http://www.xxlmag.com/news/bloggers/2012/12/on-calling-rb-singers-rappers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=on-calling-rb-singers-rappers Hip-Hop On A Higher Level Sat, 25 May 2013 05:27:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.xxlmag.com/news/bloggers/2012/12/on-calling-rb-singers-rappers/#comment-2966684 kane able Thu, 06 Dec 2012 18:43:00 +0000 http://www.xxlmag.com/?p=256049#comment-2966684 nice article. however its worth noting, much of 80′s & 90′s hip hop bit r&b. plus singers of the last 20 years were born into and genuinely influenced by a powerful and inescapable hip hop culture, the same way james brown and gaye emerged and was influenced by the politics of their day. rap leaning could also be considered a natural evolution of black music and borrows the same way rap has borrowed from r&b (common, the chronic, biggie, sampling james brown etc). rap has also expanded the r&b singers repertoire. technically todays rap r&b flows allows a singer to cram and communicate more into a 16 / 8 bar verse than held notes – a great tool if you want to say, be more expressive / political. i believe the 2 genres complement each other. what irks me most is rappers distancing themselves from soulfulness so they can be popular with the masses. you know, the piano laced joint with a more (i use the term respectfullythe term) white sounding vocalist on the chorus (adam levine, dude fm cold play, dido sounding chick, or sting sounding bruno mars etc). then when and r&b legend passes the rappers, who never considered featuring them, pay homage (luther, mj, whitney etc). r&b and rap need each other and still have alot to learn from each other and will evolve together. btw – i agree calling singers rappers is still offensively ignorant.

]]>