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b'Long Time critics have felt the label urban contemporary \\u201cis seemingly designed to compartmentalize black artists, undermining the culture\\u2019s contributions to and influences on music even as it tries to celebrate it.\\u201d
Republic Records \\u2014 home to top artists including Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift \\u2014 on Friday vowed to ban the word \\u201curban\\u201d as a generalization for hip-hop and R&B. Many see it as an antiquated umbrella term \\u2014 it is still used to describe many awards at the Grammys \\u2014 that ignorantly lumps all music by black artists into the same grab-bag. The label, a division of Universal, said it would remove \\u201curban\\u201d from department names, employee titles and music genres. Use of \\u201curban\\u201d in music jargon dates back to the mid-1970s, according to Billboard, which says the black WBLS New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker used the phrase \\u201curban contemporary.\\u201d

KOP looks into the history of the Urban Contemporary Era and explains his long standing argument how this is a signal for the change of mainstream music.

References:

Music Industry Rethinks \\u2018Urban\\u2019 as a Genre for Black Artists https://www.bloombergquint.com/pursuits/music-industry-rethinks-using-urban-to-market-black-artists

1991: The Most Important Year in Pop-Music History https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/a\\u2026

The very white ways of the top 40 https://theoutline.com/post/1148/the-\\u2026

This Is Why The Urban Contemporary Grammy Exists https://www.thefader.com/2015/02/02/this-is-why-the-urban-contemporary-grammy-exists

Should the Urban Contemporary Grammy Category Be Abolished? https://www.spin.com/2017/02/urban-contemporary-grammy-abolished/

History of Urban Contemporary Music https://www1.udel.edu/nero/Radio/readings/urban.html

The Urban Contemporary Dilemma https://melismamagazine.com/2017/06/19/the-urban-contemporary-dilemma/

The Racist Undertones Of The \\u2018Urban Contemporary\\u2019 Grammys Category https://medium.com/the-establishment/the-racist-undertones-of-the-urban-contemporary-grammys-category-e2559aeefe60

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