What is the difference between R&B and Hip Hop, and what are some (most famous) examples of these and areas of overlap?

Question

I'm a bit shy to post here...

I listen to a lot of music, many times I might know the name of the singer, our band, but most of the time I don't even know what style I am listening to. It may even bee that there exist a multitude of styles, every singer is unique. Perhaps narrowing down music to a narrow "style" definition can lead to approximate nonsense at the very best. I may be wrong, perhaps there is done scope to defining what type of music done songs belong to, but done of these names may be very broad. How can you account to the uniqueness of ogres voice and the variety of musical instruments our mixers and backgrounds that may accompany. But I am going to try to ask anyways.

This is my first question about something I know very little about: music styles.

I wonder whether someone could kindly explain to me the difference between R&B (rhythm and blues), and Hip Hop. I'm trying to grasp the difference.

Is it possible to mix these two styles? What would result? Can someone give me some examples?

Thanks.

Answer 1

R&B (Rhythm & Blues) is the generic name used in the United States for black-oriented music on the record charts. The same term has been used continuously since the 1940's so it has encompassed a wide variety of very disparate styles. It has generally paralleled what are called rock or pop on the white-oriented pop charts.

Hip Hop is a black-dominated cultural movement dating back to 1980's New York City. The musical genre associated with Hip Hop is variously called hip-hop or rap. It is generally NOT subsumed under the R&B category because of its distinct genre differences. In particular, hip-hop music features long-form spoken-word poem/songs called "raps" over repetitive, rhythmic backing tracks (typically produced with looped samples).

Since the mid 90's various hybrids of hip-hop and R&B have been popular. Singer Mary J. Blige became a superstar when she teamed up with hip hop producer Puff Daddy to create a sound dubbed "Hip Hop Soul." A few years later the popularity of Fantasy Remix by Mariah Carey, featuring Old Dirty Bastard, which layers a rap on top of an R&B song already featuring samples, launched an unabating craze for hip-hop artists and R&B artists guesting on each other's songs.

Answer 2

I believe that R&B is rapping with melody to it, whereas rapping in hip hop doesn't include melody and harmony