A group of young singer-songwriters have transformed the genre by looking backward, without getting stuck in the past. Here and below are seven of the many contemporary artists who are redefining and ...

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. The Grammy nominee had struggled with health issues since his 2019 stroke. 15 days ago ...

Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, writer Jaelani Turner-Williams addresses claims that today’s R&B is too sexual. R&B’s ...

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 so-called death of R&B has been a topic of conversation for nearly a decade now. The discussion periodically gains steam, somewhat arbitrarily. It’s been the chatter of many Clubhouse rooms as of ...

Billboard's special salute to Black Music Month continues its rollout with the next 25 artists on our all-time top 75 list. What a difference 10 years can make. That was the last time Billboard ...

The R&B world simply cannot catch a break in 2025, as the list of legendary singers who have died continues to grow. A week after losing three stars going into the weekend, R&B fans have been hit by ...

Drake leads Billboard's 100-position Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the 21st Century retrospective. Below, find a breakdown of the 2000-24 top 10. By Trevor Anderson Drake dominates the competition as the ...

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 ...

It's tough to gauge an artist's intentions. How can you? You don't know what they were thinking when they hopped in the booth. (And anyway, does it even matter?) That said, we here at Complex sleep a ...