Give a listen to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. It's probably the greatest R&B record of all time, among the overall greatest albums of all time and one of the most political albums ever released.
Also, the pop sensibility of R&B in the 50's helped people like Elvis cross the genre over into white audiences, and forge Rock n Roll. I can't remember who said it, but it was along the lines of: "R&B and Rock and Roll are the same music. The difference is R&B was black music and Rock and Roll was white music".
It's safe to say R&R had a big influence on hip-hop/rap, and R&B made it possible. So many of the 'genres' we have today are so interconnected, I imagine things would be completely different if one of them were to disappear.
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