El R&B o Rhythm and Blues es un género musical afroamericano que se originó en la década de 1940, fusionando elementos del blues, el jazz y el gospel. En sus inicios, el R&B era conocido como "race music" (música de raza) y estaba dirigido principalmente a la audiencia afroamericana.
El R&B se caracteriza por la presencia de una sección rítmica que incluye batería, bajo y guitarra, junto con voces expresivas y emotivas. Las letras a menudo abordan temas de amor, relaciones, dolor y cuestiones sociales.
En la década de 1950, el R&B se popularizó a nivel mundial con artistas como Ray Charles, Sam Cooke y Etta James. En los años 60, evolucionó hacia el soul con figuras como Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding y James Brown. Finalmente, en las décadas de 1980 y 1990, el R&B se fusionó con el hip hop y se convirtió en un género altamente influyente en la música comercial, con nombres como Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston y Mariah Carey.
Hoy en día, el R&B sigue siendo un género musical popular y ha dado lugar a subgéneros como el neo soul y el trap soul.
Chrisette Michele Payne (nacida en 1985 en New York), conocida profesionalmente como Chrisette Michele, es una cantante R&B Americana . Ella ha colaborado en álbums de populares hiphoperos, como Kingdom Come de Jay-Z y Hip Hop is Dead de Nas. El año 2007 lanzó su disco debut, titulado I Am. El disco generó críticas excelentes por parte de la prensa especializada, adicionalmente recibió nominaciones a los Grammy's 2008.
[Chrisette Michele]
Oh American citizen, come collect your freedom
No matter what your living in
No more giving in
Oh American citizen, come collect your freedom
No matter what you're living in
It's time to win
Keep us in the four walls of our childrens will be quiet
Most of us aint even democratic or Republic
Can, and by coincidence we love the elected until the detected of being human
American falls, minorities lose war
But if we unite we would have won the war
On poverty
On drugs
On medicated
On love
Freedom isn't given it is taken
Freedom isn't free it's earned
Not, no, it's learned
Been hung and burned,
Yet rest in peace, resurrected plea
This aint black or white, it's grey
This is not about my face
Most of us don't know what to say
Right from wrong, I'm free from slaves
Let freedom reign
Do you wanna be free or do you wanna be
I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be
Free,
Let freedom Reign
[repeated]
[Talib Kweli]
America the beautiful
Suspect as usual
Liberty and death give me freedom on my funeral
I walk across the planet with the steps of a giant
My rhymes bridge the gap between religion and science
Cause my evidence is spiritual
I know my sheer presence is a miracle
I wasn't supposed to be here to share with you
But here I am, standing with my chest out
I take my place in history I never get left out
You stressed out and scared so it's causing you to act hard
Freedom aint free, gotta put it on my black card
My passport claim I'm an American citizen
The constitution said I'm three fifths
I'm not a semi and gorrilla
Make my songs stronger than the horn of Gideon
Truth is the ? gave the native people syphillis
Consider this: Christopher Columbus ain't know where he was goin'
So lets stop calling our Native brothers Indians
[Chorus]
[Black Thought]
We were carried here in shackles from the homelands
? chop, chain locked, brain washed, programmed
Time's change, freedom reigns, I'm a grown man
Holding the future in the palms of my own hands
In this World, the coonery and tomfoolery
All I'm trying to do is stay true to my community
The daily news aint the only thing that's schooling me
Watching these haters operating with impunity
This journey dollar signs, black and white collar crimes
Running out of time, out of sight, out of mind
It gets realer and it's real in Palestine
Troubles of the World start to seem intertwined
War criminals, conflict minerals, pillagers are coming home
And five star generals telling lies in press conferences and interviews
I'm trying to take back the power cause it's been abused
[Chorus]
[Chrisette Michele]
I'm just black in America
I'm not afro american
Just a passive american
Making belief I'm better than
What we've been, what we've been
I said
I'm just black in America
I'm not afro american
Just a passive american
Making belief I'm better than
What we've been, what we've been