RnB Music

Daniel Williams

The Genre

• RnB is a genre of popular African-American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular.

Famous Artists

• Famous artists include…• Aaliyah• Mary J.Blige• James Brown• Missy Elliot• R. Kelly• Ne-Yo• Rita Ora• Sean Paul• Quincy Jones• Rihanna• Justin Timberlake• Usher • Pharrell Williams

Conventions of music videos

• MALES• Jewellery- typical jewellery includes watches, chains and earrings; almost a status

symbol of wealth in relation to other artists. However, hip hop artists are more likely to wear a lot more jewellery.

• No t-shirt- a lot of male artists under this genre tend to wear very little clothing, because of the target market of teenage girls.

• Tattoos- a lot of male artists will be seen with many tattoos, mainly on their chests or arms.

• WOMEN• Minimal clothing- many artists wear hardly any clothing in their videos; one to

appeal to a male audience and too also be presented as objects of desire. • Hair and make-up- hair tends to be much styled, while make-up tends to be bold

and defined, as this is very dramatic and eye catching for audiences. To show power, some may wear red lipstick in videos.

• High heels- many choose to wear heels to show off their legs, again appealing to a male audience.

Music videos over time

• The 80’s- videos were largely performance based and contained a lot of dance routines. In terms of costume, they were more formal.

• The 90’s- costumes began to change with artists wearing more casual clothing. Cinematography also changed; with more close ups, as well as songs becoming slower and more emotive.

• The 00’s- videos now started to feature male artists topless and women wearing not a lot of clothing. This made videos more sexual and material based.