The term ‘Rhythm & Blues’ emerged in the late 1940s as a marketing term to replace the problematic “race music” term, but has been performed since the late 1930s. It is a genre of music that is constantly changing and evolving with the help of new technologies.
R&B is an area of music that typically takes aspects from many other genres, including Blues, Jazz, Folk, and Gospel. This intersection of gospel and R&B can be traced back to its roots: a vision of upward mobility, fun, and hope held by African American youth in the 1960s. This became especially relevant when Motown Records popularized the R&B genre through its usage of multiple black styles of singing in the artists it represented on its label.