September 03, 2022
Tank has once again spoken out about the current state of R&B, which remains a hot topic of discussion since Diddy’s recent proclamation that the genre is dead.
The veteran singer released his 10th studio album, R&B Money, last month, and to celebrate its release he spoke as a guest at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles as part of The Drop conversation series.
He described his new 17-track album as “an uninterrupted sex tape,” and explained the title derives from wanting to bring back the “expensive part of R&B that’s missing, the emotional and spiritual connection.”
“We gotta get back to the expensive part of our music,” he said (via Variety). “The priceless, which we like to call R&B money. That’s where the money is. The money is a byproduct of helping people create those experiences and wanting to continue to experience that. They’ll buy into it if it feels good, if it connects.”
Later during the Q&A, one audience member asked Tank about Diddy’s controversial comments and whether R&B was in fact dead. The conversation then shifted to the lack of money being spent on R&B by record labels.
“Record labels are in this to make money,” Tank said. “Radio conglomerates are in this to make money. Venues are in this to make money. A rap record that was made for $2,500 in somebody’s basement sold a million copies. An R&B record made in the biggest studio in the world, had already spent $1.2 million, sold the same one million records.”
He added: “As rap takes over, all of a sudden melodic rap sneaks in. Now, people would rather hear rappers singing bad than singers singing good.”
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