In a genre predicated on yearning and being submissive, defiance and disobedience is a trait that is not often associated with R&B singers. However, there have been more than a few instances in which the script has been flipped.

While there is a line of R&B singers who escaped a life of crime before allowing their talents to help them reach stardom, news of R&B singers reverting back to criminal activities after hitting it big was all but foreign, with acts like James Brown serving as an anomaly in this regard.

But this would change during the '70s and '80s, as R&B acts began to live more on the wild side, making them susceptible to arrests and the subsequent public shame that often came along with it.

By the time the '90s rolled around, R&B had evolved in a big way, with sounds like New Jack Swing and Hip-Hop Soul making the genre grittier than ever, resulting in new acts with the attitude and backstory to match the music.

Soon, tales of arrests for everything from drug possession to assault would begin to rock the R&B world, with many of its biggest stars being subjected to perp-walks and their mugshots plastered on newspapers and on television— a trend that unfortunately continues to this day.

The Boombox looks back at eight of the most notorious bad boys in R&B history, whose names have become synonymous with controversy.