The hitmaking singer reminds Diddy that he’s a “beneficiary” of R&B. “There would be no Hip Hop if there were not R&B,” said Usher.
In his recent chat with Bevy Smith, Usher touched on the hot topic and joined the ranks of those who don’t believe R&B has breathed its final breath.

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“When I hear people say stuff like ‘What happened to R&B?’ or ‘R&B is dead’…it’s not. You just don’t understand the basis of it. Matter fact, maybe I need a reminder, an understanding of what it is. How can something come out 20-some-odd years ago, and then all of a sudden have a resurgence in a way that people just wanna talk about it, sing it, enjoy it? That’s because it’s classic. That’s ‘Superstar.’ That’s R&B.”
“That’s what R&B is. R&B is timeless, it ain’t gonna go away,” Usher continued. “So, when I do hear people, even like Puff saying ‘R&B is dead,’ he sounds nuts to me. It sounds crazy, you know, especially knowing he was a pioneer in understanding and beneficiary of it. You know, the source that is R&B created the breath of life that was breathed into Hip Hop.”
“There wouldn’t be—there would be no Hip Hop if there were not R&B. So it’s blasphemous to hear people say anything—especially Hip Hop cats—to say anything about R&B. It’s like, nah, it’s been there. It’s gon’ stay there.”
Listen to Usher with Bevy Smith below.