The New Rhythm Of Rhythm And Blues
Rhythm and blues artist H.E.R. performs onstage during the Global Citizen Festival. THEO WARGO/GETTY IMAGES FOR GLOBAL CITIZEN hide caption
Rhythm and blues artist H.E.R. performs onstage during the Global Citizen Festival.
THEO WARGO/GETTY IMAGES FOR GLOBAL CITIZENRhythm and blues — better known as R&B — has changed a lot over the years.
The registers are higher, the production elements are more prominent and other genres are starting to have a lot more influence — from hip-hop, to alternative, to electronic.
What is the current sound of R&B? What do we gain when the genre changes? And what do we lose?
To answer these questions, we spoke to Naima Cochrane, a music and culture writer and former music executive; Tom Leo, the co-founder and CEO of "You Know I Got Soul" — a website covering R&B; and Gabrielle Goodman, a professor of music in the voice department at the Berklee College of Music.
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