...LP: In a sense. Rappers have always had that one song where they pour out their feelings to someone--Method Man has "Breakups 2 Makeups," Jay-Z has "Song Cry," Immortal Technique has "You Never Know." The culture has broadened enough to allow rappers to explore the dimensions of their relationships. At the same time, the constraints around R&B singers have also eroded. Generally, R&B has always been about seduction; but that ideal appears to have gone out the window.
BS: But what's going on in R&B still remains "seduction." It's just more often about alcohol and drugs and overtly taking advantage of girls. Now, wining and dining and backrubs have been replaced by blatant drinking and drugging. To me, that's just as nefarious, or maybe moreso, than a lot of what has been deemed objectionable over the years in hip-hop lyrics.
LP: Alcohol is the most effective date-rape drug out there. And that's everywhere--in college parties and house parties and on up to bottle service. So it's not necessarily endemic to R&B.
BS: But R&B singers are making songs about it now. Kinda sweet pop songs.
LP: But not all of R&B focuses on alcohol. I'm just not seeing this epidemic of Rape & Blues that you are. There's been a migration in what is considered acceptable behavior, though, and it's interesting when that behavior makes its way into the music.
BS: I just think this dynamic has become a significant part of what's mentioned in songs these days, but I see your point. It also isn't new. The O.G. "Rape & B" song is Dean Martin's "Baby, It's Cold Outside." But the thing about this phenomenon is that what legally constitutes rape is often exactly what's being sung about in these songs. And I don't think that listeners, or even the artists themselves, are aware that this is what's going on...
