R&B

(picture credits: http://www.urbanz-teamz.com/datas/contemporary-rb-us/)

In the previous lecture, I have learned about how Rhythm and Blues (R&B) is being developed. When I first heard about R&B in the class, I thought we were going to be talking about contemporary R&B, which is the most common and popular type of R&B now. Has contemporary R&B now become so well-known that people has forgotten its roots? 

R&B music was also performed almost exclusively by black artistes to black audiences initially. If this was the case, what made R&B music popular among the whites? Since R&B is still popular now, what are the influences that it have on other music genres?