Hip-hop’s takeover of R&B over the past decade altered its sound as soul artists aggressively pulled away from the genre’s conventional boundaries and embraced rap. Given the boys’ club culture of rap ...

If you look at the present landscape of R&B, it seems like it's upside down. Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke and Miguel are all the biggest draws in the genre currently followed closely by Frank Ocean ...

At this year’s Grammy Awards in February, the narrative was tightly focused on rap’s prominence among nominees in the major categories after historically being overlooked. So when Bruno Mars, one of ...

Host Erykah Badu attends the 2016 Soul Train Music Awards at the Orleans Arena on November 6, 2016 in Las Vegas. The combination of rhythm and blues spurred the development of the culture and genre ...

For many decades, going as far back as the 1940s, artists from the world of R&B couldn’t really claim mainstream success until they’d crossed over to Top 40 radio and the pop charts. This century, it ...

Bruce Talamon has photographed Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Barry White, Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle ... the list goes on. A new book shows his work from 1972-1982.

Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, ESSENCE editor Rivéa Ruff reports on the blending of hip-hop and R&B. Since the ...

The Charleston Southern Soul Festival will bring a showcase of classic R&B and contemporary Southern soul on Feb. 28 to the North Charleston Performing Arts Center. The evening will feature powerhouse ...

Billboard chooses its top R&B albums of the year, featuring sets from SZA, Summer Walker, GIVEON and many more. There’s one thing you can say about 2025 musically: it was a very good year for R&B.