Jermaine Dupri Believes Modern R&B Singers Can’t Compete With The ’90s

Jermaine Dupri says that a lack of churchgoing is causing modern R&B singers to pale in comparison to those of the 1990s. He explained his argument during a recent livestream on Instagram, using several icons of the genre as examples.

“Young Black youth of today do not go to church and they don’t have that church band grooming,” he said, before bringing up Bryan-Michael Cox and Jodeci. He continued: “So when you listen to that soul, the soul that you think is soul is an added piece of information. If you gone’ make these records, it’s hard to beat Jodeci when you don’t have that element. Anthony Hamiliton comes from the church. You not gone’ get that sh*t that’s in his voice, you ain’t just getting that from being on the internet.”

When Live Bitez shared the comments, many fans agreed with Dupri’s explanation. “Happy we got our kids in church and they are getting better with singing and their instruments,” one user wrote. Another added: “Agree! I was just jammin to Anthony Hamilton earlier, and that man sangs!” Check out his comments on the state of R&B below.

Elsewhere during the Instagram livestream, Dupri remarked that R. Kelly is the “R in R&B.” “I’m not here to talk about none of that bullsh*t that he’s involved with, but he is the R in R&B. Hands down,” he said. The state of R&B has been a hotly debated topic in recent years with Diddy, Tank, Aries Spears, Joe Budden, and many more making headlines for weighing in. Be on the lookout for further updates on Jermaine Dupri on HotNewHipHop.