If McKnight, who has spent two decades penning sensitive love songs, felt he had to address sex in such a crude way to remain relevant, what does that mean for the rest of R&B? At the recent Grammy Awards, black artists who sang traditional R&B were nonexistent. British singer Adele, who’s sold tens of millions of records since her 2008 debut (and is the top-selling female singer of the last decade) was R&B’s best representative on the female side, while newbies like multi-nominee Frank Ocean, Miguel and Bruno Mars held down the R&B fort for the males. It’s not that anything is wrong with them – though Ocean, the darling of the hipster set doesn’t exactly seem to be resonating with the masses – the days of R&B dominance seem to be as antiquated as doo-wop.
