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Should the usage of the term "urban" in a music context—"urban music", "urban contemporary", etc.—be deprecated? Raymie ( t • c) 04:09, 12 June 2020 (UTC)
As a result of events of the last two weeks, several important players in the music and radio fields are shifting away from the use of the word "urban" in the description of genres of music and radio formats. In music, important players that have made this decision include The Recording Academy, Warner Music Group and Republic Records, as well as influential artists like Tyler, the Creator. On the radio side, iHeartMedia, the largest owner of US radio stations, and the widely cited RadioInsight news blog have stopped using the term.
There is widespread coverage in reliable sources, including the New York Times, of this terminology change in the industry.
For a good wrap-up of changes proposed by industry actors, see this Inside Radio report.
The change by radio actors is particularly notable as "urban contemporary" was coined by WBLS New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the 1970s.
At the present time, the use of "urban" in Spanish-language music contexts, such as Urbano music, has not yet seen the shift in opinion that "urban" has in English and the corresponding categories at the Grammys have not changed. See this Rolling Stone article.