Many Americans have grown up listening to both rap and R&B. Each of the genres are very different, with one of their main differences being their interpretation and representation of women.
When comparing rappers from the 80’s and today, it’s obvious that there will be many differences. Some main differences are the actual music, lyrics, and the artists themselves. r&b and rap artists often have very different backgrounds, one of the main influences being social and financial class.
One major rap artist from the 80’s is Ice Cube (at left), and one from nowadays is Lil Pump (below). First and foremost, their names. A lot of rappers from today start their names with “Lil”, while their older counterparts obviously had more creativity. In the sense of their actual music, rappers like Ice Cube and Eazy-E often just talk about normal life for them. A song that portrays this is “It Was a Good Day” by Ice Cube. The song takes you through a normal “good day” for him.
One major rap artist from the 80’s is Ice Cube (at left), and one from nowadays is Lil Pump (below). First and foremost, their names. A lot of rappers from today start their names with “Lil”, while their older counterparts obviously had more creativity. In the sense of their actual music, rappers like Ice Cube and Eazy-E often just talk about normal life for them. A song that portrays this is “It Was a Good Day” by Ice Cube. The song takes you through a normal “good day” for him.
Many Americans have grown up listening \to both rap and R&B. Each of the genres are very different, with one of their main differences being their interpretation and representation of women. Modern rap is more commonly seen degrading women, especially through artists like Drake, Lil Pump, Famous Dex, and Kanye West. On the contrary,many R&B songs by artists such as Ne-Yo, Maxwell, Mario, and Raphael Saadiq do the exact opposite. Although most of their music can be considered respectful, even they can make songs that objectify women.
Miguel, the sort of artist who breaks the barrier between rap and r&b, has music that really varies. He has a song, “Sure Thing” which is really sweet. “Love you like a brother, treat you like a friend, respect you like a lover.” However, another one of his songs isn’t as nice, let alone appropriate. One song by him that caused the most turmoil was “How Many Drinks” To sum it up, it was basically a song about “how many drinks” it takes for this girl to “let him” have sex with her. Though it wasn’t at all a rap song, many other artists have songs in R&B styles, or create R&B music, have songs similar to these.
Miguel, the sort of artist who breaks the barrier between rap and r&b, has music that really varies. He has a song, “Sure Thing” which is really sweet. “Love you like a brother, treat you like a friend, respect you like a lover.” However, another one of his songs isn’t as nice, let alone appropriate. One song by him that caused the most turmoil was “How Many Drinks” To sum it up, it was basically a song about “how many drinks” it takes for this girl to “let him” have sex with her. Though it wasn’t at all a rap song, many other artists have songs in R&B styles, or create R&B music, have songs similar to these.
R&B seemed to have its peak in the early 2000’s, with artists like Usher, Ne-Yo, and John Legend. And when compared to the genre’s music from the 90’s, there’s really not that much of a change. It’s still the same in the sense that the way women are spoken about is “polite” and wholesome. They don’t speak about women as objects, but as actual living humans, that they’d like to get to know or love.
That hasn’t changed, though it seems slightly more provocative. While R&B artists do talk about loving and being with them, they also mention physical aspects, like how they like their body and their mind. An r&b-style song featured in the Black Panther Soundtrack is a perfect representation of such. In “The Ways” by Khalid, Swae Lee starts his section of the song with “your body and your mind is your contribution”. This line shows that he values more than just her body, but also what she thinks. In the 90’s, R&B artists such as Boyz II Men, Luther Vandross, and Mariah Carey were popular. They, among many others, were the sort of root of the genre that we call R&B today.
R&B seemed to have its peak in the early 2000’s, with artists like Usher, Ne-Yo, and John Legend. And when compared to the genre’s music from the 90’s, there’s really not that much of a change. It’s still the same in the sense that the way women are spoken about is “polite” and wholesome. They don’t speak about women as objects, but as actual living humans, that they’d like to get to know or love.
That hasn’t changed, though it seems slightly more provocative. While R&B artists do talk about loving and being with them, they also mention physical aspects, like how they like their body and their mind. An r&b-style song featured in the Black Panther Soundtrack is a perfect representation of such. In “The Ways” by Khalid, Swae Lee starts his section of the song with “your body and your mind is your contribution”. This line shows that he values more than just her body, but also what she thinks. In the 90’s, R&B artists such as Boyz II Men, Luther Vandross, and Mariah Carey were popular. They, among many others, were the sort of root of the genre that we call R&B today.
Considering the fact that rap nowadays is based almost entirely about things like money and women, this sort of closes off a large portion of rap artists: women. If women themselves aren’t comfortable with rapping about the things stated before, they won’t appeal to audiences like men would, because that’s the norm for them.
There are very few female artists that are hugely listened to, such as Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, being the most popular as of 2018. Not only does it create a wall between people like Cardi B and Queen Latifah, it means older and more original female rappers are far less listened to, despite them being the very and essential roots of Nicki Minaj.
The majority of R&B type songs are “love songs”, and it’s not very common that you hear women being degraded in those songs. R&B artists often portray women as real human beings, talking about how they cherish them and love theme. A good example of this is found in “Let me Love You” by Ne-Yo from 2012, he sings, “Girl let me love you, and I will love you, until you learn to love yourself, girl let me love you.” Many of his songs are like this, others being “One in a Million”, “Closer”, and “Miss Independent”. Contrarily, we have people like Ty Dolla Sign and Post Malone, even Iggy Azalea, that really create a huge gap in the genres.
The majority of R&B type songs are “love songs”, and it’s not very common that you hear women being degraded in those songs. R&B artists often portray women as real human beings, talking about how they cherish them and love theme. A good example of this is found in “Let me Love You” by Ne-Yo from 2012, he sings, “Girl let me love you, and I will love you, until you learn to love yourself, girl let me love you.” Many of his songs are like this, others being “One in a Million”, “Closer”, and “Miss Independent”. Contrarily, we have people like Ty Dolla Sign and Post Malone, even Iggy Azalea, that really create a huge gap in the genres.
There are always outliers, though, that seem to fill in the gap, them being people such as Frank Ocean, Ce Lo Green, Andre 3000, Queen Latifah, Ja Rule, and of course, Drake. While there will always be people that resort to degradation to create their music, there will also always be those selected few that do the exact opposite, and what we need as a people might be to surround ourselves with that sort of positivity.
