RnB

Good question, Paul.

It hooks into a much wider discussion on genre designation in general.

If you take the top 20 most popular online places for buying tracks and you were to, randomly, select 20 tracks that are available on all 20 platforms, there is a very big chance that you will find one or more different genres per track!

Add the fact that some remixes seem to change the genre (I have seen tracks with more than 10 remixes spread over 5 different genres on one single site!) and it renders the whole genre thing useless.

As Phil talks about in his Masterclass, genres to a DJ should be something that works for YOU. Your definitions count, not those of others and those definitions are highly dependent on the kind of DJ you are. If you are a house DJ you will have a couple of distinctions (genres) that make sense to you. If you are a mobile DJ you may have just one genre “house” for everything that fits YOUR description of house.

Genres, imho, are only there to help the selection process. At some point in your gig you think I’d like to play a <fill in genre> track. So, you need tracks to come up in your search that match (again) YOUR description of that genre.

I have been in the situation that people come up asking for a track in a certain genre. I played something that either I thought was in that genre or that was branded in that genre when I bought it. Only to find out it wasn’t what they ment.

To tackle that, when someone comes with a non-specific request (i.e. no artist & title) like “play some good RnB”, I will counter by asking them what their current favorites are by name and title. I can then search my collection and see what’s in there. Once I found a track that they asked for, the genre I attached to it will then let me find music that I think are compatible in style.

I am not big on RnB (provided we have the same definition of RnB to begin with), so can’t help you with a top 5 of RnB tracks.

The definition according to Wikipedia:

Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance.

Contemporary R&B has a polished record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel (mostly common in contemporary R&B songs prior to the year 1995) and a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Electronic influences are becoming an increasing trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip hop may be reduced and smoothed out. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by vocalists such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder,[1] Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

Found several sites that claim “best R&B tracks ever lists/charts”. Couldn’t immediately determine common denominators, but it’s a place to start looking. Or Beatport monthly charts for R&B (on BP Pro it’s Funk/R&B by the way).