Aretha Franklin, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys, Drake and Usher are among the big names that come to mind when considering the genre of R&B, which stands for rhythm and blues. The contributions for R&B from these artists have impacted many people and the music industry as a whole, but there are more complex aspects involved in this genre that make up what R&B is and how it became one of the most popular genres of our time. We, the soul seekers, are on a quest to become experts on R&B, learning all we can about soul music past and present. Our efforts to define R&B have taken us back in time to the genre’s origin and much of what we thought we knew about R&B has been redefined. African American culture was the foundation of R&B and its musicality grew towards a broader audience base because of incorporation with other music genres, instrumentation, and cultures. Join us through our blog on a journey to discovering which influences altered traditional R & B and turned it into what we listen to today.
From the original R & B, we notice that over the years, an incorporation of musicality from other genres created a much broader listening base and greater popularity. Keeping the roots of R & B and adding new musical influences, the ongoing popularity of R & B grew and picked up new listeners and age groups. In order to understand how this happened, we can look back to the influences that developed R&B into the genre it is today beginning in the early to mid-1950s. R & B contributed to the development of rock and roll and in turn, R&B was influenced by music styles developing from electric blues, gospel, & soul music. “Many of the styles embraced by the term rhythm and blues played a part in the development from the mid-1950s of rock and roll as a new mass-market commercial idiom aimed at teenagers.” (Rye, 2001, p.1). Once the 60s hit the mix of rock and roll and R&B, became known as “British rhythm and blues”, it influenced artists such as the Rolling Stones (Wikipedia, 2018). In the 70s the term for R&B was actually addressed as ‘soul and funk’ which then changed in the 80s to the name “Contemporary R&B” (Wikipedia, 2018). This name was defined as having combined elements of rhythm & blues, pop, soul, funk, hip-hop, & electronic music. All of these genres helped to form and grow R&B into what it is today, which is why when listening to R&B you can hear hints of hip-hop, pop, gospel, rock and more. “In recognition of the soul-hip-hop confluence, Billboard renamed its R&B singles chart yet again in 1998, choosing the term ‘Hot R&B/Hip-hop’ to capture the broad range of contemporary music reflected in these styles.” (White, 2012, p.376). Well-known examples of 20th-century R&B artists are R. Kelly, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey. R&B has developed throughout the last several years and has helped form other genres while taking some of the genres characteristics to further develop its own sound and style. Since there is such a large incorporation of other genres within R&B the audience is much larger than many other genres.
People embracing the instruments used within the R&B genre were drawn to soul music. “New jack swing merged the feel of 1970s funk with 1980s hip-hop, introducing the edgy sound of the urban street into contemporary R&B, its drum machine beats and swung sixteenth notes giving the music a cocky swagger.” (White, 2012, p.375). The instruments used were influenced by other cultures and other music genres. In the late 40s, New Orleans musicians were highly influenced by Cuban music when R&B was first forming. An example of this was Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which has a distinct sound of the Mississippi Delta blues (Wikipedia, 2018). Rhythm and blues target audience was directed at teenagers and thus why the style and groove of R&B is more about the style and beat appealing to younger people who need an outlet to express their emotional and hormonal teenage range of feelings. Its authentic sound included emphasizing on an insistent beat, blues-ballad vocals, and solo work that brought out that emotional and rhythmic excitement. Jazz records in R&B genre were aimed to attract African-American dancers and party-goers, stressing on a swing and blues feeling (Rye, H. 2001). Once the younger generations caught wind of R&B and its popularity began to rise in the billboards it started to be taken seriously by the music industry. The instrumentation used within the genre of R&B helped to form its style, get new artists involved, and grow its audience.
The culture that helped develop and has now become a part of the rhythm and blues genre is a large contributor to the wide range of audience that is associated with this genre. The term “rhythm and blues” was commonly used in 1943 from Billboard, however, the term was previously referred to as ‘race music’. This title came from the black community, however postwar considered the term being offensive. Writer/Producer Palmer defined the genre as it referred to any music that was made by and for black Americans. In the 21st century, the term embraced all black music and continues in use to categorize music made by black musicians. (Wikipedia, 2018). One of the ground-breaking moments within the R&B genre for society was “In 1982 the sound of post-disco contemporary R&B was fully realized with the release of Jackson’s Thriller, a well-crafted, technically sophisticated album that updated the crossover aesthetic that had been the holy grail of black popular music since Louis Jordan in the 1940s.” (White, 2012, p.374). This was a really big deal for society at the time because a black artist and his album dominated the mainstream popular music sector which had been uncommon until this point. The album appealed to a broader audience and sold across the lines of race, gender, class, and religion, which helped set the tone that R&B took on over the next several years. “The increasing eclecticism of black popular music styles and the new generation of listeners that emerged in the post-soul era were shifts to which radio began responding as early as the 1970s when ‘urban’ became the new euphemism for young, black, inner-city youth and the music they enjoyed.” (White, 2012, p. 375). R&B opened the door for a chain reaction to follow in Michaels place, now people who were marginalized had a voice in the industry and R&B was their outlet. “In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of black female acts routinely sold in such numbers on both the R&B and pop charts.” (White, 2012, p.374).
A variety of other music genres, instrumentation, and culture helped to influence, develop, and create what is known as rhythm and blues today and is embraced by a diverse and broad audience. By exploring history and understanding the complexity that influenced the changes to original R & B, we begin to understand why we hear hints of other music genres within modern day R&B and realize its complexity developed from not only individual lives but development of society as a whole. There is power, influence and a historical story behind music, and we as the soul seekers plan to take the next few months to discover behind the scenes how R&B has affected the music industry and society.
Works Cited
Rye, H. (2017, December 22). Rhythm and blues. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000023336
White, M. (2012). R&B, Contemporary. In Horn, D., & Shepperd, J. (Ed.), Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (pp. 372-377). New York, NY; The Continuum International Publishing Group.
Wikipedia contributors. (2018, September 27). Rhythm and blues. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:13, October 2, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rhythm_and_blues&oldid=861495662
Watchmojo.com. (2015, December 28). Top 10 Modern R&B Acts. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqaQhYo_968&t=472s
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