In a perfect world we’d name Chris Brown the king of R&B right now and call it a day, but if you ask me, there is no king right now. While R&B is my absolute favorite genre, labeling Chris Brown just the king of R&B is doing him a disservice as he’s surpassed any boundaries anyone may have drawn for him in the beginning of his 15+ year career.
As for R.Kelly (*rolls eyes*), he lost his crown and should have never received it as his songs knowingly and unfortunately outlined what he was doing to young girls. And so since ignorance is bliss, where does that leave the crown?
While nowadays R&B seems to be alive with artists like Miguel, Summer Walker, H.E.R, and The Weeknd, do they really count? As millennials and Gen Z we grew up with 90’s and early 2000’s R&B from Boys II Men, Ginuwine, Usher, Pretty Ricky, and Trey Songz just to name a few. Some of these artists are now played for weddings, engagements, or even for our parent’s extracurricular time (yuck).
Of course nothing is meant to stay the same and change is bound to happen in any genre of music, but I don’t think what we call R&B today should be under the same category. It’s not the same feel and artists are incorporating a multitude of dynamic genres so it’s increasingly getting hard to just pen it to R&B.
What some may not realize still is that your favorite jams from artists like Maxwell, Erykah Badu, and Musiq Soulchild are not technically R&B. In the 90’s Neo Soul was penned to differentiate and market this sound of music that was in its own lane from R&B.
All this is to say that I think an official new genre should be created to accommodate the changes in sounds we’re drifting into now that we’re moving into the 2020’s and on. The new state of R&B needs a genre that can fit artists like Frank Ocean, Lucky Daye (newcomer & my fav), Brent Faiyaz, Masego, and a whole list of others. If you had to choose, what would you name this new sound of R&B?
While you’re here, take a peek below too at one of my new favs: Lucky Daye.
Music Means 
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