There is an inordinate amount of projecting going on when it comes to President-elect Barack Obama's influence on music and arts in general. It seems as though he's expected to single-handedly usher in the rebirth of traditionally black music, starting with making Hip Hop clean up its filthy mouth and pull up its pants. After that? Maybe warming up R&B's frigid, broken heart.
Michelle and Barack are so obviously in love it's actually helping me
to believe in love again. This is no small feat considering that I
basically grew up on what Baltimore Sun writer Rashod D.
Ollison calls the "keloid-scarred, hoot-rat [R&B] classics [of] the
early '90s" in his article "Romance Could Be Catching." According to
Ollison, the R&B of that period by artists like Mary J. Blige and
Bell Biv Devoe marked the end of things like tenderness and
vulnerability in the genre. Hip Hop slowly hardened R&B's softer
side and now the majority of contemporary R&B is devoid of the
capacity to positively promote real love between two people who view
each one another as equals, and not devolve into a battle of the sexes.
Is love in R&B lost on those of us who were brainwashed against
pure love during the 90s? In step the future First Lady and her
President-Elect.
The visibility of a powerful couple not only has the potential to inspire
contemporary R&B but also the potential to influence songwriters to
explore this dynamic, suggests Ollison-- something that was once a
staple of the R&B of the '60s and '70s. A love renaissance of this
type would be refreshing in R&B, but is a lot to expect of one
couple. Especially since so many hopes are pinned on them both. What
are your thoughts? Is this too much to expect of Barack and Michelle?
Is R&B as loveless as this article makes it seem?
Romance Could Be Catching [BS]
