Genre ResearchR&B AND HIP HOP

R&B GENRE The R&B Genre is similar to the Hip Hop genre however, as R&B

stands for rhythm and blues, it is more of a soft genre. Artists such as Rihanna and Ne-Yo are examples of R&B artists.

R&B was originated in the 1940’s and is a genre of popular African-American music. Rhythm and Blues music used to be called Race music which then people got offended by because of cultural and racial issues and focused on colour rather than the genre so it then got changed to R&B.

The biggest R&B stars today are Rihanna, Beyonce, The Weeknd John Legend and there is so much more.

Examples of R&B genre album covers The most recent album cover by Beyonce is of herself, However her face

doesn’t show which shows that there is something hidden about her. This is also reinforced in her songs in the album, for example, in sorry, where she got cheated on and therefore, it shows that it is a personal album and she reveals things about herself, although they are not true.

Similarly in Rihanna’s most recent album Anti, she reveals things about herself. Although it is young Rihanna in the album cover, she has a crown which symbolises her personality. Rihanna herself claims, that the crown is a metaphor to appreciate small things in life and the balloon is lighter than air and is a metaphor for escaping reality.

This shows that R&B artists have meaningful stories behind their music most of the time, as this might not always be the case.

HIP-HOP GENRE The hip-hop genre is more about the beats. Artists like Drake, Lil

Wayne and and Jay-Z are big examples of Hip-Hop stars. The hip-hop genre was formed in the United States in the 1970’s

even though it was mainly originated in Jamaica and mainly involves rhythmic styles such as rapping.

One of the main artists who had made Hip-Hop famous was Tupac Shakur and is now most-known by 50-Cent, Jay Z, Eminem, Kanye West and Black Eyed-Peas

Examples of Hip-Hop genre album covers. Kanye West’s most recent album The Life of Pablo has a basic

album cover with the repetition of ‘THE LIFE OF PABLO’ all over it. This already shows that Kanye West’s album is all about his life, such as family, as there is also an image of his family on his cover which shows how much they mean to him

Similarly, one of Drake’s albums, ‘IF YOURE READING THIS ITS TOO LATE’ is also a basic album cover, black and white with the title written messy and a little image of a pair of hands.

According to the research I have done, most hip-hop artists are seen to be male and a distinctive style they use for their album covers are basic.