You know good and well record sales peaked in the early 2000s
Profits dried up through the first decade of the millennium
The industry is just now figuring out how to monetize streaming
Because of the decline in sales
Budgets dried up as well
Labels aren't investing in development and promotion at the same rate
That's the main reason why you don't have super duper recording stars at the same rate/level as back in the day... but you knew that

and you're deflecting from my point...
It's the whole industry
It's not endemic to R&B.