R&B Is Dead

I can boldly say that, in 2013, R&B genre of music is dead. A couple of years ago, some rappers were all over the campaign that Hip Hop is Dead. I don't think Hip Hop ever died, it just evolved. Things can't stay the same forever. I am a big lover of rap music, and even I don't think Hip Hop ever died. Taken, I really didn't like the whole trap music dominance of the 2000s, but those rappers still had the elements of hip hop (Dance, Rap...) in their music. But with R&B, you have singers like Usher and Ne-Yo, who people see as flag bearers of R&B making euro-pop music.





Nowadays, I can't even differentiate between all of Ne-Yo's new hits; they all sound the same. Since he made that song with Pitbull, it has been no-going-back for him. He might currently sell huge with singles, but his album sales have dwindled. I remember his album that had Miss Independence, I think it's called Year Of The Gentleman; that was a pure R&B album. He had different sounds on their, but it was still straight up R&B. And you have Usher, who got a diamond plaque from doing straight up R&B music (with the Confessions album), now doing the electro/pop sound. These are some of the people that the masses associate with R&B, so if they are nolonger doing that, or have totally fused it with euro pop sound to make something else, then there is no more R&B. It's good people like Trey Songz are still repping that real R&B tho.







I think people like Frank Ocean and Miguel, and maybe The Weekend are even making purer R&B than some of the people that were here before them. Thank God for people like that, and Thank God for people like Brandy, R.Kelly, Kelly Rowland and Keyshia Cole that still make good R&B music. But the problem is that their album sales keep dwindling. Beyonce is still selling big, but that's just one person. And she has a crazy fanbase that will stand with her through whatever experimenting she does with music. Back in the 90s, and even early 20002, R&B songs rocked the parties, but now it is either rap songs, or electro-pop songs. You hardly hear R&B songs on radio anymore. Even Chris Brown is guilty of the whole electro-pop thing right now.







Maybe I should say R&B is dead in mainstream, cos there are still some people making pure R&B- Melanie Fiona, Jhene Aiko and the likes, but they are just in the background. I have a feeling things will turn around again. It might not be like it was in the 90s, but it will be better than it currently is. People like Miguel and Frank Ocean will bring R&B back to the mainstream.