Throughout the ‘50s, doo-wop and rhythm ‘n’ blues edged further into pop culture and melded with nascent rock 'n' roll, birthing soul music in urban Black communities. The music found its epicentre in Detroit and Motown Records, the city and label forever tied to the sound. Icons like Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and James Brown defined the genre with powerful songs oriented around romance and liberation; modern stylists like Erykah Badu, Moses Sumney and Maxwell have pushed it into new sonic and emotional realms. Along the way, disco, rock and hip-hop left their imprints on funky experimentalists like D'Angelo, Jeremih and Laura Mvula.