In thinking about it Im actually in two minds now haha because you still had Nate Dogg singing gangsta melodies in the 90's and 00’s and Nate is one of the GOATS, Im one of his biggest fans in fact, but he wasn’t your traditional singer so I guess he doesnt really count, plus he really grew up arounds bangers… We also had TQ (who I’m a fan of) in the early 00’s, but he never really glamorised gangsta schitt, but for me that is when I guess the genre started to change, but the fact we didnt have social media back then like we do now is a factor...
@blackrain
Yeah I was talking about his early material in the 90s, by TP2 alot of R&B was getting more and more 'gangsta', like I said we had TQ etc… With regards to you saying R Kelly was cussing, Curtis Mayfield and other soul and blues singers were cussing waaaaay back in the day… But I can only remember R Kelly really cussing from around ’TP2’ onwards...
Also what I think is major factor in the evolution, or rather devolution of the genre are the beats they sing over, Chris and Rihanna sing over daum near fckn house or trance music at times!!! Atleast if R Kelly was cussing etc it was over proper R&B beats...
What Im really trying to say is that imo Chris Brown, Rihanna and/or some of the newer generation who dont actually have great singing voices, they just have 'swag' and are manufactured products of hip hop have basically gotten rid of R&B and turned it into pop music, hence the beats, to listen to ACTUAL R&B imo now we have to listen to more ’Neo Soul'…
Also R.Kelly was always heavy into gospel through out his career, Im pretty sure the song at the end of TP2 ’Storm is Over’??? show cases that.. What Im also saying is, R Kelly to my knowledge never walked about with gangs claiming a set etc even though he was from Chicago, yeah by 2000ish he was heavily hip hop orientated and cussed occasionally and had duo albums with Jay etc I guess your right in a way, he may of helped make R&B more hip hop, maybe even Mariah too, but you also had Jon B thinking about it... But I dont think they over stepped over the mark like Chris Brown or some of the newer generation who dont actually have a great singing voices but get into fights, bang on social media etc to get promotion… But I guess its just the 'evolution' of the genre...
@D.Morgan
I disagree breda, I think R Kelly is a great singer, you only need to listen to his early material to see this, also songs like ‘If I could turn back the hands of time’ shows what a great voice he has… That and the fact he has fans in not only hip hop heads, but also middle aged 'soccer moms’ and Dads of all races, ages, creed etc... He may of more harmonised on his commercial singles etc but there is no doubting his singing ability for me when you listen to his music catalog...