Mapile 1

Ranica Mapile
English 115
Professor Lawson
12 December 2014
Research paper: Rough draft
Word Count: 1,846
Where is the love?
Where is the love we used to see in R&B Music before the 2000s, and how has that love
changed with the music we are accessed to today? R&B has made its mark in the music industry,
starting from the Early 70s to the 2000s and is still continuing on today. The earlier generations
of R&B music come from the likes of Marvin Gaye while the present generations include the
works of Trey Songz and Chris Brown. Has the depiction of love in R&B music changed
throughout the years? If so, was the change for the better or for the worse? As the R&B music
industry continues to strive on, the love and romance begins to fade. There are many who argue
that its only gotten better, but I can only stay true to myself and believe that R&B has took a
turn for the worse in terms of love and how its expressed today.
To start, what exactly is R&B and what does it have to do with love? When R&B music
started off, the acronym plainly meant, rhythm and blues. It was a way for the artists to sing
about love and romance. The blues aspect of it is a sound thats shot through with all sorts of
uncomfortable emotions: yearning, jealousy, guilt (Hawking). It was a story told that many
people could relate to or even just understand. In dictionary terms, love means to have tender,
passionate and deep affection for another person. Its something that is felt and simply cannot be
just explained in words, but shown in actions. Since love is a strong feeling thats hard to

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explain, many artists have created a unique symphony that would guide their emotions into the
hearts of the ones they love. This, then ultimately led to the phenomena known as R&B.
What does it mean when love becomes lost in translation? Well, first love is a very
powerful word and an extremely sensitive subject to discuss. Love that is expressed today can be
terribly loss in translation due to the lack of knowledge of what love actually is and what is being
taught to the current generation through the music we are exposed to today. Comparing the
musicality of R&B music form the 70s to the 90s and the music we have today, its no secret as
to how much it has evolved. Now you have many R&B artists going outside the box of the
classical R&B age and making music that doesnt really conform to the original works of R&B
music from the 70s to the 90s (Denzel). They have now developed a new sound and a new
meaning of love. The music is more upbeat and uses some catchy rhythm and the depiction of
love has taken a more sexual approach, which ultimately drops the romantic love level to an alltime low.
The tenderness of ones emotions in some of the classic R&B songs has gotten people to
turn up their volume and really tune into what the song is portraying. Many of these R&B artists
focused on the true meaning of love and how valuable ones love was. Each song showed how a
man was to cherish each moment with the one they love by showing them a little T.L.C, tender,
love, and care. Unfortunately, this isnt depicted in the present generation. Songs on today's
urban radio playlists are drained of romance, tenderness and seduction (Blake). Most songs that
are out today have lost its feel to the emotions we used to witness with the ones we love.
Todays music is focused on how valuable and essential a great sex life is to have rather than
how essential love was to your lives. There is little to no sign of any tenderness and romance
used in many songs today.

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Not all artists we listen to today started off with a more sexual approach to what love is.
Just take a look at Trey Songz. Trey Songz, an R&B artist and sex icon is one of many artist that
takes a more sexual approach to his music, but his music hasnt always been that way. In one of
his older songs called Cant help but wait, he talks about the agony of waiting for a woman
who is sticking to a relationship that is unhealthy and cant seem to get away from it. All he can
really do now is be patient and continue on to do his job and try to make her see what she is
really worth. This song he kept true to the classics of R&B while adding a new catchier beat to
compliment it. If you compare that to one of his newer songs Cake off his Trigga album, he is
talking about him wanting to have sexual relations with a woman even though he is in a
relationship with someone else. He goes on and uses the word cake as a metaphor for a womans
behind and says he wants to eat it before he can have it [intercourse]. In this particular song
along with many of his other songs, he has brought upon a new catchy beat while at the same
time, changes what love really is and focuses more on the sexual aspect of love; the lust factor.
Marvin Gaye is a talented singer that was very famous for his many hit songs, which
included lets Get it On. This song was sexually explicit, but it didnt remove the romance and
wooing of a woman. In one verse of his song he says, Dont you know how sweet and
wonderful life can be, ooh ooh. Im asking you baby to get it on with me, ooh ooh ooh. I am not
going to worry, I am not going to push, wont push you baby. He means that he is going to win
her over by his charm and not forcing her into anything. Hes definitely intact with his romantic
side and is using it to win her over. In contrast, a song called No Bulls**t by Chris Brown, he
sings about inviting a woman over to his place at 3 in the morning because you know Im
horny (Blake). The romance level between Gaye and Brown is quite different. It is true that they
both speak on sexual terms with their partner, but Marvin Gaye was more about romance and

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seducing a woman, whereas in this particular song by Chris Brown, he simply wanted to have
sex because he was horny and in the mood.
Helen Fisher is an anthropologist who is best known as the expert of romantic love,
which was given to her when she studied the evolution of human love. In one of her well thought
out lectures, she took on a more psychology approach to love. She explained it in terms of each
part of the brain that is associated with lust, love, and attachment. According to Fisher, she states
that if you are sleeping with someone casually and it doesnt mean much, you wouldnt care if
they are sleeping with someone else. Looking back at Chris Browns entire song, there was a
realization that he wanted to have sexual relations with a woman he hadnt planned on being
with full term. In his song, Brown suggests that all he wanted from this woman was sex and
nothing other than that. Marvin Gaye, on the other hand suggests that although he wanted to have
sex with this woman, he wants to keep her with him for the long term. It was something he
craved always, not just what he wanted for one night. This was an intense craving to be with a
particular person, not just sexually, but emotionally (Fisher). He wanted this woman for as long
as he could have her, whether she was fully clothed or not.
Of course, not everyone will agree to my statement as they believe that the music genre
has only gotten better and appeals to the more upbeat and rather current generation. The meaning
of love hasnt changed but the way they look at R&Bs musicality sure has. Its only the new
sound of the genre that has really changed. Some believe that changing the sound of R&B music
will ultimately bind together the many different cultures and societies with the new sound
combined with the old tunes weve grown to love (Hawking). These people still choose to see
what good is left in the R&B music we have today and how well it has dispersed throughout the
world and brought many of us together. In addition, they may also be drawn to the R&B music

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we have today because it is more upbeat and catchy and how appealing it is to the younger crowd
in our generation.
Yes, it is true that the music has brought together a widespread of people through its new
and profound beat, but the love that is expressed is nowhere near profound. According to Tom
Hawking, he says, The ability to invest a song with real emotion has been replaced by the
ability to invest a single syllable with as many notes as possible in the pursuit of some sort of
hand-wringing meaning thats ultimately both contrived and hollow. In a much simpler look, he
is saying that the emotion that used to be expressed in music has been replaced by a new sound
and explicit lyrics that show a new take on what love is, though it quite hollow and dense. He
continues on by saying the genuine feel of love has slipped further and further to the point where
its not in arms reach. All that matters now is that you have a funky beat and the sex appeal that
brings the song through the roof.
What started off as an outlet of emotions and feelings about love, R&B has taken a new
turn to the love being expressed in the music we listen to in our current generation. Love has
been lost in meaning in the music we expose ourselves to and has found its new meaning in
terms of sex. At the same time that R&B music has changed and improved its sound, it has also
altered the meaning and use of love throughout the years. From classics of Marvin Gaye to the
new and improved R&B songs of Chris Brown and Trey Songz, the romantic love level has
greatly depleted. Some may say its only gotten better, but as for my opinion, I strongly believe
R&B music has changed dramatically and forever changed the meaning of love and romance
because of the music we are exposed to today. As for love being totally forgotten, I am unsure.
Love has and always has been a strong word and subject to discuss and elaborate on, therefore
making it harder to fully understand and even harder to be included in many R&B songs today

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especially with the many different depictions of what love really is, and on that note until I can
find the complete answer, I will continue to ask, where is the love?

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Works Cited
Denzel, Rashaad. The Baby-Making Music Is Gone: Has Classic R&B Disappeared? Elite
Daily. Elite Daily, 9 Oct. 2013.
Hawking, Tom. Why I Cant Stop Worrying and Learn to Love R&B. Flavor Wire. Flavor
Wire, 21 Aug. 2012.
Fisher, Helen. Why we love, why we cheat. PsycEXTRA Dataset. Feb 2006. Lecture.
Blake, John. Where is the Love in R&B Music? CNN. CNN, 3 Dec. 2011.
Gaye, Marvin. Lets Get it On. Tenor and a three-octave vocal range singer. Motown Records,
1973. CD
Songz, Trey. Cant help but wait. R&B music singer. Atlantic Records, 2007. CD.
Songz, Trey. Cake. R&B music artist. Songbook and Atlantic Records, 2014. CD.
Brown, Chris. No Bulls**t. R&B singer from Virginia. Jive Records, 2011. CD.