rhythm and blues

Also rhythm-and-blues

[rith-uhm uhn blooz]

noun

1. a folk-based but urbanized form of Black popular music that is marked by strong, repetitious rhythms and simple melodies and was developed, in a commercialized form, into rock-'n'-roll.

rhythm and blues

noun

1. R B. (functioning as singular) any of various kinds of popular music derived from or influenced by the blues

Word History and Origins

Origin of rhythm and blues¹

An Americanism dating back to 1945–50

Example Sentences

But Brown Sugar's more laid-back sound blended rhythm and blues with crisp hip-hop beats, jazz and funk, differentiating it from the more pop-skewing R&B dominating radio at the time.

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“We were originally a rhythm and blues band, wearing blue suits and singing about people and problems in the Deep South,” Hayward recalled in an interview with The Times in 1990.

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In his coinage, plastic soul referred to the band’s penchant for transforming musical forms — often American rhythm and blues — into their own image, retaining their fundamental qualities in the process of making them their own.

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“It’s become my church, my gym and my therapist,” she said, as pulsing rhythm and blues played from a portable speaker inside the large sorting room.

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A classically trained musician, Flack ushered in an enduring style of rhythm and blues with her early classics that she often described as “scientific soul” — a blend of talent, taste and endless practice.

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