Neo soul

Neo soul
Stylistic origins	Soul, R&B, hip hop, funk, jazz, electronic, quiet storm, pop, jazz-funk, fusion, African
Cultural origins	1980s—early 1990s, United States, United Kingdom
Typical instruments	Guitar - bass - electric piano - organ - drums - vocals (singing, rapping, spoken word) - synthesizers - horns - drum machines
Mainstream popularity	Late 1990s – early 2000s
Other topics
Acid jazz, African-American music, hip hop soul, nu jazz, rare groove, spoken word soul

Neo soul is a term coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contemporary R&B.^[1] Heavily based in soul music, neo soul is distinguished by a less conventional sound than its contemporary R&B counterpart,^[1][2] with incorporated elements ranging from jazz, funk, and hip hop to pop, fusion, and African music. It has been noted by music writers for its classicist influences, conscious-driven lyrics, and strong female presence.

Developed in the United States and United Kingdom during the 1980s and early 1990s as a soul "revival" movement,^[2][3] neo soul emerged into the mainstream with the commercial and critical breakthroughs of several neo soul artists during the 1990s, as it was marketed as an alternative to the producer-driven, digitally approached R&B of the time.^[4] Since its initial mainstream popularity and impact on the sound of contemporary R&B, it has been expanded and diversified musically through the works of both American and international artists.^[5] According to Mark Anthony Neal, "neo-soul and its various incarnations has helped to redefine the boundaries and contours of black pop".^[6]

Etymology

By definition, neo-soul is a paradox. Neo means new. Soul is timeless. All the neo-soul artists, in various ways, perform balancing acts, exploring classic soul idioms while injecting a living, breathing presence into time-tested formulas. They humanize R&B, which has often been reduced to a factory-perfected product. Like sushi, neo-soul is fresh enough to be served raw.

Dimitri Ehrlich, writer for Vibe, analyisis of neo soul and its relation to soul music and contemporary R&B^[2]

The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell.^[1] The commercial breakthrough of D'Angelo's debut album Brown Sugar (1995) has been regarded by several writers and music critics as inspiration behind the term's coinage.^[1][3][4] While some artists have ignored the label, others have received the designation with controversy, viewing that it can be seen as contrived by music audiences and implies that soul music had ended at some point in time.^[4] In a 2002 interview for Billboard, Massenburg expressed his view on the backlash and intentions of marketing the neo soul term, stating:

[A] lot people don't like the term, because they don't want this music to be looked at as a genre. Because, when you classify music, it becomes a fad, which tends to go away. But soul music is soul music. There's nothing really new under the sun. But, in terms of marketing today, there's the need to categorize music for consumers so they know what they're getting. So, for lack of a different term, I coined neo-soul.^[4]

—Kedar Massenburg

In a 2010 article for PopMatters, music writer Tyler Lewis elaborated on the term in retrospect, stating "The term 'neo-soul' has been the subject of intense debate ever since Kedar Massenburg coined it as a way to market Erykah Badu's Baduizm 13 years ago. Given the way black music has been named by (usually) outsiders ever since the blues, the reaction to the name by artists who ostensibly fit into the 'neo-soul' category represents a wonderful example of black self-determination in an industry that is still defiantly wedded to narrow definitions and images of black folks".^[7] Jason Anderson of CBC News compares the etymology of "neo soul" to that of "new wave" and comments, "As imperfect as the term may be, neo-soul is still an effective tag to describe the mix of chic modernity and time-honoured tradition that distinguished the genre's best examples. Neo-soul artists tried to look both backward and forward, acting in the belief that a continuum might exist".^[8]

Characteristics

Despite some ambivalence from artists, the term ultimately received widespread use by music critics and writers who wrote about artists and albums associated with the musical style.^[4][11] African American studies professor Mark Anthony Neal has described neo soul as "everything from avant-garde R&B to organic soul... a product of trying to develop something outside of the norm in R&B".^[12] According to music writers, the genre's works are mostly album-oriented and distinguished by its musicianship and production, incorporating "organic" elements of classic soul music with the use of live instrumentation, in contrast to the more single-oriented, hip hop-based, and producer-driven sampling approach of contemporary R&B.^[4][5][13] In her book Musical Rhythm in the Age of Digital Reproduction, music author Anne Danielson writes that neo soul toward the end of the 1990s exhibited a musical development that was part of "a remarkable increase in musicians' experimentation with and manipulation of grooves at the microrhythmic level - that is, the level in played music that is usually understood in terms of phrasing and timing."^[14]

Noting that most of the genre's artists are singer-songwriters, writers have viewed neo soul artists' lyrical content of as more "conscious-driven" and having a broader range than most other R&B artists.^[2][4][13] Allmusic calls it "roughly analagous to contemporary R&B".^[15] Dimitri Ehrlich of Vibe comments that neo soul artists "emphasize a mix of elegant, jazz-tinged R&B and subdued hip hop, with a highly idiosyncratic, deeply personal approach to love and politics".^[2] Music writers have noted that neo soul artists are predominantly female, which contrasts the marginalized presence of women in mainstream hip hop and R&B.^[16] Jason Anderson of CBC News calls neo soul a "sinuous, sly yet unabashedly earnest" alternative and "kind of haven for listeners turned off by the hedonism of mainstream hip-hop and club jams."^[8]

According to music writer Peter Shapiro, the term itself refers to a musical style that obtains its influence from more classical styles, and bohemian musicians seeking a soul revival, while setting themselves apart from the more contemporary sounds of their mainstream R&B counterparts.^[1] In a 1998 article on neo soul, Time journalist Christopher John Farley wrote that neo soul artists such as Lauryn Hill, D'Angelo, and Maxwell "share a willingness to challenge musical orthodoxy".^[13] In citing Tony! Toni! Tone! as progenitors of the genre, Tony Green of Vibe has viewed that the group pioneered the "digital-analog hybrid sound" of neo soul and "dramatically refreshed the digitalized wasteland that was R&B in the late '80s".^[17] Neo soul artists during the 1990s were heavily inspired by the eclectic sound and mellow instrumentation of Gil Scott-Heron's and Brian Jackson's collaborative work in the 1970s.^[18] All About Jazz has cited Jackson as "one of the early architects" of the sound and his early work with Scott-Heron as "an inspirational and musical Rosetta stone for the neo-soul movement".^[19]

History

1980s–1990s: Origins and breakthrough

Neo soul's musical development occurred during the 1980s through to the early 1990s with the work of musical acts such as Prince, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Terrence Trent D'Arby, Joi,^[20] and Mint Condition, whose music deviated from the conventions of most contemporary R&B at the time.^{[2][4][13][17]} Tony! Toni! Toné!-member Raphael Saadiq later embarked on a solo career and produced various works of other neo soul artists.^[21] Influential to neo soul, UK act Sade achieved success in the 1980s with music that featured a sophisti-pop style, incorporating elements of soul, pop, smooth jazz, and quiet storm.^[22][23] The band was part of a new wave of British R&B-oriented artists during the late-1980s and early 1990s that also included Soul II Soul, Caron Wheeler, The Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, and Lisa Stansfield.^[24] Allmusic's Alex Henderson writes that, "Many of the British artists who emerged during that period had a neo-soul outlook and were able to blend influences from different eras".^[24] Other British progenitors of the neo soul movement at the time included Young Disciples and Omar Lye-Fook,^[25] the latter of whom has been cited as "the father of British neo-soul" and an influence on many later neo soul artists.^[26] During the early to mid 1990s, the neo soul movement continued to grow with releases by Zhané, Groove Theory, Joi, Tony Rich, and Me'Shell NdegéOcello.^{[11][27][28][29]} Christopher John Farley writes that, "before there was a name for it, Prince had been carrying a torch for neo soul for decades, refusing to make R&B that played by the rules or fit into comfortable formats. In the mid-'90s, he was suddenly joined by a host of other soul artists who also wanted to break boundaries".^[30]

Although she disputes the term, Erykah Badu has been dubbed by writers as "the first lady of neo soul" and "the queen of neo-soul".^{[31][32][33][34]}

The success of Tony! Toni! Toné!'s 1993 album Sons of Soul has been viewed as a precursor to the soul music revival in the mid 1990s.^[35][36] In a 1997 article for the Los Angeles Times, music journalist Cheo Hodari Coker cited the album as having "largely sparked the soul music revival that has opened the door for a new generation of singers who build on the tradition of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder".^[35] Allmusic editor Leo Stanley writes in retrospect that by the release of Tony! Toni! Toné!'s follow-up album House of Music in 1996, "their influence was beginning to be apparent, as younger soul singer/songwriters like Tony Rich and Maxwell began reaching the R&B charts. Like Tony! Toni! Toné!, Rich and Maxwell relied on traditional soul and R&B values of songwriting and live performances, discarding the synth-heavy productions of the late '80s and early '90s".^[36]

Music writers have primarily credited the breakthroughs of D'Angelo's Brown Sugar (1995), Erykah Badu's Baduizm (1997), Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (1996), and Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) with shaping and raising the neo soul movement to commercial visibility into the late 1990s.^{[1][11][15][37][38][39]} According to Farley, D'Angelo's album "gives a nod to the past, [...] mints his own sound, with golden humming keyboards and sensual vocals and unhurried melodies [...] His songs were polished without being slick and smart without being pretentious", while Badu "brought an iconoclastic spirit to soul music, with her towering Afrocentric headwraps, incense candles, and quirky lyrics".^[30] Baduizm sold nearly three million copies and won Badu two Grammy Awards.^[34] Hill's debut featured her singing and rapping, with deeply personal lyrics,^[30] and was one of neo soul's primary successes,^[11] achieving massive sales, critical acclaim, and five Grammy Awards.^[40] Subsequently, other female neo soul artists broke through with their debut albums, including Macy Gray, Angie Stone, and Jill Scott.^[15][21] The 1997 film Love Jones capitalized on neo soul's success at the time with its soundtrack album, which impacted the Billboard charts and featured artists such as Hill, Maxwell, The Brand New Heavies, Me'Shell NdegéOcello, Groove Theory, and Dionne Farris.^[41][42]

According to music journalist Greg Kot, musical collective Soulquarians, consisting of such artists as D'Angelo, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Mos Def, Common, James Poyser, and Q-Tip, contributed significantly to the neo soul movement during the late 1990s to the early 2000s with its members' "organic soul, natural R&B, boho-rap".^[43] Following a minor decline in its hype, neo soul's mainstream popularity increased in the late 1990s with the successes of Hill, Maxwell, Eric Benét, Raphael Saadiq, and Les Nubians.^[11] It impacted more mainstream-oriented R&B radio, while influencing contemporary R&B acts, such as R. Kelly and Aaliyah,^[30] to incorporate some of its textural and lyrical elements.^[11] In his song "When a Woman's Fed Up" (1998), R&B recording artist R. Kelly incorporated a more soul-based sound and referenced Erykah Badu's "Tyrone" in the lyrics.^[11]

2000s: Apex and mainstream decline

Raheem DeVaughn performs socially-conscious and love-themed songs with a style that has been compared to Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye.^[44][45]

A production of the Soulquarians,^[43] D'Angelo's acclaimed 2000 album Voodoo has been viewed by writers as a masterpiece and peak of the neo soul genre.^{[8][46][47][48]} Ben Ratliff of The New York Times called the album "the succes d'estime that proves the force of this new music: it is a largely unslick, stubbornly idiosyncratic and genuinely great album that has already produced two hit singles".^[5] By the time of her second album Mama's Gun (2000), Erykah Badu had been dubbed by writers as "the queen of neo-soul".^[34] She has said of the honorific title, "I hated that because what if I don’t do that anymore? What if I change? Then that puts me in a penitentiary."^[34] Subsequently, other neo soul artists attained success in the early 2000s, including Bilal, Musiq Soulchild, India.Arie, and Alicia Keys, who broke through to broader popularity with her debut album Songs in A Minor (2001).^[15][2][49] Hip hop artists such as The Roots and Common, associated with the Soulquarians,^[43] released albums that incorporated neo soul, Phrenology (2002) and Electric Circus (2003).^[21]

However, the 2000s decade later saw a decline in output by neo soul recording artists,^[7][50] with many of them failing to make a commercial impact and previous successes not releasing a follow-up album.^[41] Erykah Badu's commercial viability decreased as each of her releases following her debut Baduizm departed further from that album's music.^[8] Lauryn Hill followed-up her 1998 debut, considered the best-selling neo soul album, with the 2002 live album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, a combative, confessional work in which she expresses her misgivings about fame.^[8] Melena Ryzik of The New York Times wrote in a retrospect of that "era of left-of-center black singer-songwriters", stating "many of them struggled to keep their creative momentum, conflicted about their early mainstream success."^[34] In a 2003 interview, music publicist John Constanza said that "The neo-soul movement is still there, but it's been underground, and it's trying to get the attention of the mainstream again".^[41] Producer and Soulquarians member Questlove elaborated on the artists' regression from the mainstream, saying "I think most of us went through our psychosomatic, quasi-self-saboteur stage. Once we got that first taste of success, I think just the pressure of reacting got to all of us. Some of us released some of the craziest records of our career."^[34] Other artists such as D'Angelo and Lauryn Hill went on indefinite hiatus from the music scene.^[34][8] Music writer Tyler Lewis of PopMatters attributed the decline to "the downside of [the] rejection of the term ['neo soul']", writing that:

[T]he industry, which already has a hard time with unapologetic and complicated black artists, had no idea what to do with all these enormously talented individuals who rejected entire marketing campaigns designed to 'break' them to the record-buying public. As such, albums were shelved or delayed or retooled and artists were dropped from major labels and forced to go it alone, making the first decade of the 21st century the least "soulful"—however you define it—decade for the industry itself in… well, decades.^[7]

—Tyler Lewis

The Boston Globe's Renée Graham wrote of the artists' ambivalence towards the term in a 2003 article on neo soul's standing, "Despite its critical success, if neo-soul had an initial failing, it was the media-created label itself - a term that the artists, whom it was meant to represent, generally rejected".^[41] Mark Edward Nero of About.com writes that, "In general, neo-soul has remained almost exclusive to R&B outlets such as urban radio and Black Entertainment Television [...] the majority of neo-soul artists have yet to crossover to mainstream American music listeners, partially because the music's sound generally focuses on artist expression, rather than popular appeal".^[51] During the mid-2000s, emerging artists such as Heather Headley, Anthony David, J Davey, Eric Roberson, and Ledisi became signed to independent soul labels and received exposure through independent retailers, neo soul-oriented web sites, college and public radio stations, city club venues, cable networks such as Music Choice and BET J, and publishing deals as writers and producers for major label-recording artists.^[52] Erykah Badu and Maxwell returned from their respective hiatuses and released well-received albums, her New Amerykah albums and his 2009 album BLACKsummers'night, and they subsequently toured together.^[8][53][54]

2010s

The more popular neo soul artists in recent years have included John Legend, Anthony Hamilton, Jill Scott, Maxwell, Chrisette Michele, Leela James, and Raheem DeVaughn.^[21][51] DeVaughn has described himself as an "R&B Hippy Neo-Soul Rock Star", viewing it as a reference to his eclectic musical style.^[44] In its 2010 issue on critical moments in popular music, Spin cited D'Angelo's Voodoo and its success as a turning point for neo soul, stating "D'Angelo's pastiche of funk, carnal ache, and high-minded, Afrocentric rhetoric stands as neo-soul's crowning achievement. So unsurpassable that it'd be eight years before we'd hear from Erykah Badu and Maxwell again, while Hill and D'Angelo remain missing. But Alicia Keys, John Legend, and Cee-Lo picked up D's mantle and ran with it".^[50]

See also

• African-American music
• Category: Neo soul singers
• Soul music

References

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External links

• Neo soul at the Open Directory Project
• Out of a Rut and Into a New Groove — By Ben Ratliff
• Afrofuturism and Post-Soul Possibility in Black Popular Music — By the African American Review