out of all of them i would say jessie j and adele are the most urban, oh and maybe ed sheeran, but the other are not. i say these three because they put soul and feeling into their music, far as i know they write their own songs. cher lloyd is nowhere near urban, shes a crappy singer who sings pop and seems to try and act/dress like other people. jls seem to be there simply cause they needed to put black people up there, they really only sing pop music, they may add a touch of rnb in there but thats it.
The creation of the term urban was to ‘accept’ everyone because some people felt that the term ‘black music’ excluded people. (I didn’t, call a spade a spade) Now there is this murky space of who is classified as urban and who isn’t. If we were completely honest, a lot of these UK acts black or white are not urban at all – they may contain elements of the urban sound but the music they make and the audience they cater for is out and out POP. People of different cultures and backgrounds have been listening to black music since the beginning of time and never had a problem with calling it that. The use of the term urban was probably created by some branding / marketing guru in the music industry to help pop artists (who would probably prefer to do music that sounds more like that of their influences) become marketable to both pop and black music fans alike.
The whole term urban pisses me off and always has, even the term music of black origin pisses me off, just call it what it is black music if we’re talking music of black orgin why isn’t rock music in there we can go on and on it’s a complex situation basically white people excluded black people from things but when they feel excluded have to come with terms to include them, Rock and Country don’t have no name which puts them under an umberella so why does R&B, Hiphop, Rap, and Reggae????
Adele ain’t urban she’s a white girl doing soul music, Jessie J ain’t urban she a white girl doing pop music, JLS aren’t urban they’re black guys doing pop music and Cher Lloyd ain’t urban she’s a white girl doing, well I don’t even know what’s she’s doing but it’s rubbish.
Black people can’t even claim their own music, black music is dominated by black artists with a few white artists who are succesful because they are backed by white people who always they back their own when they do black music, because they want to see someone who looks like them doing black music so they don’t feel excluded yet the music is called urban, soon if we’re not careful so called urban music will be all white like rock and people will forget it’s even black music.
Bands and artists like JLS and Lemar back in the day weren’t urban they are and were simply black guys doing pop music, but to make it black which is what it is not urban they put in a little rap or something. The marketing guys are smart because they fool all these guys when they want to hit a certain market they just get someone from that market to rap or sing on it and then people say they’re urban that’s like saying Nelly is country because he done a song with Tim Mcgraw, artists like Jessie J use black music to get in the scene and then cut it off it’s no different to someone like Vanilla Ice accept fot he admits it.
i’m as urban as my mum is!!!
i enjoy their debates!!!..
i agree with all you, all had something valid to say. But as someone mentioned here that urban term is to include others. And as it was stated if we are not careful… urban music will be called white music. As i always state it is so much bigger than just sales. It’s away to divide up and keep us away from what we created. If the so called urban scene is saturated with all the so called white artist…where will we be. Let’s just say out of the picture! It always amazes me when i look at award shows…how people like Jesse J, Adele who looks like she’s 40! Will win all the awards for doing our music. And we as Black people seem to not see what is going on. Once someone white does our music we are all up in arms…like wow….she/he can really sing. But they sing no better than the Blacks that have been doing it since the beginning of time. Music period ….is OUR MUSIC BLACK MUSIC! No one has or will ever be able to do it better than us! It’s just that simple!
That is why they are always trying to rip up off and do what we do. Now you have commercials over here in the US using white guys and girls…singing and dancing.. Now that was a job that Blacks use to have…not anymore. As i said it is so much bigger than just the sales of the cd. It is simply a way to push us out of our own markets. But if we are not careful it will happen. This is not about hate…but more so survival of us!! We have to see this and act on it. I don’t nor will i ever by Jesse J, Old looking Adele… Not because i hate them..some of the songs are really good. But..but because it is about us still being around to continue to do what we have always done… Oh the Grammys this year left out a lot of hip hop acts. And so called urban acts.. So what does that mean…fewer awards for Blacks!!! In my opinion urban music is and will always be BLACK MUISC….JUST THAT SIMPLE… I must say the debates are interesting …
moreno :i agree with all you, all had something valid to say. But as someone mentioned here that urban term is to include others. And as it was stated if we are not careful… urban music will be called white music. As i always state it is so much bigger than just sales. It’s away to divide up and keep us away from what we created. If the so called urban scene is saturated with all the so called white artist…where will we be. Let’s just say out of the picture! It always amazes me when i look at award shows…how people like Jesse J, Adele who looks like she’s 40! Will win all the awards for doing our music. And we as Black people seem to not see what is going on. Once someone white does our music we are all up in arms…like wow….she/he can really sing. But they sing no better than the Blacks that have been doing it since the beginning of time. Music period ….is OUR MUSIC BLACK MUSIC! No one has or will ever be able to do it better than us! It’s just that simple!
That is why they are always trying to rip up off and do what we do. Now you have commercials over here in the US using white guys and girls…singing and dancing.. Now that was a job that Blacks use to have…not anymore. As i said it is so much bigger than just the sales of the cd. It is simply a way to push us out of our own markets. But if we are not careful it will happen. This is not about hate…but more so survival of us!! We have to see this and act on it. I don’t nor will i ever by Jesse J, Old looking Adele… Not because i hate them..some of the songs are really good. But..but because it is about us still being around to continue to do what we have always done… Oh the Grammys this year left out a lot of hip hop acts. And so called urban acts.. So what does that mean…fewer awards for Blacks!!! In my opinion urban music is and will always be BLACK MUISC….JUST THAT SIMPLE… I must say the debates are interesting …
MAD NEWS UK 
out of all of them i would say jessie j and adele are the most urban, oh and maybe ed sheeran, but the other are not. i say these three because they put soul and feeling into their music, far as i know they write their own songs. cher lloyd is nowhere near urban, shes a crappy singer who sings pop and seems to try and act/dress like other people. jls seem to be there simply cause they needed to put black people up there, they really only sing pop music, they may add a touch of rnb in there but thats it.
The creation of the term urban was to ‘accept’ everyone because some people felt that the term ‘black music’ excluded people. (I didn’t, call a spade a spade) Now there is this murky space of who is classified as urban and who isn’t. If we were completely honest, a lot of these UK acts black or white are not urban at all – they may contain elements of the urban sound but the music they make and the audience they cater for is out and out POP. People of different cultures and backgrounds have been listening to black music since the beginning of time and never had a problem with calling it that. The use of the term urban was probably created by some branding / marketing guru in the music industry to help pop artists (who would probably prefer to do music that sounds more like that of their influences) become marketable to both pop and black music fans alike.
The whole term urban pisses me off and always has, even the term music of black origin pisses me off, just call it what it is black music if we’re talking music of black orgin why isn’t rock music in there we can go on and on it’s a complex situation basically white people excluded black people from things but when they feel excluded have to come with terms to include them, Rock and Country don’t have no name which puts them under an umberella so why does R&B, Hiphop, Rap, and Reggae????
Adele ain’t urban she’s a white girl doing soul music, Jessie J ain’t urban she a white girl doing pop music, JLS aren’t urban they’re black guys doing pop music and Cher Lloyd ain’t urban she’s a white girl doing, well I don’t even know what’s she’s doing but it’s rubbish.
Black people can’t even claim their own music, black music is dominated by black artists with a few white artists who are succesful because they are backed by white people who always they back their own when they do black music, because they want to see someone who looks like them doing black music so they don’t feel excluded yet the music is called urban, soon if we’re not careful so called urban music will be all white like rock and people will forget it’s even black music.
Bands and artists like JLS and Lemar back in the day weren’t urban they are and were simply black guys doing pop music, but to make it black which is what it is not urban they put in a little rap or something. The marketing guys are smart because they fool all these guys when they want to hit a certain market they just get someone from that market to rap or sing on it and then people say they’re urban that’s like saying Nelly is country because he done a song with Tim Mcgraw, artists like Jessie J use black music to get in the scene and then cut it off it’s no different to someone like Vanilla Ice accept fot he admits it.
i’m as urban as my mum is!!!
i enjoy their debates!!!..
i agree with all you, all had something valid to say. But as someone mentioned here that urban term is to include others. And as it was stated if we are not careful… urban music will be called white music. As i always state it is so much bigger than just sales. It’s away to divide up and keep us away from what we created. If the so called urban scene is saturated with all the so called white artist…where will we be. Let’s just say out of the picture! It always amazes me when i look at award shows…how people like Jesse J, Adele who looks like she’s 40! Will win all the awards for doing our music. And we as Black people seem to not see what is going on. Once someone white does our music we are all up in arms…like wow….she/he can really sing. But they sing no better than the Blacks that have been doing it since the beginning of time. Music period ….is OUR MUSIC BLACK MUSIC! No one has or will ever be able to do it better than us! It’s just that simple!
That is why they are always trying to rip up off and do what we do. Now you have commercials over here in the US using white guys and girls…singing and dancing.. Now that was a job that Blacks use to have…not anymore. As i said it is so much bigger than just the sales of the cd. It is simply a way to push us out of our own markets. But if we are not careful it will happen. This is not about hate…but more so survival of us!! We have to see this and act on it. I don’t nor will i ever by Jesse J, Old looking Adele… Not because i hate them..some of the songs are really good. But..but because it is about us still being around to continue to do what we have always done… Oh the Grammys this year left out a lot of hip hop acts. And so called urban acts.. So what does that mean…fewer awards for Blacks!!! In my opinion urban music is and will always be BLACK MUISC….JUST THAT SIMPLE… I must say the debates are interesting …
Co-sign to the fullest
Agreed Chico Rei, co sign Moreno 1000%.