By Adwoa Agyei
History Of R&B
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RnB music is originally called rhythm and blues and originated in the 1940s. This type of
music was introduced to the world by artists’ combining the music styles of jazz and blues.
Along with being influenced by jazz and blues, R&B also had influences from gospel and disco
music. Disco’s downturn in the 1980s opened the door for R&B to truly take-off in popularity
by artists such a Michael Jackson.
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In the 1940s and early 50s, R&B represented a more aggressive, beat-driven outgrowth of
jazz and over the years have developed to what we know no as Contemporary RnB ,a newer
style of R&B as it suites each generation . It combines elements of soul, funk, dance and —
from 1986 on with the advent of new jack swing — hip hop. With some of the top
mainstream R&B artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, Jermaine Jackson, The Whispers,
The S.O.S. Band, Stevie Wonder, Kool & the Gang, Yarbrough and Peoples, Smokey Robinson,
Rick James, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dazz Band, Evelyn King, Marvin
Gaye, Mtume, DeBarge, Midnight Star, and Freddie Jackson.
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As of the 20th century 2001, particularly its summer, has been described as a golden age for
contemporary R&B and urban soul music. With other emerging acts such as Alicia Keys
,Ashanti, Beyoncé, Ciara and , John Legend and more
Key Artist in the development of the
Genre
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There were many Black Artists that helped in the development of such a spectacular genre
such as Louis Jordan who dominated the top five listings of the R&B charts with three songs,
Roy Brown, Bo Diddley or Ray Charles who was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during
the 1950s by fusing rhythm & blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings for
Atlantic Records however their sound was more blues.
R&B transformed into, what many would call today; SOUL MUSIC...This is where artists such
as Sam Cooke (The Inventor of SOUL MUSIC) begin to shine.
Anther one of the biggest superstars of that genera was Michael Jackson who was Referred
to as the King of Pop, he is the most commercially successful and one of the most influential
entertainers of all time. His unique contributions to music, dance, and fashion,[along with a
highly publicized personal life, made him a prominent global figure in popular culture for over
four decades.
As of now the artist with the biggest profiles are ;
Beyoncé Knowles-Beyoncé who's fame rose in 1990 with destiny child's and in 2000 began
her solo career and was named Billboard's Top Female Artist of the Decade and 4th artist
overall, Knowles has attained five Hot 100 number one singles.
Rihanna ; is a Barbadian recording artist and model. Rihanna has sold over 12 million records,
worldwide in her four-year career span and has received several accolades, including the
2007 World Music Awards for World's Best-Selling Pop Female Artist and Female Entertainer
of the Year, as well as the 2008 American Music Awards for Favourite Soul/R&B Female Artist
and Favourite Pop/Rock Female Artist
Key Artist in the development of
the Genre
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Chris Brown ; is an American recording artist and actor. He made his recording debut in late
2005 with the self-titled album Chris Brown at the age of 16. Due to his dance routines,
Brown has been compared to renowned R&B artists such as Usher and Michael Jackson,
citing both as large influences on his music
Usher Raymond; has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and has won five Grammy
Awards. In 2008, Usher was ranked as the 21st most successful Hot 100 Singles Artist of alltime by Billboard magazine. He ranked higher than any other artist of his generation.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Usher has sold over 21.5 million
albums in the United States.
Alicia keys; is an American recording artist, Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor, was a
commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling
new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in
2002.
Ne-yo; is an American pop and R&B singer–songwriter, record producer, actor, and occasional
rapper. Since his debut, Ne-Yo has had five top ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead
artist and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200.
Audience and Fans
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An audience is a group of people who participate in a show. Audience members participate in
different ways in different kinds of art; some events invite overt audience participation and
others allowing only modest clapping and criticism and reception.
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A fan is someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking and enthusiasm for a
sporting club, person (usually a celebrity), group of persons, company, product, activity, work
of art, idea, or trend. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fan base or fandom.
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The Audience and fans of R&B music would mainly be black people as it originated from
African Americans. But the musicians don't make the music for one specific race its for
everyone but will only appeal to you if you like the music.
Sub genres of the genres
Contemporary R&B
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Contemporary R&B (also known as simply R&B) is a western popular music genre. It
combines elements of soul, funk, dance and — from 1986 on with the advent of new jack
swing — hip hop.
Contemporary R&B originated in the 1980s, when musicians started adding disco-like beats,
high-tech production, and elements of music, soul and funk to rhythm and blues, making it
more danceable and modern.
Smooth R&B
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Smooth jazz - a mellower type of jazz, similar to R&B. In general, a smooth jazz track is down
tempo (the most widely played tracks are in the 90–105 BPM range). Smooth jazz is a subgenre of jazz which is influenced stylistically by R&B, funk and pop.
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Slow jam - a ballad commonly marketed as R&B; sometimes has overlap with smooth jazz.
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slow jam is typically a song with an R&B-influenced melody. Slow jams are commonly R&B
ballads or just down tempo songs. The term is most commonly reserved for soft-sounding
songs with heavily emotional or romantic lyrical content.
Examples of slow jams are ; Nice & Slow – Usher, Take You Down - Chris Brown, I Will Always
Love You - Whitney Houston, Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye, Turn Off the Lights - Teddy
Pendergrass.
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Record Labels
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In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music
recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands
and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion, and
enforcement of copyright protection of sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and
development of new artists and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. Record
labels may be small, localized, and "independent" ("indie"), or they may be part of a large international
media group, or somewhere in between. The largest 4 record labels are called major labels. A sublabel is a
label that is part of, but trades under a different name from, a larger record company.
Record Labels
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Major labels since 2008 (Big Four)
• Warner Music Group
Atlantic
Asylum
Bad Boy,
• EMI
Virgin Records
Innocent Records
Sony Music Entertainment (Sony acquires 100% of BMG)
Jive Records operates under Zomba Label Group
LaFace Records
Arista Records
• Universal Music Group
Def Jam,
interscope
Cash Money Records
Public perception of R&B
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Public perception of R&B is how the audience view the genre as a whole and I believed that
the public perception is right. As of now you wouldn't get someone who listens to rock in a
R&B concert, so each genre appeals to their audience. Over the years the perception of R&B
has changed because its more versatile as you can mix different genres such as pop, rock,
hip-hop and that's what makes it more contemporary R&B.
The only difference is that they may add some pop into it or Caribbean music e.g. Rihanna
because the genre is versatile, it could also be mixed with hip-hop.
Key industry figures
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The key figures in the R&B industry would be Berry Gordy the founder of Motown Records
and gave black people the chance to record their music.
Michael Jackson also was the first black person to appear on MTV Base. He is also the third
best selling musicians of all time. Michael Jackson's Thriller is the best selling album of all
time; though sales figures for the album vary, the album is cited as selling as many as 110
million copies worldwide
Smokey Robinson was the songwriter for Motown records and has written songs like Jackson
5- Who's loving you, What's So Good About Goodbye (1962), I'll Try Something New
(1962),Mickey's Monkey (1963)
Competition
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Not only do the music industry support them selves and their acts, they also have R&B
magazines to support them to and also keep the viewers up-to-date with their releases , tour
dates, events, record signing and more.
One of the most popular music magazines for R&B is the Billboard magazine that comes out
every week devoted to the music industry. it is typically regarded as one of the most relevant
and unbiased sources of information on the music industry. It maintains several
internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in
various categories on a weekly basis. Among the two most important charts, the Billboard
Hot 100 ranks the top 100 songs regardless of genre and is frequently used as the standard
measure for ranking songs in the United States based on physical sales, digital sales, and
radio airplay, while the Billboard 200 survey is the corresponding chart for album sales.
Another magazine is Vibe magazine. Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by
producer Quincy Jones. The magazine predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists,
actors and other entertainers. Issued quarterly, the magazine's target demographic is
predominantly young, urban followers of hip-hop culture.
Rap-Up is a magazine launched in 2001 by founder Devin Lazerine . The magazine is focused
on the hip hop and R&B aspect of the music industry, and predominantly features interviews
with artists, actors and other entertainers. Issued quarterly, the magazine's target audience
was the 14 to 28 demographic, although the demographic has become older over time.
Competition
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Word Up Magazine is an American magazine focusing on teen entertainment and music. It
was very popular in the 1980s.
The magazine mostly covers information concerning rap, Hip-hop and R&B music. Its main
focus is African American teen singers, rappers, models, and prodigies.
The magazine comes out monthly and usually has many posters and contests for fans of
famous "To Die For" celebrities.
Cross Media
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Cross media also known as cross-media, cross-media entertainment, cross-media
communication, transmedia is a media property, service, story or experience distributed
across media platforms using a variety of media forms. Cross media within music are shows,
radio stations, websites and event
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Shows/ TV stations that cover R&B
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There are many TV shows that cover the genre R&B such as; MTV, MTV BASE- MTV Base is a
digital music and entertainment television channel which focuses on music from the world of
R'N'B, Hip-Hop, Soul and Urban. The channel first began broadcasting in the United Kingdom
on July 1, 1999., Box, Smash Hits, Flava, chart show , kiss and 106&park. These music
channels help the musician broadcast their music to viewers at home. This way they will get a
taster of their music and if feel the need to buy it they can purchase it from their nearest
music store. 106&park is a music video show, set up in a countdown format, that airs
weekdays 6 p.m. on BET and weekdays 7 p.m. on BET UK. Currently, it is the network's
number one rated show. MTV Base
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Radio Stations
Choice FM, Kiss, Radio 1, 1Xtra and USA Hot97
These radio stations supply you with the latest music updates from the celebrities as they
may want you to hear the song, see the viewers reactions before they release a video for it.
Radio stations is also an advantage to the viewers as the musicians may come on the radio
station for and interview. Also because some radio stations can be played online.
Cross Media
• Websites
Music websites such as ITUNES allow customers to download music off of their website. Prices
can range from $0.69, $0.99, or $1.29. iTunes also allows you to see the latest updates on music
and allows you to hear 30 second samples. Websites such as YouTube can be used to view music
videos and listen to new releases that have been leaked out.
• Events
As musicians can not only rely on their album sales, they also have to hold some events such as
tours and this way they can ear more money. This is an advantage to the musician as people now
days download R&B music and etc online for free, so they can earn money better this was, as
they will also travel around the world.
Prediction
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R&B is considered to be a popular and high-selling genre of popular music,
contemporary R&B has also come under scrutiny. The continued popularity of
contemporary R&B is seen in the global success of established artists who have
added their own flavour to her music such as Rihanna is the rare rhythm and blues
(R&B) diva to emerge from the Caribbean world. Becoming an international
sensation, Rihanna is known for blending R&B with Caribbean music, such as
reggae and dancehall. As the world gets older and new generations form, music
beings to suite them not the people from older generations.