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".