The 'I Need a Girl' hitmaker and the music record producer are getting into a heated argument about the state of RnB music during an Instagram Live session.
- Aug 19, 2022
AceShowbiz - Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Timbaland have different opinions about the state of R&B. The "I Need a Girl" rapper and the music record producer have gotten into a heated argument about whether R&B is dead.
"R&B is muthaf**kin' dead as of right now," Diddy said matter-of-factly during an Instagram Live session on Wednesday night, August 17. "The R&B I made my babies to? R&B gotta be judged to a certain thing. It's the feeling though, doggy. No, no, no. It's a feeling. You gotta be able to sing for R&B and then you gotta tell the truth. R&B is not a hustle. This s**t is about feeling your vulnerability."
Explaining more, Diddy said, "You gotta muthaf**kin make a n***a d**k hard or a woman's vagina wet. You gotta cry. You gotta be able to get your girl back. I don't wanna hear all this bulls**t." The 52-year-old musician added, "It's our fault for accepting anything less for anybody getting on a mic. I feel like there was a death of R&B singing, and I'm a part of bringing that s**t back! I ain't feelin' no emotions."
As Timbaland attempted to explain he was looking at it from a producer's side, Diddy asked him to name five R&B artists who could sing without Autotune. Timbo seemed stumped and tried to remember the names of some of them. Diddy quickly hopped in, "R&B don't sound too alive. You don't even know anybody's name."
Earlier that day, Diddy asked his followers on Instagram and Twitter, "Who killed R&B?" A few hours later, he returned to his social media accounts to post another question about how they defined the genre.
Aside from Timbaland, Mary J. Blige discussed the matter with Diddy on a livestream. Trying her best to answer his question, the "Family Affair" hitmaker said, "You can't kill something that's in our DNA." The 51-year-old star continued, "It's gonna keep transitioning from generation to generation to generation to generation. They was trying to kill it."
Mary then accused Adele and Justin Timberlake of killing R&B as saying, "They wanna call it 'Popular Music' with Adele and Justin Timberlake get ahold to it, so now it's 'Popular Music.' " The "Be Without You" hitmaker further stressed, "But it's been popular music! We've been had it!"
Mary also named herself and several of her peers like Chaka Khan, Etta James, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Jazmine Sullivan and SWV, stating once again that these artists' talents, and those like them, can't be "killed." She also encouraged people not to complain about radio stations and their lack of R&B support, because she deemed that as sheep behavior that also contributed to the demise of the genre. "Be a shepherd," she pointed out.
