Who “killed” R&B? Previously, we shared a tweet from Diddy asking his Twitter family that very question. He eventually went live with a few R&B legends, like Mary J. Blige, who blames radio stations and the rebranding of the genre as “Popular Music,” performed by artists like Justin Timberlake and Adele.
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Who Killed R&B? Mary J. Blige Blames Radio Stations & Mentions Justin Timberlake & Adele For Helping Rebrand It As ‘Popular Music’
During Diddy’s live-stream, Mary J. Blige not only speaks on what R&B means to her and how she operates within the genre, but she also tries to dissect who helped “kill” R&B.
First off, MBJ says that the genre can’t be killed because it’s in our DNA and has been passed on through generations.
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She tells Diddy and Instagram users watching:
“You can’t kill something that’s in our DNA. It’s gonna keep transitioning from generation to generation to generation to generation. There were trying to kill it, but if you have too many [people] of our generation that have children, and we’re born into R&B, and we have their children that have children, you can’t kill it. But, they’ve tried.
And before I say what I’m gonna say, let me just say this. I want to thank all of the radio stations around the country that are playing R&B music and support it. But, a lot of the radio stations killed it for the same thing that Tank was saying. You know, they’re gonna jump on the bandwagon of whatever the hottest thing is.
But, let me just say this. We have to keep ourselves alive as R&B singers. So, you can’t kill us because we’re already in the system. We’re already in the bloodline. We’re already in the DNA.”
MBJ goes on to list off R&B legends and their greatest albums, like her own ‘What’s the 411.’ MBJ adds, ‘They can try [to kill us], but we have it in us.”
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Reiterating that, “You can’t kill R&B because it’s in us,” MBJ then adds how R&B has tried to be rebranded as “Popular Music” by white acts.
MBJ says: “It’s in the club the music. It’s in everything. And now they want to call it ‘Popular Music’ when Adele and Justin Timberlake get ahold of it. So, now it’s Popular Music. But it’s been popular music. We been had it.”
Mary continues to talk about another reason why R&B has changed as well. She blames people not wanting to be as vulnerable anymore. “People are afraid to feel things. People are desensitized now. … People are afraid to feel. I’ve never been afraid to feel … People are afraid to feel. But it’s going to heal you.”
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