Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, ESSENCE editor Rivéa Ruff reports on the blending of hip-hop and R&B. Since the ...

From MPCs to FL Studio sessions, one thing remains consistent across generations of Hip Hop and R&B: The power of the sample. With that said, few eras have been mined more heavily than the 1980s. With ...

Jon B opened up about working with Nas on “Finer Things,” his Hip-Hop influences, and why his new album Waiting on You proves he’s far from finished. “They got Jon B here to see you,” he remembered ...

These days, it feels like TV shows barely have time for a theme song before jumping into the action—sometimes it’s just a quick title card and a few seconds of music, or it's simply nonexistent. But ...

On this day in 2009, Jay-Z launched his single “On to the Next One” from his album The Blueprint 3. It entered both Billboard ...