Conventions Of R&B

R & B originated in the 1940s. R & B is short for rhythm and blues but everyone know shortens it to R & B as it is a newer version of soul and funk music. R & B is a music genre which combines elements of hip hop, R & B and soul music. R & B is one of the most popular genres of music. The most popular R & B artists are Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Most music videos of R & B artists include lots of “bling” as artists want to show off their wealth by showing there expensive jewelry. R & B artists like to show off what they have such as expensive cars or that they have lots of woman as usually in male artists video’s they have lots of pretty dancers surrounding them. Wealth describes R & B artists as they want to show the audience that they are very wealthy. R & B artists usually have a performance video instead of a narrative, male R & B artists usually have girls dancing around in not many clothes, this is a typical performance video from an R & B artist. In music videos of R & B artists you usually see the performer throughout the video, they like to have lots of close up and medium close up shots to show off the performer and also so that the audience can see the performer close up. In male artists music videos they usually like to get there body out by usually having their top off in part of the video this is to show their audience that they like there body and they want to appeal to female audiences. Usually male artists like to wear jeans if they have their tops off so that you can see their boxers, they will also usually have a designer belt which is an advertisement of the product. Lots of male artists have tattoo’s and usually there tattoo’s are seen on their video.
Female artists wear minimal clothing on their music videos so that they appeal to males watching their video’s because they are wanting to be seen as attractive so they wear hardly any clothing. Usually hair and makeup is very outstanding and are usually seen as wearing dark bold colours to show off their features. Some female artists like to wear red lipstick to show power. R & B females love to wear very high heels to show off their legs as they are wearing something short. However some female artists like to wear trainers for choreographed performances in their video. Most female artists like to wear big ear rings and necklaces, usually when female artists wear lots of jewellery they are breaking gender stereotypes because it is usually male artists who wear lots of jewellery. Female artists usually use a narrative in their video that links with the lyrics of the song. Women usually use males for the videos to have a negative reflection. The often use males to express their feelings. Usually women use males for songs that are about a male cheating in a relationship. Males can also be used for a positive reflection as shown in romantic songs.
Slow songs such as my chosen song Rihanna- Take a bow usually do not have as much nudity as sexual R & B music. My song is about breaking up, which usually R & B artists wear dark clothing to show emotion. A lot of natural makeup is used to convey the sense of natural beauty because there is usually a lot of close ups of the artists face. My song has a narrative but not many R & B female artists have a narrative to their video. Songs about breaking up usually take place in a plain black room which has very minimal items in the room because the songs tend to concentrate on the artists by using close up shots to show significant figure expression.
Most R & B artists are African Americans, this is mainly because they founded R & B. Some R & B male artists like to dress in gangster like clothing, this signifies R & B and also represents R & B because other genres such as pop and many others, male artists do not dress in gangster clothing. Gangster clothing is big baggy clothing which hangs off the artist, this is also showing the artists wealth as usually the clothing is expensive as usually the clothes are designer label. In most R & B video’s there is usually a dance routine performed in the video, it can range from break dancing to hip hop, these dance moves represent the genre as no other type of genre can relate to break dancing. A lot of music videos of R & B artists involve the music video being set in a nightclub or a party type of atmosphere. Also some R & B artists like to use the idea of using “the streets” usually if the artist wants to use this idea they film a rough area as R & B artists like to represent that they are tough characters and that you wouldn’t want to mess with them.

R & B has a wide range of audience, most people who listen to R & B music are between the ages of 13-25. The type of socio-economic group who would listen to this type of genre would be working class and middle class. It is usually females that are attracted to R&B music because female R&B artists stereotypically make songs about being in love or heartbroken, this is what will appeal to teenage girls and young adults.