With music’s popularity at its highest, I find the radio to be filled with nothing but rubbish. On one station I hear the rapping of obscenities demeaning both black culture and woman alike. And on another I’m forced to hear songs that have absolutely no significant meaning what-so-ever but to make noise. Lyrical content is dulled down to words and phrases like, “I got that boom-boom-pow/Them chicken’s jackin’ my style”, “Seein’ right through you like you’re bathin’ in Windex” and go as far as to sing about things as juvenile as having “such a huge egoooo” repeatedly and the repetition of such phrases like, “Bum Bum BeDum Bum Bum DeDum Bum”. After giving up on looking for something decent to listen to, I was left wondering: What has happened to quality Contemporary R&B and Neo Soul music? Have record companies gotten so money hungry that they’d rather put out music by artist’s like Cassie or Lady GaGa? And have music consumers gotten so enthused with a heavy beat and “trendsetting” gimmicks that they’ve over-looked actual talent? 
Rhythm and Blues (R&B) was a name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African-Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The term was originally used by record companies to refer to recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans. Looking back, that was the beginning. That was when music was made to really tell stories and touch the souls of whoever listened. That time spawned greats like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder who later spawned classics like ‘Respects’, ‘Let’s Get It On’ and ‘For Once In My Life’. Songs that are still listened to today. Because of artists and songs like these, greats were inspired. Greats like the late Michael Jackson, who himself went on to create classic music that will withstand the test of time. As well as the late Luther Vandross who created classics such as ‘A House Is Not A Home’ and ‘If Only For One Night’.
Since the 1990s, the term “Contemporary R&B” is mainly used to refer to a modern version of soul and funk-influenced pop music. Contemporary R&B has a slick production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional pop-sounding fusion in its hooks. During the 90s Contemporary R&B grew extraordinarily and spawned a slew of new artists: female vocalists, male vocalists and groups. The female vocalists began with the return of Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson (who began their careers in the 80s) and newcomers Mariah Carey and Toni Braxton. These four ladies were the epitomy of quality R&B music in the 90s and broke numerous of records by creating such classic like: ‘I Will Always Love You’, ‘Anytime, Anyplace’, ‘Always Be My Baby’ and ‘Love Should’ve Brought You Home’. This era also brought forth male vocalists like Babyface, Brian McKnight, R. Kelly and Ginuwine.
With the passing of the new millennium came a new era of music, Pop. This music came full-force with acts like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, mixing their new sound with R&B flavor. This music completely changed the industry and possibly became the down fall of true music. This music began to market toward white radio— now known as commercial radio. This was the beginning of the “as long as you can dance and look sexy doing it you can become rich and famous” era. And sooner or later our R&B influenced youngins saw that that was how you made money and of course jumped on the bandwagon. Creating artists like Ciara, Cassie and Jeremih. R&B music has been taken over by none other than “the man” and record labels wanting to make serious cash. Our music, that once ruled the airwaves, has been taken over by the Lady GaGa’s, Katy Perry’s, Akon’s, T-Pain’s. And if we aren’t hearing any of that mess, we’re listening to extremely ridiculous, foul mouthed, prejudice and offensive rap music. If that weren’t enough, we have folk like Amy Winehouse, Adele, Duffy and Justin Timberlake bringing our music back.
But also with the rising of Pop music came acts that stood for the advancement of Contemporary R&B music. The genre was influenced by acts like Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and produced artists like Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Musiq Soulchild and Jill Scott. Since 2000 artists like Alicia Keys, Jazmine Sullivan, Raphael Saadiq, Ledisi, Anthony Hamilton and others have maintained the Neo Soul music genre while incorporating some Contemporary R&B stylings.
As I sit here and think about it, I wonder what went wrong. How did we go from such heartfelt, vocally talented, lyrically deep talent to the “I wanna get rich, quick” music of today? How can artists who have made such great music feel pressured to stay afloat by lowering themselves to singing songs like ‘Obsessed’ to get their album to wanna be heard? Why are talents like Toni Braxton feeling the need to ditch their roots and turn reggae because their labels want that mula and frankly, so do they? Why is good music like Ginuwine’s ‘A Man’s Thoughts’ fading into the background while artist like Demi Lovato and Hannah Montana sit atop the Billboard charts? And my biggest question: Why are folk like Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson and Leona Lewis headlining VH1 Divas instead of actual divas Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige?
What I do commend though are the artists that stick to their calling and don’t feel the need to completely change themselves or their music. Keyshia Cole for example; she comes from the hood and even though she has reached a great deal of success she hasn’t changed her deep value in music by trying to compete with what’s on radio now. Whitney Houston, who once dabbled in trying to compete with Pop radio, is making a well-welcomed comeback and is sticking to her roots and what made her a colossal success in the first place. And Mariah Carey, who began her success singing huge ballads and has recently succumbed to singing songs like ‘Obsessed’ has also managed to continue to create great R&B from her album ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’ and with songs like, ‘I Stay In Love’ and ‘H.A.T.E.U’. So with all that said, although I am very disappointed with what has become popular music, I am glad that I can still rely on a slew of artists to create quality music. And give me my true R&B fix.
