90's R&B vs. Today's R&B

       
        There has been a shift in R&B from the 90’s to today. According to the dictionary, even the definitions have changed from then to now. As we know it today, it is a “kind of pop music of African-American origin with a soulful vocal style featuring improvisation.” Back then it was defined as “a form of popular music of African-American origin that arose during the 1940’s with the addition of driving rhythms taken from jazz.” While there are similarities reflected in the sound of 90’s and today’s R&B, the change of message is a direct result of the shifting of target audience.

          In terms of sound both they both share jazz and blues elements. The key differences here are that today’s R&B incorporates pop sounds giving it a new age feel; while 90’s R&B in its own right incorporated many gospel, sounds giving it an old and ripe feel. If you are a fan of R&B you have undoubtedly while listening to a hit from the 90’s heard the statement(s) “you don’t know anything about this” or “what do you know about this?” from an elder. It fosters a sense of pride to know and relate to these songs as well as seniors do, and to be knowledgeable about a genre after its time.

            Topically, the theme shared by both of these genres are love and relationships. That is about as far as the similarities go. Both approach the topic of love and relationships in complete opposite ways. Today’s R&B is intended for 20-somethings. This is reflected in the “anger, mistrust, immaturity, and not believing in love”, that is portrayed through a majority of current hits. As a popular blogger stated, “today’s R&B lacks romance and seduction.” Themes for today’s genre include, but are not limited to cheating, being prideful to be “the other woman or man”, explicit sex, degradation of women, substance abuse, and lack of communication skills. Back in the 90’s Rhythm & Blues was intendent for the entirety of African-American culture ranging from young to old. This genre captured a raw, romantic, and seductive spirit through “touching on declarations of love, overcoming hardships, aspiring to do better, confessing wrong doings, and having a good time with friends and family.” Like with anything else there are outliers. There are hits today that channel the soul of 90’s R&B, just as there are 90’s R&B songs that coincide with the embodiment of today’s R&B culture.

Emotionally each genre evokes distinctive feelings. While listening to today’s R&B I feel a righteous anger due to the topics covered yet most of the time the beat is good, and the song is catchy, which makes it kind of acceptable. There is meme that has been floating around the web for quite some time now that says, “If the love doesn’t feel like 90’s R&B I don’t want it.” When I listen to 90’s R&B I get warm, gushy, sappy feelings inside due to the fact that when relationships and love are sung about they are done so in a beautiful, sensible, and respectful manner.

To conclude I would like to say that while each genre has similarities as far as sound goes; the differences in message should be reason enough to give today’s R&B a new name to capture the essence of the genre while allowing 90’s R&B to keep its title. I believe that things evolve over time, technology is a great example of this. With each new gadget that is developed, so is a new name to fit it. As music also evolves, so should names of its genres.