Diddy played a role in introducing R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige and Faith Evans to the world. The Bad Boy Entertainment and Love Records founder also delved into the genre with his own latest body of work.
The Love Album: Off the Grid arrived on September 15. Diddy’s fifth studio LP featured appearances by R&B singers such as Blige, The-Dream, Summer Walker, The Weeknd, Jazmine Sullivan, Ty Dolla $ign, Kehlani, Coco Jones, John Legend and others.
In celebration of its release, Diddy hosted The Love Radio Takeover on Apple Music 1 last week. During the three-hour live broadcast, the man formerly known as Puff Daddy spoke about the state of R&B music.
“I wanted to work with different voices that I never had a chance to work with in R&B. I wanted to unify R&B because I believe that R&B is not getting the right lens,” said Diddy. He continued, “I want to tell you some Black people, we do look alike. I could dig that, but Hip-Hop and R&B are two different things.”
Diddy also added, “Baseball and soccer are not the same thing. So we do a disservice to the talent that’s trying to come up, the musicians, the infrastructure, the ecosystem of our African-American culture by pitting it up against Hip-Hop.”
In 2022, Diddy appeared ready to write R&B’s obituary. That August the Harlemite sent out a tweet that read, “Who killed R&B?” His post led to other recording artists, like R&B/pop superstar Usher, pushing back on the idea that Rhythm and Blues died.
Who killed R&B?
— LOVE (@Diddy) August 17, 2022
Fast forward a year later, Diddy now seems to believe R&B is alive and thriving. He spoke about how many of the musical contributors on The Love Album: Off the Grid assisted in moving that style of music into a new era.
“We’re coming with this album to make it clear that R&B is here. There’s an R&B resurgence and we all got together,” Diddy said on Apple Music 1. “This is not just my album. This is our album. Everybody that’s on the album from Summer Walker to Jazzy. Teyana Taylor, Babyface, John Legend and so many more.”