THe hiSToRy of Neo SouL,,,

1980s–1990s

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, and Mint Condition, whose music deviated from the conventions of most contemporary R&B at the time. 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. Other British progenitors of the neo soul movement at the time included Omar Lye-Fook, Young Disciples, D'Influence, Urban Species, Jamiroquai, The Brand New Heavies, Soul II Soul, and Carleen Anderson.

During the early 1990s, the neo soul movement continued to grow with releases by Zhané, Dionne Farris, Groove Theory, Tony Rich, and Meshell Ndegeocello. The commercial 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) have been credited by writers with helping to shape and raise the neo soul movement to commercial visibility during the late 1990s. Lauryn Hill's debut album was one of neo soul's primary successes, achieving massive sales, critical acclaim, and five Grammy Awards. Both Hill's and Badu's successes helped pave the way for such female neo soul artists as Angie Stone, Jill Scott, India.Arie and Alicia Keys. 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". Following a minor decline in its hype, neo soul's mainstream popularity increased in the late 1990s as it impacted more mainstream-oriented R&B radio, while influencing contemporary R&B acts to incorporate some of its textural and lyrical elements. In his song "When a Woman's Fed Up" (1998), R&B artist R. Kelly incorporated a more soul-based sound and referenced Erykah Badu's "Tyrone" in the lyrics.

2000s

Since 2000, artists such as Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, John Legend, India Arie, Nicole Atkins, Musiq Soulchild, Sy Smith, Eric Roberson, Dwele,Goapele, Omar Lye-Fook, Eric Benet, Platinum Pied Pipers, Erykah Badu, Bilal Oliver, Raphael Saadiq, Amy Winehouse, Tweet, Noora Noorand Kem, etc., maintain Neo Soul. Recent major neo soul artists also include Dwele, Lucy Pearl, Floetry, Glenn Lewis, Res, Anthony Hamilton, Bilal, Hill St. Soul, Rahsaan Patterson, Stephanie McKay, Malina Moye, Emily King, Raheem DeVaughn, Gnarls Barkley, Sy Smith, Joss Stone, Ledisi, Cleveland, Ohio's Conya Doss, Cincinnati-Bred artists Ja'Meze & the Spoken word soul collective Shades of J, Big Brooklyn Red, Antonia Jenae, The Square Egg, Britain's Julie Dexter, Laurnea, N'Dambi, Gaelle, Rachael Bell, Joy Denalane, Aya, Divine Brown, Asa, Lady Seoul (AeKyung Yoo) and Angela Johnson.

Many indie soul artists are hardly known at all except within a certain geographic region like Conya Doss from Ohio, etc. Some artists have garnered exposure on the music video channels MTV2 and VH1 Soul, while others like Maxwell, Erykah Badu and D'Angelo, are known by mainstream America through Major Label promotions (Radio/Tv/Print Media), and live appearance such as D'Angelo's performance on VH1'sMen Strike Back 2000 and Badu's role in the movie Blues Brothers 2000. D'Angelo's critically acclaimed 2000 album Voodoo has been recognized by many critics as a masterpiece and the cornerstone of the neo soul genre. The New York Times writer Ben Ratliff 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". However, the 2000s decade later saw a decline in output by neo soul recording artists.

Music writer Tyler Lewis attributed the decline to "the downside of the rejection of the term ('neo soul')", writing that:

"The 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."

- Tyler Lewis -

wHaT is Neo 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. Heavily based in soul music, neo soul is distinguished by a less conventional sound than its contemporary R&B counterpart, with incorporated elements ranging from jazz, funk, and hip hop to pop, fusion, and African music.

Developed in the United States and United Kingdom during the 1980s and early 1990s as a soul "revival" movement, 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. 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.

According to Mark Anthony Neal, "neo-soul and its various incarnations has helped to redefine the boundaries and contours of black pop".

"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)

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. 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. 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. In a 2002 interview for Billboard, Massenburg expressed his view on the backlash and intentions of marketing the neo soul term, stating:

"....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."

- 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".