New jack swing

New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, new jack swing was most popular from the late 1980s to early 1990s. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines new jack swing as "pop music usually performed by black musicians that combines elements of jazz, funk, rap, and rhythm and blues." Digital synthesizers were heavily used, notably the Yamaha DX7, Korg M1 and Roland D-50. New jack swing took up the trend of using sampled beats and tunes, and created beats using electronic drum machines such as the SP-1200 sampler and Roland TR-808 to lay an "insistent beat under light melody lines and clearly enunciated vocals." The Roland TR-808 was sampled to create distinctive, syncopated, swung rhythms, with its snare sound being especially prominent. Kyle West remembered 1985 as the year he listened to new jack swing with Teddy Riley. Riley as well as drummer Lenny White credit the start of new jack swing to English singer-songwriter and producer Junior Giscombe and his 1985 single "Oh Louise". Some music critics said Full Force's "Alice, I Want You Just for Me" (1985) was the first new jack swing song, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis called Full Force and said Alice was their favorite song, and their favorite group was Full Force. After that, Jam & Lewis produced Janet Jackson's digital R&B album, Control (1986). Musicologist Richard J. Ripani PhD, author of The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950–1999 (2006), observed that the album was one of the first successful records to influence the rise of new jack swing by creating a fusion of R&B, rap, funk, disco and synthesized percussion. The new jack swing sound is particularly evident in the second single, "Nasty". The success of Control, according to Ripani, bridged the gap between R&B and rap music.