""Any non-Black person that makes anything that can be deemed remotely soulful or R&B or however you want to say it... historically will always be praised and uplifted much more than people who are actually Black and make R&B music," she said. "Even outside of music, the idea of white mediocrity will always prevail. It just has inherently been more celebrated because it is more palatable.""
""Every single one of my most important inspirations are Black men and women who are in R&B, or in rock music, or any fucking genre. So there will always be influences of those artists," she continued, adding that R&B is one of the best music genres and will always be a part of her influences," she said."
""I would never consider an album of mine at any point to be R&B because in my opinion, R&B is just tied to something much more culturally significant than me.""
Renée Rapp is touring in support of her second studio album Bite Me. Fans have urged a distinctly R&B release, especially after a Live Lounge cover of SZA's "Good Days." Ranging vocal ability and respect for R&B fueled the calls for the genre. Rapp resists the R&B label, citing historical and cultural dynamics where non-Black artists making soulful music are praised more than Black R&B musicians. Rapp names Black men and women across R&B and rock as core inspirations and affirms that R&B will remain an influence while declining to claim an R&B album label.
Read at BuzzFeed
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