History of R’N’B Culture

What is R’N’B?

Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B, R'n'B or RnB) is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and

early 1950s. The term was originally used by record companies to refer to recordings

marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking,

jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular

Contemporary R’n’B

• Contemporary R&B (also known as R&B) is a music genre of western popular music. Although the acronym “R&B” originates from its association with traditional rhythm and blues music, the term R&B is today most often used to define a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in the 1980s. This newer style combines elements of soul, funk, dance, and, from 1986 on with the advent of New Jack Swing branded R&B, hip hop.

• The abbreviation R&B is almost always used instead of the full rhythm and blues term, although some sources refer to the style as urban contemporary (the name of the radio format that plays hip hop and contemporary R&B).

1980’s

• With the transition from soul and disco to R&B in the early to mid 1980s, black artists such as Michael Jackson were able to achieve crossover appeal in popular music which had previously been dominated by white rock musicians. 

1990’s

Though popular in the 1980s, quiet storm had remained a fixture in the recordings of popular artists such as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston in the dawn of the 1990s.

2000’s

• The continued popularity of contemporary R&B is seen in the global success of established artists such as Beyoncé and Usher, whose careers began in the late 1990s and continued in the dawn of the new millennium.