Republic Records To Drop ‘Urban’ From Its Lexicon

Universal’s Republic Records has decided to drop the use of the word “urban” going forward as the music industry recalibrates itself in the George Floyd era.

In a statement on social media, Republic said:

Effective immediately, Republic Records will remove “Urban” from our verbiage in describing departments, employee titles, and music genres.

We encourage the rest of the music industry to follow suit as it is important to shape the future of what we want it to look like, and not adhere to the outdated structures of the past.

The use of the term urban in the music industry dates back to the early 1970s when New York DJ defined R&B as ‘Urban Contemporary’ at the newly-launched WBLS radio station.

Since then, the term has come to encompass a wide range of music that is primarily associated with black artists, R&B, rap, hip-hop but which also includes pop and adult contemporary.

Other forms of music including reggaeton and Latin hip-hop have also been categorized as urban.

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