Does Race Determine The Genre Of An Artist?

Contributed Anonymously:

I just wanted to make my opinion about this question I thought of to myself: Why aren’t some black artists considered pop? Why aren’t some white artists considered R&B? Is it because they’re white that they’re called pop artists? And vice versa for black artists. Well this is my view, so please listen. First of all, I personally don’t think that just because say…Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake are white, that they’re called pop artists…and that people like Beyonce are considered R&B because she’s black. I just think it’s kind of a silly idea, and it’s just making things way more complicated than what it is.

First of all, I think it’s the music, not the race or color that makes people call that person pop or that person R&B I think it’s fair to say that the reason why Beyonce is considered R&B is because her music for the most part is R&B. I don’t see why her being black should give this notion that she’s called R&B because of her color. Just because some tracks may sound like pop doesn’t mean that she should be called a pop artist. And as for Christina, just because she’s white doesn’t mean she’s considered pop. I mean c’mon, her MUSIC is pure pop, from the beginning she did pop, its just more soulful and depth than the pop music of Britney. And yeah, it has some R&B in it, but that doesn’t mean that she has to be called an R&B artist. It’s really no different than hearing Madonna rap on American Life. Yeah, she’s rapping, does that mean its time that we should call her a rap star? Um, heck no.

You can’t get mad at the title of an artist if that’s what they have mainly traveled through their music for most of their careers. Like for instance Justin, he’s considered pop, even though his music sounds R&B. Well, that’s because his MUSIC is still pop. And Nelly, he hooked up with Tim McGraw and did a duet with him, and the whole song sounds more country than R&B or rap. Does that mean he should be called country? Does him being black mean that he’s automatically going to be called R&B?

I mean c’mon, look at Eminem. He does rap music; does his color automatically make him pop? No. It’s all about the music people. If Beyonce did country and nothing but country, then she would be called a country artist, regardless if she were black, white, blue, whatever. Or Christina, if she did rap and only rap, then she would be called a rap artist. The color doesn’t change things, the music does. Beyonce has always done R&B music, her music doesn’t even sound like the music of Britney, Christina, Jessica Simpson, etc. And Christina and Justin, they came out with pop music, and to this day it is pop music. The R&B influences doesn’t change that, majority of pop music anyways have R&B in it. If that were the case, then most artists might as well be called R&B if they have an R&B hook in their songs. so all in all, if you think Christina is called pop because she’s white and Beyonce is called R*B because she’s black, well, then you are looking at things way too seriously.

It’s quite simple: if an artist has released nothing but pop MUSIC, then they’re called pop artists, and if the artist releases R&B MUSIC, then they’re called R&B artists. Race has nothing to do with it, the music does, end of story, goodnight y’awl.