Yes, one of those annoying "clickbait" jobs, but interesting. I'll post just a bit of each of the 8 reasons, to avoid copyright problems...
* The Whitewash: Some of the most successful R&B artists now are white — names like Justin Timberlake, Adele, Robin Thicke. In 2013, Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart was topped by a white artist 44 out of 52 weeks — including 37 straight weeks, January to October, where it was topped by either hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis or Thicke [...]
* Too Much Focus on Physical Attributes, Not Enough on Talent: There was a time when R&B singers were elevated and celebrated because of their talent and not their looks. It would be disrespectful to name fabulous singers of the past as examples, but one who has been called the “Queen of Soul” might be a prime example. The quality of the music, of the voices, was paramount back then. But those days are long gone. [...]
* Producer-Focused: The talented, powerful R&B producers of yesteryear would identify talent, hone it, enhance it. Names like Norman Whitfield, Quincy Jones, Leon Sylvers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, LA Reid and Babyface, and Teddy Riley reigned supreme. But somewhere in the late ’80s and early ’90s, R&B began to focus the bulk of its attention on the producers, to the detriment of the artists. [...]
* Too Much Sex: A five-minute trip through the radio dial — if you can actually find Black R&B artists on the radio — shows just how incredibly hypersexual the music and lyrics have become. [...]
* Artists Too Limited: One has to wonder why mainstream Black music, once rich with R&B that promoted love, tenderness and substance, now includes one of two types of songs: vapid pop numbers by artists who sound more like robots than real people and commercial rap tracks that glorify violence, materialism and misogyny. [...]
* Nobody Is Buying Music Anymore: As most people know, there has been a startling plunge in the number of albums sold compared to previous years. This phenomenon has pulled down every genre [...]
* R&B and Hip-Hop Have Coalesced Into a Single Genre: While the two genres were long independent styles, each with their own unique sound and melody that explored and discussed different subject matters, today’s hip-hop and R&B are practically the same genre. Almost every R&B track has a rap verse and many rappers have incorporated singing into their style [...]
* Computerized Production: Between the 1960s and ’80s, the R&B genre had a plethora of bands like Earth, Wind and Fire, Sly and the Family Stone, Rose Royce, Parliament, Funkadelic and the Gap Band, just to name a few. All of these acts made their own music with live instruments. The last true band in R&B history was the ’90s band Mint Condition. Since then, virtually all instruments played on albums now are digitized. [...]
http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/01/20/8-reasons-why-rb-has-died-in-the-black-community/
Your thoughts?
* The Whitewash: Some of the most successful R&B artists now are white — names like Justin Timberlake, Adele, Robin Thicke. In 2013, Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart was topped by a white artist 44 out of 52 weeks — including 37 straight weeks, January to October, where it was topped by either hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis or Thicke [...]
* Too Much Focus on Physical Attributes, Not Enough on Talent: There was a time when R&B singers were elevated and celebrated because of their talent and not their looks. It would be disrespectful to name fabulous singers of the past as examples, but one who has been called the “Queen of Soul” might be a prime example. The quality of the music, of the voices, was paramount back then. But those days are long gone. [...]
* Producer-Focused: The talented, powerful R&B producers of yesteryear would identify talent, hone it, enhance it. Names like Norman Whitfield, Quincy Jones, Leon Sylvers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, LA Reid and Babyface, and Teddy Riley reigned supreme. But somewhere in the late ’80s and early ’90s, R&B began to focus the bulk of its attention on the producers, to the detriment of the artists. [...]
* Too Much Sex: A five-minute trip through the radio dial — if you can actually find Black R&B artists on the radio — shows just how incredibly hypersexual the music and lyrics have become. [...]
* Artists Too Limited: One has to wonder why mainstream Black music, once rich with R&B that promoted love, tenderness and substance, now includes one of two types of songs: vapid pop numbers by artists who sound more like robots than real people and commercial rap tracks that glorify violence, materialism and misogyny. [...]
* Nobody Is Buying Music Anymore: As most people know, there has been a startling plunge in the number of albums sold compared to previous years. This phenomenon has pulled down every genre [...]
* R&B and Hip-Hop Have Coalesced Into a Single Genre: While the two genres were long independent styles, each with their own unique sound and melody that explored and discussed different subject matters, today’s hip-hop and R&B are practically the same genre. Almost every R&B track has a rap verse and many rappers have incorporated singing into their style [...]
* Computerized Production: Between the 1960s and ’80s, the R&B genre had a plethora of bands like Earth, Wind and Fire, Sly and the Family Stone, Rose Royce, Parliament, Funkadelic and the Gap Band, just to name a few. All of these acts made their own music with live instruments. The last true band in R&B history was the ’90s band Mint Condition. Since then, virtually all instruments played on albums now are digitized. [...]
http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/01/20/8-reasons-why-rb-has-died-in-the-black-community/
Your thoughts?
