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Republic Records to stop using “urban” qualifier for music

The music label Republic Records announced Friday that it would stop using the word “urban” to designate its rap and R&B artists, many of whom denounced this qualifier which they consider too vague and affixed too easily to black artists. .

The label, part of Universal, has announced that the term will no longer be used to describe musical genres.

“We encourage the rest of the music industry to do the same,” Republic Records wrote on Instagram, stressing the importance of not “adhering to dated structures.”

The United States is currently the scene of numerous demonstrations demanding the end of racial inequalities after the death of a black man, George Floyd, under the knee of a white policeman on May 25 in Minneapolis.

In this context, Universal announced to donate $ 25 million to a fund supporting a “for change” working group and social justice.

His big rival Warner has pledged $ 100 million to support “charity work related to the music industry, social justice and the fight against violence and racism”.

The news comes after Canadian singer The Weeknd, signed for Republic, donated $ 500,000 to several groups, including Black Lives Matter.

According to the specialist magazine Billboard, the use of the term “urban” dates from the mid-1970s when a black New York DJ, Frankie Crocker, used the expression “urban contemporary”.

A use at the time different from that of today, which contributes, according to critics, to marginalize black artists.

After the last Grammy Awards, in January in Los Angeles, rapper Tyler, The Creator had told journalists not to like this word, which is also used in the French music industry.

“It’s a shame that when we – and I mean people who look like me – do something that mixes genres, we are always put in the ‘rap’ or ‘urban’ category,” he said.

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