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R&B has been the pits since the late 1990s/early 2000s. R&B has not been the same since the explosion of bubblegum pop.
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I always felt that music was cyclical...every decade you have a certain type, or a couple of types, of music that are just really really popular. They have their peak, and then eventually they fall off for whatever reason and something else takes over. Now, that is not to say r&b was only good between 1990 and 1999 - r&b has always been made of awesome, and it always will be. But its popularity and diversity within the genre were at their greatest during the 90's. I wouldn't blame bubblegum pop for r&b falling off, that (and the ******** currently masquerading as hip-hop) just happen to be what took over when it did.
I do agree that a lot of new r&b out now is ******, but then music overall is on a downswing...there is still good r&b out there. Right now though the odds of anything with real meat substance crossing over, while not impossible, are just not as good b/c music is in a very superficial, 'mindless' stage.
The 90's were the BEST time for r&b (and hip-hop), except for maybe the 60's-70's r&b groups and soul singers, which were also monumental. I say give it 5-10 years and r&b will be back in a big way.
And yeah, Rihanna and Bey are definitely pop. Rihanna is pure pop, while Bey (and DC) started out aiming for the r&b market but Bey always had a pop appeal to her voice so at most she was pop-r&b, but never pure r&b.
For many obvious reasons.