Usher says he will gladly accept the title of King of R&B because he is the last of his kind.
Of course, some folks will inject Chris Brown into the mix, but currently, the vast amount of fans name Usher as the fitting ruler over R&B. The genre has been yearning for a new king for years, especially since R. Kelly became a disgraced singer stripping him of any right to the crown. Usher sat down with Bevy Smith on her Bevelations show this week, where he opened up about the state of the genre and why he thinks he is the king.
When asked if he thinks he is ready to accept the crown for the king of R&B, his answer was a decisive yes.
“I mean, you call me that, I’ll definitely carry it,” Usher said while paying homage to the greats that came before him, like Michael Jackson and James Brown. “I’m a tilt my crown knowing that I’m standing on the shoulders of all of the icons of our time. It is Michael [Jackson] that I stand on the shoulders of, it is James Brown that I stand on the shoulders of, it is Ronald Isley I stand on the shoulders of, it is Luther Vandross, it is Barry White, it is Teddy Pendergrass.”
Usher lamented that as long as he is breathing the greats who came before him like Marvin Gaye will never be forgotten. “You wanna give me that crown, you tell me who gon’ do it better,” he said.
Diddy recently ignited a conversation after he stated that R&B is dead, to which Usher responded, calling it disrespectful to the genre. Chris Brown also responded to Diddy, saying that some artists are just ugly, which is why they are not making headway as R&B singers.
Singer YK Osiris recently named Usher the undisputed King of R&B. During his interview with VladTV, Osiris shares his love for Usher while noting that R. Kelly is undeniably talented but is too tainted for the crown.
“R. Kelly, he’s one of the greatest,” the Florida singer said. “I like Usher. It’s just certain things like R. Kelly is fire, but there’s just certain things that turns me off a little bit… I just love Usher.”
YK Osiris has come full circle since 2019 when he named Chris Brown as the King of R&B at the time. It’s unclear what changed since then.
