"Hip-hop, as it was then known, was a product of pure streetwise ingenuity; extracting rhythms and melodies from existing records and mixing them up with searing poetry chronicling life in the 'hood, hip-hop spilled out of the ghetto." (Blow, Kurtis) There are many versions of how the movement really started and many of the legends still battle of truth today some fifteen to twenty years later
Clearly, such music cannot be made without the use of instruments, and though the instruments used in rhythm and blues vary widely from artist to artist, several have made a predominant mark in the genre's entirety. Author Ryan Jerving notes, "the most common types of instruments used in this type of music are drums, bass, piano, and guitar, with a horn section often featuring saxophones, trumpets and sometimes trombones" (Jerving 650)
In viewing rhythm and blues as a genre with distinct cultural implications as well, one must understand certain key terminology that has stayed with the genre over the years. Rhythm and blues is a genre that has long acted as a melting pot for other genres, and has been often referred to as a "super-genre" due to its stylistic inclusion of other forms of popular music such as religious, soul, ragtime, jazz, country, gospel, and rock and roll (Lee 12)
American Musical Genres: Rhythm and Blues Rhythm and Blues, or R&B, is an American musical genre largely attributed to the African-American community. Originating in the 1940s, the term was first used by record companies to describe recordings "marketed predominantly to urban African-Americans," at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz-based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming increasingly popular (Palmer 5)
R&B encapsulates music from artists with such a wide range as Johnny Lee Hooker, Ray Charles, James Brown, Earth, Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Public Enemy, and Usher. As author Richard Ripani notes, "R&B has not only retained its traditional core styles, but has also experienced a 're-Africanization' over time," which allows so many varying artists to become a part of the collective (Ripani 17)