Beyonce, Ashanti and Usher

When people talk about the current embarrassing state of R&B, the usually refer to the 1990s as the golden era of the genre. However, many fail to mention the string of quality hits that dominated the airwaves at the turn of the century and the artists who undoubtedly made a serious impact on the music scene.

From 1996 to 2005, there were dozens of acts who put forward very impressive material and helped R&B music to seamless progress into the new millennium. In fact, many of their songs are ranked among the biggest hits of all time on the Billboard charts and still enjoy solid airplay, thus proving that they were far from forgettable.

This Way Back Wednesday piece is a bit different from previous instalments as each chosen song was selected to represent a different year and represents the changing trends in R&B over the chosen period. Watch the videos for them all in order below to see how the genre depicted growth:

Toni Braxton – “You’re Makin’ Me High” (1996)

Aaliyah – “One in a Million” (1997)

Next – “Too Close” (1998)

TLC – “No Scrubs” (1999)

Joe – “I Wanna Know” (2000)

R. Kelly – “Fiesta (Ft. Jay-Z)” (2001)

Ashanti – “Foolish” (2002)

Beyonce – “Crazy in Love (Ft. Jay-Z)” (2003)

Usher – “Yeah! (Ft. Ludacris & Lil Jon)” (2004)

Mariah Carey – “We Belong Together” (2005)

What really damaged R&B was the collapse of the US economy, illegal downloads and the rise of EDM in the late 2000s. Labels were no longer funding the in-studio bands and big budget productions artists needed to produce great music. Instead, it was cheaper and quicker to rely on computer-generated tracks that cut studio time in half. Additionally, major producers, including Pharrell and Timbaland, suddenly lost popularity because the average artists could not afford their rates.

On the bright side, R&B is suddenly experiencing a resurgence in popularity and the production value given to Dance/Pop acts is now being redirected to their Urban counterparts. Indeed, with hits such as Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” currently ruling the charts, the opportunity cost for labels to invest in the genre is gradually becoming more favourable.

Who had the R&B hit? Why was it better than the others? What song is missing from the list? Vote in the Way Back Wednesday poll and share your opinion!