In the past RnB legend and Hollywood leading man Tyrese Gibson became the first(and only mainstream) to speak about the prominence of Hip Hop influence on modern RnB music with the leaders of the new generation  Omarion,Trey Songz, August Alsina and Chris Brown either rapping on records or featuring rappers on a lot of their projects. When promoting his new and supposedly last solo album Black Rose- which is currently number 2 on the billboard chart, Tyrese stated  his slight displeasure yet being white proud that his album is the “only pure RnB album not featuring 15 rappers” and he’s without ‘any gimmicks”. Tyrese also challenged  his competitors such as Usher, C-Breezy and others to try and make a pure RnB album without any hip hop features. Mr. Gibson raises an interesting question which is do RnB artists  need rappers for shine these days? The Ideal answer to this question would no as RnB is a strong enough genre drapped in history which makes Hip-Hop seem like a baby yet today it is rare to see artists who do RnB receive shine unless their leading single features one of hip hops elite, which is the sad reality of the situation. The marriage of Hip Hop and RnB is essential to our culture- of course it has created  many timeless classics throughout the 90’s and 00’s yet Tyrese’s point shouldn’t be taken out of context he wants the marriage to continue but he wants the RnB to contribute to paying the bills without  the help of Hip Hop and it wants to stay together but keeps its independence .

Hip Hop is the biggest genre in the world at the moment to be entirely honest it is the so it is hardly surprising its big cousin is brought into the action but the RnB should be able to share the same stage yet not be overshadowed. Tyrese’s proposition isn’t impossible and unreasonable it just takes some of the biggest names to be brave and step out of their comfort zone. On a side note Tyrese’s new album is a spectacle and could be a amazing moment in history as well as a great way for Black Ty to bow out of the game- hopefully theres a TGT part two on the way.

Finally the state of RnB at the moment is in a good space commercially  as well as great music is being produced yet the art is slowly fading  but hopefully the newer artists and the old heads can breathe new life into the game.