STAY WOKE: The Evolution (Or De-evolution) Of Modern R&B by Dart Adams

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If you’ve been listening to the genre of music that is typically categorized as “R&B” over the past 10 years or so you’ve noticed a few changes but nothing super drastic. If you’ve been fan for between 20-25 years you’ve definitely noticed how different things are today concerning the music’s overall tone/themes or content. Now if you’ve been closely following the evolution of what is termed “R&B” for the past 30 years, chances are you’re fairly confused by what passes for it today versus what music assigned these odd, often arbitrary genre names and considered an offshoot of it. Have corporate influences have completely warped R&B music by removing the “Soul” from it same way the machine has almost totally removed the influence of Hip Hop culture from mainstream Rap so few fans today would even be able to discern what “R&B” is without being told by record labels?

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In any event, I wanted to dedicate my first ever feature on KillerBoomBox to the first genre of music I ever truly fell in love with, Soul/R&B and it’s subsequent path over the past 30 years or so to the present day. If you’ve ever watched the TV One series “UnSung”, chances are that you’ve noticed a pattern with many of the stories and the groups or artists’ career arcs when they’re from a particular era. Somewhere between 1988 and 1992 the overwhelming majority of their careers all stalled out and at some point you begin to wonder why? The culprit was the rise of New Jack Swing (beginning in the Summer of 1988) when it became the actual default aesthetic of 90’s R&B that ended the hitmaking runs of Melba Moore, Peabo Bryson, Atlantic Starr, Midnight Star, Freddie Jackson, etc. which is the subject of an upcoming book a tall, handsome Blacktino is currently writing whose name rhymes with Smart Madams. The rise of Jodeci, Mary J. Blige & R.Kelly defined the era until we eased into a stretch dominated by Timbaland, Missy Elliott & The Neptunes that first blurred it’s lines, stretched it’s boundaries then aided it’s growth. Was Kelis R&B? Of course she was. So why were D’Angelo and Erykah Badu considered an offshot of R&B termed “Neo Soul” engineered by Kedar Massenburg to make his artists stand out? Was Res R&B? If so why was she pushed as “alternative” to the mainstream music press? Why was Jill Scott considered “Soul” music and held to a different standard than the other “regular” R&B singers of her day? How did Amel Larrieux manage to get accepted into all of these niches simultaneously but Adriana Evans ended up relegated to the Jazz festival circuit? Now think of how far removed we are from even those issues today in modern R&B.

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There was an issue regarding R&B and it supposedly being “abandoned” by Black artists last year. Subsequently, there was the issue where there were a lack of Black artists on the Billboard charts meanwhile songs that critiqued urban music and the industry were made by Lorde “Royals” and Lily Allen “It’s Hard Out Here For A Bitch”, two White women from overseas. Needless to say, there was a backlash. However, in this entire mess no one asked why Black artists weren’t the ones critiquing the art themselves or where they were. At the time, leading R&B singers like Usher and Ne-Yo had switched to making EDM tinged Pop music and The-Dream was on a downward spiral. Meanwhile, several independent R&B singers like Bilal, Alice Smith, Foreign Exchange, José James, Mack Wilds, Quadron, SZA, Coultrain, Toro Y Moi and Reggie B who made excellent albums and had rabid fanbases were all but ignored in this entire discussion. Moreover, ones from overseas weren’t even considered in the equation whatsoever.

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Starting from the Joedci/Mary J. Blige/SWV/XScape/112/Total/Aaliyah/Missy Elliott/Ginuwine/Playa/Brady/Monica/R.Kelly/Usher continuum, R&B is a completely different animal than it once was. Although Bell Biv Devoe were the first to capitalize off the game changing song Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative” and bring the raunchy element to the R&B game back in 1990 and it was taken to another level by Jodeci, they both were influenced enough by classic R&B/Soul music from previous years to make sure they made ballads and songs about romantic love since it was the foundation of the music they made. Nowadays, groups like Guy, Bell Biv Devoe & Jodeci are considered the “old school” R&B influences, thus the sound & aesthetic of the genre has shifted and the “Soul” aspect has been marginalized much like lyricism in mainstream Rap has. No matter how filthy BBD was, they had “When Can I See You Smile Again” and “I Do Need You”. No matter how freaky Jodeci were they still had “Forever My Lady”, “My Heart Belongs To You” & “Cry For You”. Regardless how much they stretched the old boundaries that were never crossed thematically by classic R&B their basic musical blueprint was still predicated on the basic tenets of Soul music at it’s core.

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With 90’s and up R&B, they drew inspiration from the mid to late 60’s to the mid to late 80’s, with most modern mainstream R&B it seems like the influence stops somewhere in the early 90’s leading to a real disconnect. If suddenly the Bobby Brown/Guy/Aaron Hall/BBD/Jodeci/R.Kelly/Usher continuum becomes the new root of the influence tree rather than the artists and groups that they drew from, we’ve instantly lost out on the spirit and soul of an entire genre of music. It was considered “Soul” music because it connected to the “soul” of the people. It’s origins were the Black church, then the stoops, street corners and clubs wherever Black folks dwelled in America. The music was an offshot of the Blues and a first cousin to Jazz. It spoke of our struggles, triumphs and experiences. Most of all, it was a way to portray our interactions and love for each other that was never touched on in the mainstream media of the day. Soul music was our music that the world then embraced. Once it hit radio, it was called “Rhythm & Black” then later it was referred to as “Rhythm & Blues”. Since it’s become overly corporate the “soul” of R&B is rarely expressed in it’s mainstream incarnation. Which brings us to our present day R&B conundrum…

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I’ve noticed that over the past decade plus, less and less mainstream or major label R&B album sounded like…well, R&B. To make matters all the more confusing, I heard an increasing amount of albums during that stretch that weren’t necessarily considered to be “R&B” released through indie channels and overseas that sounded more like R&B then the music that was being touted as it. I realized that regardless of the way the music itself sounded, at it’s core the supposed “non R&B” I was hearing was inspired by the very Soul music that was solely lacking from the mainstream R&B that was being put out. A perfect example would be James Blake, back between 2010 & 2011 he was largely considered an Electronic music artist when he released numerous EP’s although both his early production and his vocal approach were clearly inspired by Soul/R&B music. At the same time Jai Paul emerged with his demo “BTSTU” which was also considered to be Electronic Pop music. Oddly enough, Jai Paul and James Blake were often compared to each other but almost no one considered either of them to be “R&B” even though the influence was seemingly obvious just by listening to their songs. Many writers and listeners would just lump James Blake in with Electronic music producers like Mount Kimbie, disregarding his sample sources and his vocals altogether.

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At the same time in the UK, Soul/R&B singers like Andreya Triana, Fatima, Rahel, Sarina Leah, Sampha, Jessie Ware and Lianne La Havas emerged and began making noise. Music fans began to take notice of the changing aesthetic of the music between 2010 and 2011. It had a more atmospheric, airy quality with layered vocals that was reminiscent of Lykke Li’s sound on “Youth Novels” but was gaining acceptance stateside thanks to Drake’s work with Noah “40” Shebib, The Weeknd, The Internet, Cocaine 80’s (James Fauntleroy) & Frank Ocean. Towards the end of this stretch James Blake and Sampha started gaining more and more traction with music fans stateside. Soon similar sounding artists and remixes in that sonic vein began to pervade SoundCloud, Mixcloud and music blogs until the point the sonic aesthetic birthed numerous podcasts, mixshows and the Majestic Casualdynmk & Fhing Music YouTube channels. In turn, this music is often categorized as Electronic or Pop or given odd distinctions like Ambient or Chillwave when at it’s core it’s essentially just Soul/R&B (such as Toro Y Moi or Blood Orange).

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If we look at the R&B terrain right now, we have artists like Chris Brown, Trey Songz, August Alsina, Usher, Ne-Yo, Jeremih, The-Dream etc. but the ones that really generate the most excitement are either on the fringes or bubbling up below the surface. SZA, Little Dragon, Jaded Incorporated, The Weeknd, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Kelela, Sam Smith, FKA Twigs, Tink and many others along those same lines are the artists pushing the boundaries of R&B and stretching the sonic limits of urban music as a whole. Problem being is the mainstream R&B/urban music industry won’t just relent and allow much of the music that should be properly defined as R&B/Soul music be accepted into the fold, opting instead to deny the music that could breathe new life into a genre that is creatively struggling for air. I’ve been far more excited by and passionate about recent and upcoming releases from Phil Beaudreau, Oscar Key Sung, Low Leaf, Eric Lau & Tawiah, Phantogram, Hiatus Kaiyote, Sorceress, Banks, Ella Eyre, Jessie Ware, Rainy Milo, Majid Jordan, Lulu James, MNEK, etc. than any of the heavily pushed recent projects from Trey Songz, Usher, Ne-Yo or Jeremih. These are often the musicians and artists cited in conversations I often have with fellow #KillerCrew homie Malcom Grey.

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In conclusion, urban music is doing itself a serious disservice by not embracing what is a very clear sea change in R&B music that can possibly restore the Soul and the spiritual connection fans had to the material. R&B has become predictable and tame nowadays even when it’s trying to be edgy and raunchy. Without expanding the umbrella to include the music that is speaking to more and more Millennials and Generation X’ers that experienced the initial aesthetic shifts in R&B/Soul music firsthand the mainstream music industry is going against the natural progression and evolution of art and culture itself. As we all know, some battles are impossible to win. If any industry should’ve already learned that lesson over the past 15 years it’s the music industry. You can either accept what’s already happening whether you want it to or not or be on the losing side of history by alienating both music fans and musicians alike. Stay woke.

One.