contemporary R&B
Sign in to saveAlso known as R&B, R&B music, contemporary rhythm and blues, RnB, R'n'B
popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip-hop, and electronic music
Key facts
- Stylistic origins
- Rhythm and blues disco funk soul jazz blues electronic hip-hop
- Cultural origins
- Late 1970s and early 1980s, North America
- Typical instruments
- guitar bass guitar keyboards synthesizers electric guitar drums sampler flute saxophone trumpet trombone violin viola cello Akai MPC Roland TR-808 Hammond B3 organ Fender Rhodes synth bass
- Derivative forms
- Neo soul nu-funk 2-step alternative R&B afroswing
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- music genre
- Subclass of
- rhythm and blues
- Country of origin
- United States
- Image
- Usherraymond (300dpi).jpg
Show 3 more facts
- topic's main category
- Category:Contemporary R&B
- Commons category
- Contemporary R&B
- inception
- 1980-01-01
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Contemporary R&B is a popular music genre, originating from African-American musicians in the 1970s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of disco, funk, soul, jazz, blues, electronic, and hip-hop. The incorporation of disco and electronic textures and production styles, which came to prominence since the 2010s decade, brought forth a style called electro-R&B.
The genre features a distinctive record production style and a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Electronic influences and the use of hip-hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip-hop may be reduced and smoothed out. Contemporary R&B vocalists often use melisma, and since the mid-1980s, R&B rhythms have been combined with elements of hip-hop culture and music, soul culture and soul music.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “contemporary R&B” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.