R and B
- noun
- /ɑr ənd bi/
:
rhythm and blues
- "Cadillac Car" is number eight on the R and B charts... and number ninety-eight on the pop charts.
Examples
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Perhaps this is why the K-pop sound is much more US-influenced than J-pop, particularly with K-pop's predilection for R and B, hip-hop, and rap.
Blog text (33) -
It's gonna be bigger than R and B and rock and roll put together!
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Miracles happen all the time in the world of R and B, baby.
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- Soul, gospel, R and B, jazz, blues everything else that the man has grabbed from us.
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The forty-three-year-old R and B singer... was recently released from his contract at Rainbow Records.
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She had the number one single... on the R and B charts, but the white stations wouldn't play it because to them, it was just another race record.
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Many artists in the music industry are influenced by R and B styles that originated in the early 20th century.
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The song climbed to the top of the R and B charts, showcasing a blend of jazz and blues.
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She loves listening to R and B because it combines rich melodies with heartfelt lyrics.
Synonyms
13
3.0
Popular American music that mixes blues and jazz sounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
The item is an initialism (R and B / R&B) for 'rhythm and blues' and its meaning as a music genre cannot be derived from the literal constituents 'R', 'and', and 'B'. Knowledge of single letters and the conjunction does not signal the underlying phrase or cultural category, so the expression is conventionalized and unpredictable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
R and B comes from the phrase rhythm and blues, a name music companies used in the 1940s for songs with a strong 'beat', the rhythm, and the sad, emotional sound of the blues. That's why R and B now means a popular music style that mixes strong beats and deep feeling.