Move over, Motown

Baby boomers who grew up loving the sweet, exuberant sounds of Motown may find the suggestion little short of blasphemous, but here goes: We’re experiencing the greatest flourishing of black musical talent since Berry Gordy Jr. built his musical empire.

It’s as if rock ‘n’ roll once again reflected the energy and originality of the ‘60s British Invasion or jazz regained the innovation of the bebop era.

This new wave of R&B; and hip-hop vitality has been building for years, thanks to OutKast, Dr. Dre and others. But the music of Alicia Keys, Usher and Kanye West has spun us into a whole new era. Blessed with both remarkable talent and a collaborative spirit, these artists are poised to be pivotal figures in the evolution of mainstream pop well into the next decade. Even the notoriously conservative Grammy voters get it. Keys, Usher and West go into tonight’s telecast with 26 nominations among them, including one each in the prestigious album of the year category, where they are competing against Ray Charles and Green Day.

The trio of twentysomething artists is at the forefront of a new synthesis of styles, a mixture of hip-hop and rhythm and blues that is so interwoven it’s surprising no one has come up with a new term for it. Hip-rhythm and blues-hop doesn’t quite cut it. Urban soul?

Whatever you call it, no less a figure than Gordy himself acknowledges a new golden age: “I see a lot of brilliance.”

There’s certainly a lot of dominance: R&B; and hip-hop artists accounted for a striking 70% of the records on Billboard’s list of the 50 singles that got the most airplay on U.S. radio during 2004.

“Today’s musicians are beautiful, man,” says 27-time Grammy winner Quincy Jones. “I know people are always talking about how much better everything used to be, but I just don’t agree.”

While some might see a Motown-style renaissance, Jones reaches back to other heralded figures and eras: “I loved Charlie Parker and Miles Davis and Ray Charles, but to me the rappers are on the same level. They have the spontaneity and imagination of the beboppers. If Charlie and Miles were here today, they would be working with these artists.”

Besides making memorable hits, West, Keys and Usher exude a generous spirit that is rare in the competitive world of pop music. Even though they’re competing for top honors tonight, they appear to take genuine pride in one another’s work and often make appearances on one another’s records, forming a creative community reminiscent in its own way of the old Motown.

“I feel part of a special time,” Keys said. “I think it is definitely inspiring to be part of this musical community, and I think it helps us all to be able to work with other artists even if they aren’t on the same label. Of course, there’s competition, but there’s also a bond between us. It’s like we are on this mission.”

That mutual respect led Usher and Keys to sing together on “My Boo,” a cuddly song from Usher’s album that went to No. 1 last year. West co-wrote and co-produced Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name,” another No. 1 hit, and rapped with Usher on the remix version of “Confessions.” And so it goes -- dozens of such all-star pairings. Usher and West also toured together extensively.

This interchange was virtually unheard of in earlier pop eras because record companies resisted their artists’ going into the studio with those from other labels because they didn’t want to split royalties or, perhaps, help boost the rival artists’ careers.

But today, far from discouraging the crossing of label boundaries, some label executives encourage it.

“You don’t want to endanger your relations with artists by putting up roadblocks when they want to work with someone on a project,” says Antonio “L.A.” Reid, chairman of the Island Def Jam Music Group. “You want the best record, and that often comes out of a collaboration. It’d be shortsighted to say you can’t make that record just because one of the artists is on a different label.”

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The difficulty of comparing

It’s always hard for one generation to pass the torch to the next. In rock, most people over 40 react with disbelief at the thought that new bands -- from Nirvana in the ‘90s to the White Stripes today -- are inspiring enough to have stood alongside the best groups of any era.

Motown fans often become defensive if you suggest the best of today’s R&B; and hip-hop artists reflect the imagination and craftsmanship of Motown. They’ll challenge you to name anyone today as captivating as Stevie or Diana or Marvin. The problem is that it’s hard to compare musicians -- or athletes -- who are generations apart because of dramatic shifts in musical styles.

It’s easier to see the excellence of today’s key artists simply in the quality of the music. West’s “Jesus Walks,” Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” and Usher’s “Yeah!,” which are all nominated for record of the year in tonight’s Grammy Awards, would have been considered classics in the Motown era as well as today.

Beyond debate is the impact of this music.

Even if Green Day pulls an upset tonight, the punk-rockers will look so out of place at the podium amid the R&B; backdrop of the evening that we’ll be reminded that rock has been replaced for some time as the favorite sound of young America.

“The rock ‘n’ roll revolution has turned into the hip-hop revolution,” says Clive Davis, the BMG U.S. chairman who helped launch the careers of Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana and Keys. “This music has definitely influenced, infiltrated and affected every other part of pop culture.”

Stevie Wonder, the greatest of the Motown stars, is also generous in his support of today’s singers and writers. He’ll join Keys on a version of the Beatles’ uplifting “Across the Universe” during tonight’s telecast.

All this is sweet vindication for Gordy, who started his own label in 1959 after major U.S. labels told him, in effect, that they already had their quota of R&B; singers.

Where execs back then looked at race and saw limitations, Gordy looked at young talent and saw opportunity. Unlike blues labels at the time, he wanted to make music that could compete in the pop mainstream.

Gordy felt shut out of the Grammys when Motown didn’t get nominated in the best album or best record categories during the label’s first dozen years, despite such landmark hits as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ “The Tears of a Clown” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” It wasn’t until Wonder’s “Innervisions” in 1973 that the notoriously conservative Grammy voters finally acknowledged the greatness of Motown with an album of the year nomination -- a category it went on to win.

Now, major labels have such strong black music divisions that it’s virtually impossible for an independent entrepreneur like Gordy to come along and corner the market.

The Motown founder takes pride in the music’s massive acceptance. Every time an Usher or Keys steps to the podium tonight, Gordy knows a piece of Motown legacy is also being honored.

“I’m very impressed with the artists today,” Gordy says. “I would feel awkward singling anyone out, but there’s so much talent and there’s the camaraderie. I just love that.”

Outstanding work is still being done in rock, of course, but chiefly on an indie, underground level. Except for bands such as U2 or Coldplay, rock accessible enough to fit mainstream radio formats lacks the authority of the best of hip-hop and R&B.;

It’s almost as if most rock bands have given up on making records that speak to the pop mainstream because the odds are so much against them in today’s climate. At the same time, hip-hop and R&B; artists, thriving on the commercial acceptance of their music, set out to make great records that are also hits.

The strength of today’s urban sound comes from its deep roots in not just the black music experience in America but excursions into pop and rock. Motown may be the greatest influence, but there are also echoes in the music ranging from Philly soul and funk to jazz and the Beatles.

Scores of artists have contributed to this changing of the guard in pop, but Keys, West and Usher each had creative landmarks during 2004 that took the movement to a higher level.

In the case of West, his “The College Dropout” album may be the most sophisticated combination of these converging influences, a 2.5-million-selling collection that is the most dramatic advance in R&B; and hip-hop since Lauryn Hill’s socially conscious “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” which won a Grammy for album of the year in 1999. West’s CD was named best album of the year by the nation’s three highest-profile rock magazines (Rolling Stone, Spin and Blender) and the Village Voice’s annual poll of nearly 800 U.S. pop critics. Five of the poll’s 10 best singles -- including West’s “Jesus Walks,” Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” and Usher’s “Yeah!” -- were also urban soul.

In fact, West, 27, may be one of the most exciting triple-threat talents (writer, producer, artist) since Wonder. Unable to persuade major record companies in the late ‘90s that he was good enough as a rapper to be signed, he spent the next few years demonstrating his strengths as a record producer, eventually producing hits for Jay-Z, Twista and Alicia Keys. Impressed, Roc-A-Fella Records signed him as a recording artist.

In “The College Dropout,” West, who grew up in Chicago, combined the dynamics of gangsta rap with the soulful currents of old-school R&B.; The key was sidestepping the “thug life,” much in the philosophical, uplifting way of Hill. In his raps, West writes about everyday experiences, drawing positive lessons about overcoming obstacles. At one point, he cautions young people not to feel worthless if teachers treat them with disrespect; elsewhere, he warns against succumbing to the temptations of quick money through drug dealing.

By deftly mixing live music and sampling (lifting snippets from old records), West has largely rendered moot the once-heated debate over whether sampling can be a legitimate part of the record-making process.

“The biggest misconception is that you’re taking the easy way out if you use a sample from an old record, but you don’t just take a person’s song and repeat it,” West says.

“We really are fortunate to have so many traditions to draw upon. I don’t have allegiance to any one style. I want to use all the tools I’ve got. One day I might want to start off with live music, the next day build something up from a sample. It’s like wearing Nikes one day and Guccis the next.”

Another major step in the creative and commercial momentum of R&B; and hip-hop last year was the maturation of Usher.

The Atlanta-based singer, 26, has been making R&B; hits since his teens, but they were mostly sexy, lightweight tracks. With last year’s “Confessions,” Usher aimed higher and delivered both vigorous dance music (teaming with producer Lil Jon on the raucous “Yeah!”) and surprisingly stylish, often nakedly personal tales of romantic desire and disappointment.

“What’s happening is groundbreaking, and I think all the Grammy nominations show that,” Usher says. “The definition of pop music changes. At one time, it was big bands, then it was rock, and now it’s become more R&B;, but that doesn’t mean we can take anything for granted or something else will take over.”

The blossoming of Keys added even more luster to the movement. The New York singer-songwriter-pianist showed considerable promise in her Grammy-winning 2001 debut, “Songs in A Minor,” which combined old-school sensibility and substance with contemporary musical instincts.

But it was the follow-up, “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” that established Keys, 24, as a leader in today’s movement. The CD’s highlight was “You Don’t Know My Name,” a lavishly designed, midtempo tale of romantic infatuation graced by sweet, soulful touches that could have come from classic ‘60s records. The album also included a remake of “If I Were Your Woman,” a 1970 hit for Motown’s Gladys Knight.

With Keys, Usher and West in place to be major voices for the next decade, Island Def Jam’s Reid believes today’s body of talent -- which also includes OutKast, Jay-Z, Angie Stone, Jill Scott, Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, Lil Jon, the Roots, Missy Elliott, Beyonce and the hard-core rap world -- may even surpass Motown’s.

“I think Berry Gordy was the greatest record man ever,” says Reid, who also cofounded LaFace Records, home of OutKast and Usher. “He didn’t just sign artists but also writers and producers, so that he had the entire package. Those were great records, but I think music is richer and more diverse today.

“The new artists listened to Motown and Stax because their parents played it around the house, but they also listened to hip-hop. They are sensitive to the melodies of R&B; and sensitive to the beats of hip-hop. They know about playing music live and about sampling and synthesizers and they learned the importance of writing about your culture.”

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How they might stack up

What about that tricky question: How do today’s R&B; and hip-hop stars match up against Motown’s finest?

No matter how much we talk about the difficulty of comparing artists -- or athletes -- of different eras, it’s tempting to try.

One thing is clear: If the best of today’s artists were available four decades ago, Gordy would have found them.

Usher, who is every bit as driven and ambitious as the young Michael Jackson, would have had Jackson staying up nights practicing to guard against Usher’s upstaging him.

Keys would have been a sensation because she would not have been dependent on male writers and producers for hits the way the Motown women were. Similarly, Scott, Stone and Hill, among others, all write their own material -- and they would have added a whole new dimension to Motown.

And OutKast, last year’s big Grammy winner, is such an original force -- mixing arty sensibilities, sonic brilliance and sly humor -- that you can picture Big Boi and Andre 3000 being hailed as an even greater creative force than either the Temptations or the Four Tops.

But what about Kanye West, the most complete record artist in the current group? He started his own label last year (Getting Out Our Dreams) and scored a hit the first time out with his discovery, silky R&B; singer John Legend.

Stevie Wonder? Marvin Gaye? Smokey Robinson?

Usher volunteered an answer. “Forget that,” Usher said, chuckling. “Kanye can do it all. He may be the new Berry Gordy.”

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Hilburn, pop music critic of The Times, can be reached at Robert.hilburn@latimes.com.