Hip-hop has had a significant influence on several genres of music. R&B, in particular, was the most influenced as to necessitate a subgenre. The key difference was that the subgenre was coarse and contained less of an R&B influence.

Pop and R&B singers, including Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child, appropriated hip-hop in order to relate to younger, urban audiences, thus creating a subgenre coined "hip-hop Soul". This genre features hip-hop backbeats, superimposed with vocals that were sung in the style of soul music; the lyrics, however, integrated street lingo and adult themes.

Impudence characterizes the styling of hip-hop soul. These hitherto conventional singers sported tattoos, wore leather, and wore a defiant look in the vein of hip-hop artists. Pop singers, who were reluctant to change their images, began collaborating with a rapper to remix one of their tracks, and incorporated the remix in their albums. These remixes were pegged as singles, and allowed the singers to retain their signature styles.

These remixed tracks soon became all the rage, and hip-hop soul crossed racial divides, earning its artists mainstream recognition. Veteran R&B artists also generated interest among young, contemporary audiences through their association with hip-hop. Patti LaBelle has performed with Outkast; Chaka Khan granted permission to Kanye West to re-mix her tracks. By joining forces with hip-hop artists, R&B singers thus reached out to a new age group.

Hip-hop soul is considered more mature than contemporary R&B, and targets an adult audience. This is primarily due to the genre's focus on the seamier aspects of life; hip-hop soul singers also use adult language and themes, which has drawn censure from people who feel the genre of music, similar to hip-hop, glorifies negative stereotypes.

Although hip-hop soul witnessed a dull period with the emergence of Neo Soul, another R&B subgenre in the late 90s, it is now experiencing a surge in popularity due to singers like Jaheim, Amerie, Keyshia Cole, and Anthony Hamilton.