On the occasion of the second edition of the Flames, this Thursday live from the Théâtre du Châtelet, let’s return to our podcast “Minute Papillon! » on R&B. With rap or hip-hop, this genre of popular African-American music obtains new recognition with this ceremony. R&B has long been the subject of confusion, misunderstanding, and sometimes even contempt. This is what Rhoda Tchokokam, artistic director, photographer, critic and author of Sensitives, a history of French R&B (Audimat Editions, 2023).
From the Sensitive label to Aya Nakamura
A literary project born from a paradox: “R&B is a sister music to hip-hop, which emerged a few years after it, yet today there are no books on R&B. We are talking about forty years of history, the artists are present, they can tell this story, but there is an essential lack.”
From there, Rhoda Tchockokam conducts interviews and meets those who, in the 1990s, launched R&B in France. A generational dive that she tells in this podcast episode.
Diluted R&B
The author aims to understand what was missing for R&B to establish itself in the French musical landscape. Because if, at its beginnings in France, R&B struggled to obtain recognition, stuck between rap on one side, and French song “with text” on the other, it has since lost its essence to conform to standards imposed by labels.
Rhoda Tchokokam confides: “There is a type of R&B, “variety R&B”, which in my opinion arrived too early. It’s diluted music, emptied of the essential elements of the genre. But it pleases the French public. So the record companies understand that this is what you have to give. But for the vitality of the genre, for the maturity, it didn’t help.”
Seeing no inevitability, the author persists in finding vitality in the genre. “There are still artists who claim an R&B heritage, like Aya Nakamura or Dadju. And then there are also very clearly R&B artists like Enchanted Julia “. An analysis that she concludes, full of optimism: “The scene is not dead and for me it is being reborn, very slowly of course, from its ashes! “. Enjoy listening to this episode, above and on all listening apps, like Apple Podcast And Spotify.