Get the latest gossip

‘Young women from the ghetto were taken advantage of’: the power and pain of R&B’s ‘new jill swing’ era

The female counterpart to new jack swing, which exploded in the late 80s by fusing hip-hop, pop and R&B, was thrilling – but held back by sexism, racism and dodgy contracts

However, while Riley’s contributions to the genre have long been celebrated, along with producers such as Full Force, LA Reid, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Babyface and Bernard Belle, Stanley wanted to showcase the women from the era. “But they really laid the groundwork for a lot of the female R&B acts of the late 90s and early 00s and productions by the likes of Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Rodney Jerkins – basically, some of the most incredibly extreme music to become commercially successful in history.” However, despite the bruises from their experiences – Kemp alleges she ended up blacklisted from the industry, couldn’t get a deal, and was “literally not allowed to play” because of egotistical interference from her label after she negotiated an exit from it – there’s a huge pride in the music they presciently created.

Get the Android app