People have been talking about the so-called \u201cdeath of R&B\u201d for over a decade now. It has been the subject of countless think-pieces, panels, Twitter debates, and Clubhouse rooms. The conversation gained steam again last summer when Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs posed the question on an IG Live roundtable; \u201cwho killed R&B?\u201d While the genre has no-doubt lost some salience since the 90s and 2000s when it thrived in tandem with hip-hop as one of the industry\u2019s biggest cash cows, Diddy\u2019s presumption is still unfair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When music consumption turned digital and hip-hop culture found a new home on blogs like 2DopeBoyz, DJBooth, Pigeons & Planes, and Hot New Hip Hop, traditional R&B struggled to find footing in this new landscape. Additionally, as hip-hop also became more melodic, its once steadfast marriage to R&B became less mutually beneficial. Singers are less likely to be called for hook services because it is more commonplace for rappers to sing it themselves or enist another emcee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Above all though, R&B has suffered from an issue of mislabeling and restrictive classifications. The old notion of \u201cgenre” is less useful these days as artists of all ilks increasingly broaden the range of their sonic experimentation. Many projects on the market today contain some element of fusion, that would make it unfair to ascribe them to a singular genre. Yet they still do. And oftentimes, that genre won\u2019t be R&B, even when its essence is so palpable in the music. When Frank Ocean\u2019s Channel Orange first came out, for example, it was designated as pop. Tems<\/a>, who catapulted herself to superstardom last year makes unmistakably R&B driven music, yet due to her Nigerian heritage, her impact is most visible on the Afrobeats chart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In East Africa, American R&B has long enjoyed popularity in the region since the 90s but it wass only in the last 10 years that we have seen the emergence and export of homegrown R&B acts like Atemi and Karun. It has since become one the most dynamic and impactful sounds of emerging music communities in the region. In cities like Nairobi it is a distinguishable sub-genre, with a flourishing ecosystem of artists and curators pushing the genre forward while stamping it with a uniquely Kenyan flare. The genre is, however, typically lumped under the \u201calternative\u201d or \u201cnew age,\u201d label, due in large part to its association with the small middle and upper-classes. Mainstream audiences often find it difficult to relate especially as much of East African R&B is sung in English and explores many foreign themes and influences. As such, R&B and other alternative acts often fall victim to the narrative of not being \u201cAfrican enough.\u201d It\u2019s an unfair critique considering American artists of the same ilk have no trouble finding support from local listeners, DJs, and radio stations. Nevertheless, many artists have found success at many different levels in the game, pushing back against the assumptions of class and language imposed on left-of-center music and resisting purist classifications of R&B. In this feature, PAM names some of these champions of East African R&B as testament to how alive and well the genre is.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n