- The Dallas rapper and singer reflects on love, loss and more.
ARTIST TO WATCH
The Dallas rapper and singer reflects on love, loss and more.
- Please Don't Fall In Love With Me - Single
NEW REMIXES
Please Don't Fall In Love With Me - Single
Khalid
- Ciara
- Russ
- Adekunle Gold
- Hamzaa & 1SRAEL
- Burna Boy
- Mahalia
- PARTYNEXTDOOR
- Apple Music
- Apple Music R&B
- Recommended Playlist
- Songs We’re Loving
- Apple Music Fitness
- Playlist We Like
- Playlist We Like
- Playlist We Like
- Playlist We Like
- Apple Music R&B
- Recommended Playlist
- Playlist We Like
- Recommended Playlist
- Please Don't Fall In Love With Me (Live)
- Khalid
- Maybe Next Time
- Andra Day
- Bad Vibes
- Ayra Starr & Seyi Vibez
- Huh
- Tink
- Expresso Martini
- BJRNCK
- Diva
- Isaiah Falls
- Look at My Body (feat. Shygirl) [Pt. II]
- Mabel
- Power of a Woman
- Hylan Starr
- act vii: all we do is argue, argue
- 4batz
- You're Always On My Mind
- Dizzy Fae
- act iv: fckin u (18+)
- 4batz
- XXX
- BLK ODYSSY & Wiz Khalifa
- Ex For A Reason
- 4Fargo & Honey Bxby
- Birthday
- Rotimi
- Here We Go (Uh Oh)
- Coco Jones
- act v: there goes another vase
- 4batz
- UnLonely
- J. Valentine & Chris Brown
- Andra Day
- PARTYNEXTDOOR
- SAFE
- 4Fargo
- Bryson Tiller
- Sinéad Harnett
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music African
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music R&B
- Playlist We Like
- Songs We’re Loving
- Apple Music R&B
- Tank
- Apple Music
- SiR
- Diddy & Bryson Tiller
- Brent Faiyaz
- 6LACK
- Chlöe
- Steve Lacy
- Kehlani
Hits by Decade
- Recommended Playlist
- Recommended Playlist
- Apple Music 2010s
- Apple Music Soul/Funk
- Apple Music ’80s
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music Hip-Hop/Rap
- Apple Music Hip-Hop/Rap
- Apple Music Hip-Hop/Rap
- Apple Music African
- Apple Music R&B
- Playlist We Like
- Tyla
- Apple Music African
- Sinéad Harnett
- Apple Music
Stations
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music Hip-Hop
- Apple Music Soul/Funk
- Apple Music R&B
- Apple Music Soul/Funk
- Tweet
- Rihanna
- Jeremih
- Aaliyah
- D'Angelo
- Keyshia Cole
- Faith Evans
- SZA
- Musiq Soulchild
- Mary J. Blige
About
R&B is what happened when rhythm and blues got a glossy modern polish with distant echoes of disco and funk. Of course, it’s sometimes hard to hear traces of either funk or disco in modern R&B. And in fact, many 21st-century R&B hits feel closer to dance-pop or hip-hop than classic soul music or vintage rhythm and blues. The story of contemporary R&B really starts in the late ’70s and early ’80s, a time when several strains of African-American music began to mingle in innovative and unexpected ways. That was the era when innovators and future superstars like Prince and Rick James started to combine slickly futuristic synthesizer hooks and smooth disco rhythms with elements of traditional funk and soul, setting the template for the R&B sound of the ’80s and beyond. With the release of Thriller in 1983, Michael Jackson took this hybrid style to mainstream heights, breaking sales records around the world and singlehandedly making R&B one of the key ingredients in pop music for the next several decades. In the late ’80s, singer and producer Teddy Riley coined the name “new jack swing” to describe a funkier, party-ready brand of R&B that was heavy on hip-hop style and attitude. By the ’90s, rappers and R&B singers were constantly collaborating on each other’s songs. As MCs started rhyming over R&B instrumentals and enlisting R&B singers to sing the hooks, it gave hip-hop mainstream appeal. On the flip side, artists like Mary J. Blige led the charge to bring hip-hop beats into R&B, which birthed hip-hop soul and further blurred the lines between the genres. Of course there’s always been room for soulful ballads and slow jams in modern R&B, as anyone who’s swooned to a Mariah Carey or John Legend hit knows well. The late ’90s saw the rise of the movement known as neo-soul, which abandoned the glitzy, synthetic sound of much modern R&B for the kind of classic musicianship that had seemingly been swept away. Of course, the foundations of R&B have always been built on innovation and the unexpected, and it keeps on evolving, whether you’re looking for a club-ready banger from Beyoncé or an adventurous jam from D’Angelo.