PART ONE: GRAMMY GENRES
R&B, or Rhythm and Blues, is a term used to describe a predominantly African American form of music originating in the 1930s. Over the years this genre has undergone a great variety of changes. During it’s origins, rhythm and blues was used as a replacement for the term, “race music,” which classified all music made by blacks. The actual “meaning” of R&B has definitely evolved. During the 1970s, r&b was also used to classify funk and soul artists. In this day and age, R&B has it’s own contemporary meaning, and basically includes most sung urban music.
Artists of the 1990s and 2000s, such as R.Kelly, OutKast and Ashanti, had such a unique effect on R&B music that the GRAMMYS began to take notice. A new subgenre, Contemporary R&B, had formed. The changes in r&b created the category “Best Contemporary R&B Album.” Although Beyoncé has won this award the most, Ashanti was the first artist to take home this honor. Subgenres for r&b isn’t a phenomenon that has been around for a while, but r&b music has definitely changed quite a bit. The structure that gave r&b it’s name has changed, which also helped the relevancy of adding “Best Contemporary R&B Album.”
When it comes to r&b music, there have been developments such as the Neo-Soul movement, which occurred all over the country. R&B developments haven’t been limited to a particular region. R&B has been categorized into traditional r&b, contemporary r&b, and most recently urban contemporary.
Jaquese Doris Powell 