The R&B that came after 2010 — Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, Solange, H.E.R., SZA, Daniel Caesar — absorbed the vocabulary of trap (sub-808 kicks, half-time feel, hi-hat rolls) and applied it to song-form R&B. The drumming is sparser than 90s R&B, often much sparser; the production is more atmospheric, with reverb and tape effects making the kit feel suspended in space.
For a drummer translating this onto a kit, the challenge is restraint. There's a temptation to fill the spaces; the genre's whole point is that the spaces are filled by the production (synth pads, vocal samples, sub-bass), not by drum activity. Your job is to commit to playing less than feels comfortable and let the bar breathe.
Sub-808 on a Kit
In modern R&B production, the kick is often a sub-808 — a long, decaying low note pitched to a specific musical key, more of a bass-instrument event than a percussion event. There's no clean acoustic equivalent. The closest is a low floor-tom (the 16-inch on most kits) hit softly, with the head tuned low and slightly open so it has decay. Combine it with the kick on the same beat for the punch. We notate this as a floor-tom note (a/4); read the tip for the touch.
Hat-Rolls in R&B Context
Modern R&B uses trap-style hat-rolls but uses them sparingly — once or twice per 4-bar phrase, not constantly. They function as fills, not ornaments. We'll practice one in the hat-roll exercise and one in the form.