I don't even consider real R&B if this day & age, real R&B. R&B to me is the old soul stuff from the 70's.
I don't blame you. R&B has really taken a nose dive the past 20-30 years. Alicia Keys is an example of a contemporary R&B artist that is able to take the R&B of old and properly add bits of Hip Hop when necessary. In other words, she got class and talent. A lot of modern R&B is sung by girls who wouldn't be able to sing live if their life depended on it. And of course Hip Hop is music. I feel ridiculous even talking about it. lol
It's not just R&B that has gone downhill. Rock 'n Roll has arguably taken an even steeper nose dive in the past 20 years. Anyways, I think this guy said it best about music in general, "Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound; funny, but it's still Rock 'n Roll to me.".
The actual problem is the music industry itself. They can blame P2P for declining sales, but if they weren't only concerned with making disposable hits performed by disposable artists, then maybe people would have a more vested interest in the artists. Besides, blaming P2P for the declining industry is a bunch of BS. The music industry is declining because the music industry sucks. Record labels don't invest in their artists anymore. Instead of nurturing and developing the artist, they get a shitty record "deal" and are thrown to the curb. I'm not even sure what the benefits of a record deal are anymore. Unless you're a Justin Beiber type, or some other kind of disposable nonsense like that, your label doesn't even know you exist.
That's my rant. lol
