said:

lastdecember pretty much summed it up.

scriptgirl said:

Prince was on the Tavis Smiley show (back when BET had worthy people on ) and Tavis pulled out an article that talked about how Prince was "talking" about how he couldnt get covers of magazines, and Vibe was mentioned. Then VIBE was quoted as saying that they would only give a cover to an artist that was having an effect "artistically, culturely and musically" basically saying that Prince at the time was not relevant to get a cover. Prince then replied and pointed out why these magazines wouldnt give him "time and covers" mainly because he was going to preach the end of labels, and the freedom for artists. But NO ONE backed him up, not one artist backed him up, not one critic, no one. And now everyone is bitching about the state of music, something he was talking about over a decade ago.

thanks, lastdecember

scriptgirl said:

it should be noted that this was a shared quote with Vibe and Rolling Stone, they also added how he wasnt "commercially relevant" to be on the cover. Vibe's editor at the time added that Prince was not the person he was 10 years before, and he seemed as if he was rather pushing the envelope, he was heading towards a "RB Legends" tour.