Hip-hop has had a significant influence on various musical genres. R&B, in particular, was the most influenced to need a subgenre. The key difference was that the subgenre was rough and contained less of an R&B influence.
Pop and R&B singers, including Mariah Carey and Destiny’s Child, appropriated hip-hop to engage with younger, urban audiences, creating a subgenre called “hip-hop soul.” This genre features hip-hop offbeats, layered with vocals that were sung in the style of soul music; the lyrics, however, integrated street slang and adult themes.
Sass characterizes soul hip-hop styling. These hitherto mainstream singers sported tattoos, clad in leather, and wore defiant looks in the vein of hip-hop artists. Pop singers, reluctant to change their image, began collaborating with a rapper to remix one of his tracks and incorporated the remix into their albums. These remixes were labeled as singles and allowed the singers to retain their signature styles.
These remixed tracks soon caught on, and hip-hop soul crossed racial divides, gaining mainstream recognition for its artists. Veteran R&B artists also generated interest among young and contemporary audiences through their association with hip-hop. Patti LaBelle has performed with Outkast; Chaka Khan gave Kanye West permission to remix his tracks. By joining forces with hip-hop artists, R&B singers came to a new age group.
Soul hip-hop is considered more mature than contemporary R&B and is aimed at an adult audience. This is mainly due to the genre’s focus on the seedier aspects of life; Hip-hop soul singers also use adult language and themes, which has led to censorship from people who feel that the hip-hop-like genre of music glorifies negative stereotypes.
Although hip-hop soul experienced a dull period with the rise of Neo Soul, another R&B subgenre in the late ’90s, it is now experiencing a surge in popularity due to singers like Jaheim, Amerie, Keyshia Cole, and Anthony Hamilton.