Shawn Stockman of legendary singing group Boyz II Men fired off several tweets saying R&B has “lost its identity.”
The talented tenor took to Twitter to express this sentiment and more of his thoughts on the current state of R&B music.
“R&B has lost [its] identity because it felt like it had to compete with the bravado of the hip hop world,” he tweeted on June 29. “Labels stopped supporting the perception of Black men being more than displaying a ‘thug image.'”
R&B has lost their identity because it felt like it had to compete with the bravado of the hip hop world. Because labels stopped supporting the perception of Black men being more than displaying a “thug image”.
— Shawn Stockman PhD (@shawnstockman) June 29, 2022
He also explained that it was “cool” to identify as an R&B artist at one point in time and that there was a “clear distinction” between singers and rappers.
“There was a time when it was [cool] to identify as an R&B singer,” he said. “It was [cool] that there was a clear distinction between a rapper and a singer, persona-wise. And it was respected. It wasn’t viewed as being “soft” to be smooth and to speak to ladies a certain way.”
There was a time when it was kool to identify as an R&B singer. It was kool that there was a clear distinction between a rapper and a singer, persona wise. And it was respected. It wasn’t viewed as being “soft” to be smooth and to speak to ladies a certain way.
— Shawn Stockman PhD (@shawnstockman) June 29, 2022
Stockton added that the love R&B artists get in general is “disproportionate.”
“Let me disclaim[:] my tweets are not to say there aren’t any great singers out there. There always have been great singers, but the love they get is disproportionate. So let’s do this: send me some artists y’all think are, and I’ll repost! I’ll go first.”
Let me disclaim, my tweets are not to say there aren’t any great singers out there. There always have been great singers, but the love they get is disproportionate. So let’s do this: send me some artists y’all think are
and I’ll repost! I’ll go first…
— Shawn Stockman PhD (@shawnstockman) June 29, 2022
On June 30, Stockman continued expressing his thoughts on the topic in another series of tweets and even challenged the new generation of R&B artists to just sing instead of walking around on stage.
“A mic and your voice. What u gon do?” Stockton asked.
A mic and your voice. What u gon do?
— Shawn Stockman PhD (@shawnstockman) June 30, 2022
His thoughts were speculated to have been motivated by the recent Verzuz competition between millennial R&B acts Omarion and Mario, which went down on June 23.
The 49-year-old rose to fame in the ’90s along with his fellow Boyz II Men group members, Wanya Morris, Michael McCary, and Nathan Morris. They released their debut song, “Motownphilly,” in 1991 and became the top-selling R&B group of all time.
