I'm with Jozen here. It wasn't that long ago that rappers were nominated for R&B categories at awards shows because they were making Black music. It's definitely a failure on the point of the music critics who don't want to step outside of their comfort zones. "White people do this, Black people do that"...no matter how worldly or hip these folks consider themselves, they so often miss the point. Pop music involves elements of R&B, Rock, Hip-Hop and other genres, but it makes NO sense to say "There's a Black dude singing, so it's gotta be R&B". While categorization has little to do with how much audiences enjoy something, it will ultimately have some baring on which audiences will actually be exposed to them. If you list Frank Ocean in the R&B section, heads who don't like R&B might just pass him by. I wish the artists had more space to define their music, as opposed to a cadre of largely White and sometimes narrowminded cadre of critics.
On You Say Hipster R&B, I Say Nappy-Headed Pop. Either Way, It's Offensive.
I'm with Jozen here. It wasn't that long ago that rappers were nominated for R&B categories at awards shows because they were making Black music. It's definitely a failure on the point of the music critics who don't want to step outside of their comfort zones. "White people do this, Black people do that"...no matter how worldly or hip these folks consider themselves, they so often miss the point. Pop music involves elements of R&B, Rock, Hip-Hop and other genres, but it makes NO sense to say "There's a Black dude singing, so it's gotta be R&B". While categorization has little to do with how much audiences enjoy something, it will ultimately have some baring on which audiences will actually be exposed to them. If you list Frank Ocean in the R&B section, heads who don't like R&B might just pass him by. I wish the artists had more space to define their music, as opposed to a cadre of largely White and sometimes narrowminded cadre of critics.