I hate to agree with you both , but I think you're correct, in that, brian, the American Idol stuff ( for example) has this gloss of RnB often and it seems like painting a superficial gloss in the attemp to make it cool. lots of commercial radio has this goin on.

I agrree also with Derek that the current critics darlings tend to have a seperate world of sound ( at least in pop rock). Black vs White....I would add that I think that part of this separation of black and white influences in indie music ( as opposed to commercial) is due to the constant speciallization of musical styles in pop music that has been going on in a serious way since tyhe 80's . U2 being the last band to have captured more then 1 segment of the listening audience. Where I disagree is in that all black music is at a low, as Outcast and Kanye West are 2 of my current faves ....