Everything about Neo Soul totally explained
Neo soul (also known as
nu soul) is a
music genre and an umbrella term for current soul music. The music is usually a hybrid of 1970s-influenced
soul music with influences from
jazz,
funk,
hip hop and
house music. The term
neo soul was originated by
Kedar Massenburg of
Motown Records in the late
1990s. Neo soul's audience tends to be underground, preferring that the music favor underground credibility and soulfulness over mainstream popularity. Some musicians who create what is described as neo-soul prefer to disassociate themselves from the tag, due to the term's
buzzword-like usage. Some of these artists simply refer to themselves as soul artists.
History
20th Century
The genre is considered to have originated with the work of
Raphael Saadiq's band
Tony! Toni! Toné! in the mid-
1990s, but the term began to surface after the release of singer
Joi's debut album
Pendulum Vibe, which contained elements of early 1970s style arrangements along with Rock style elements. It resurfaced with
D'Angelo's
1995 LP
Brown Sugar.
Brown Sugar featured elements of classic soul, inspired by artists such as
Stevie Wonder and
Donny Hathaway, that hadn't been regularly seen in modern
African-American mainstream music since the early/mid-
1970s. In
1995 came the work of a duo called
Groove Theory, which included the members
Amel Larrieux, the singer and
Bryce Wilson. Another possible origin of the neo-soul movement is the UK
acid jazz scene of the early 1990s, with artists such as
Jamiroquai,
The Brand New Heavies, and
N'Dea Davenport.
James Yancey a.k.a. Jay Dee a.k.a. J Dilla has also been highly influential to this genre and has produced for Neo Soul artists such as Erykah Badu. He may sometimes go unnoticed but for those who know him he'll never be forgotten, but there's no doubt that he's definitely contributed and has been an innovator for the genre. Rest In Beats Dilla,
"You Changed My Life."
In
1996, Singers
Maxwell &
Eric Benet both debuted the successful solo albums
Urban Hang Suite and
True to Myself, pushing the new soul sound into the mainstream. In 1997,
Motown Records artist
Erykah Badu released her debut LP,
Baduizm. The success of that album paved the way for new Motown chief
Kedar Massenburg to shift the direction of much of the company's output towards Badu's style, which he dubbed
neo-soul. The first soul revival artist to make a major impact on the mainstream was
Lauryn Hill, whose
1998 The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill LP was a critical and commercial success, garnering five
Grammy Awards.
After Hill's phenomenal success, a number of other neo-soul artists began scoring R&B hits, most notably
Angie Stone,
Musiq Soulchild,
Jill Scott,
Macy Gray,
Goapele,
India.Arie,
Davina,
Pru,
Raphael Saadiq,
Alice Smith,
Jazzyfatnastees,
Adriana Evans,
Ursula Rucker,
Rhian Benson and
Martha Redbone. Other major soul artists have included
Lucy Pearl,
Floetry,
Glenn Lewis,
Res,
Anthony Hamilton,
Bilal and
Dwele, all of whom became staples of R&B radio. Recent major neo soul artists include
Alicia Keys,
John Legend,
Joss Stone,
Emily King,
Chrisette Michele,
Ledisi,
Conya Doss,
Julie Dexter,
Laurnea,
N'Dambi,
Gaelle,
Rachael Bell,
Joy Denalane,
Maya Azucena,
Joy,
Chuckie "Taliaferro" Slay,
Aya,
Divine Brown,
Angela Johnson,
Teedra Moses and British songstress
Corinne Bailey Rae who has topped the charts with her self-titled debut CD, receiving three Grammy nominations.
In general, neo soul has remained almost exclusive to R&B outlets such as
urban radio and
Black Entertainment Television (BET), as well as
TV One. Most of its artists are unfamiliar to mainstream audiences, and its sound generally focuses on artist expression rather than pop orientation. While these artists have found major success in those venues, they generally have yet to
cross over to mainstream American music listeners.
Hill remains the best-known and consistently successful neo soul artist from a mainstream, commercial point of view, thanks to two big pop singles: "Everything Is Everything" and "
Doo Wop (That Thing)", both of which were far more hip hop oriented, containing rapped verses, than most neo soul. Hill is also widely known because of her successful sweep of the
1999 Grammys. Keys is widely known because she's had the biggest single mainstream neo soul hit to date with "Fallin'", which contained no rap verse and consequently managed to cross over not only onto the pop charts, but also onto both the hot and the soft
Adult contemporary music charts.
Towards the turn of the millennium,
Macy Gray had a massive urban, pop, and adult contemporary hit with "I Try". Gray's other singles, while successful in some outlets, failed to make an impression on the pop charts as "I Try" did.
21st Century
Perhaps the most well known and only main stream neo soul artist are the duo
Gnarls Barkley, who fuse soul, hip hop, and techno.
Wyclef Jean's protégés
City High managed two successful singles on the pop charts, "Caramel" and "What Would You Do", in
2001, which was a time when hearing hip hop on pop radio was no longer anything exceptional, as it had been during Hill's initial success. Because of this, City High didn't receive the same widespread recognition that Hill had three years earlier; and since City High's singles were more upbeat and rhythmic sounding than Keys' "Fallin'" and Gray's "I Try", they didn't cross over onto the AC charts. As a result, City High, is nowhere near as well known as either Hill, Gray, or Keys, even despite the group's pop radio and
MTV hits.
Other neo soul artists are hardly known of at all in mainstream America, having yet to cross over to the mainstream despite the fact that most have found success with the urban audience, urban radio, and BET. Most have also found success on the music video channels
MTV2 and
VH1 Soul. Some, like
Maxwell,
Erykah Badu, and
D'Angelo, are somewhat known by mainstream America for having initiated the neo soul genre, from critical acclaim, from word-of-mouth recommendations of their albums, and from other media appearances, such as D'Angelo's performance on
VH1's
Men Strike Back 2000 and Badu's role in the movie
Blues Brothers 2000.
In October 2003, neo soul was given an outlet in commercial radio in the city of
Charleston, South Carolina. WPAL 100.9 FM went from playing traditional R&B and classic soul, to playing neo-soul, under the consultation, and lead of its program director J.R. Rivers.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Neo Soul'.
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