From all I've heard of it, it's pretty damn dull. Which neo-soul artists do you guys like and dislike? And since I'm so bored by it thus far, which artists do you think might spark my interest?

squiddyren said:

Erykah...Floetry.....Jill Scott...John Legend?

I think that the best people who get lumped there really transcend the categorization, but :

Meshell Ndegeocello, Lewis Taylor, and D'Angelo are three that are constantly praised by musicians from other genres. Artists from Jazz, Rock, Pop and Hip Hop regulary cite them as influences...

Raphael Saadiq? IMO, I think he's at his best when collaborating with others, whether it's D'Angelo, Earth Wind and Fire, or back with Tony Toni Tone...


and the others? I think Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Van Hunt, Donnie, and Rashaan Patterson have great promise, though some of them are better live than on record....

then there are older artists outside of that definition, who fall somewhere between Rock and Funk, like David Ryan Harris and Sananda(Terence Trent)...


Qtip's Kamal The Abstract project definitely should have been heard by more people , but LA Reid and Aristadecided that it would be too hard to market and shelved it...but two years later, released Andre 3000's The Love Below...




...

paligap said:

n'dambi, goapele, rashaan, jill scott, dwele, anthony hamilton, bilal, maxwell, floetry (unbelievable live) and Erykah, of course.


Latifah is getting some love from me nowadays...or should I say Dana.


i'm lovin' the soul. nothing neo about it.

Any thoughts on Jaguar's comments?

squiddyren said:

Uhh, neo-souls a pretty nebulous entity. There are those who draw allegiances to the term, but many artists don't want to be associated with it yet get housed under it anyway.

Floetry's debut was cool, but I haven't spinned it in over a year.

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was cool, but I feel like such a trend-oid by mentioning him.

Erykah gets classified as neo-soul. I think she's probably the best. I loved "Baduizm," "Badu Live" and "Mama's Gun."

Jill Scott is aiight. I'm not really into her like that. But I do like "The Way" and some of the stuff from the first LP. I thought "Golden" was not hot.

Willie Max had one single out that I was feeling with Raphael called "Can't Get Enough," but they are nowhere to be found.

Basically, stick with Erykah and Raphael, IMO.

Also, you can check out K'Alyn. He's cool.

I like Freestyle Nation, too. And a li'l stuff from Kindred. Jiva is nice. And I do like some stuff from Seek (but they remind me too much of Sweetback).

Where's Groovement when ya need 'im.

Thanks, guys.

Amel Larrieux is quality, too.

Infinite Possibilities (2000) you should listen to.

Also, check out Groove Theory (1996) that's a '90s R&B classic. We've all heard "Tell Me."

Labels aside, I love Toni Tony Tone. You need to check out "House of Music" -- that was a good a** album. The "Hits" collection is great for any new TTT listener.

Also, DJ Quik is not Neo-Soul, but I'll be d*mned if RHYTHM-AL-ISM didn't have that funk and soullll*!

.
[Edited 7/20/05 10:49am]

JANFAN4L said:

How did I forget Amel?

I only know D'angelo, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, Rahsaan Patterson n
Jill Scott.Of those 5, the only ones who'se career I intend to
follow for a few more albums is Maxwell and Erykah. The rest is
either not my cup of tea anymore or takes to damn long comin up
with something new lol.

I'm still curious when Maxwell is going to release another album
and wether it will be as horrible as "Now" or wether he will put
some more balls in it and come up with that album that we've got
stories about again and again now, the album that's supposedly a
lot like a Prince album.

Now that, I would like to hear

But I still play "Embrya" regularly. It's one of the few records
that I can share with others and which is still uniquely my own.
I don't know how to describe it, it's just very special to me in
that it seems like the kind of music that might be played in the
places I sometimes escape to "in my mind"



[Edited 7/20/05 11:05am]

I honestly hate the term 'Neo- Soul' Because there is nothin "new" about soul music - soul is soul --- However, since folks seem to wanna lump all the new soul artist into one catagory so here we go
If you wanna just be introduced without being bored there is Soul-funk artist named Cody Chestnutt (he is the definite truth)



You'll love the 'The Seed 2.0' go to mtv.com or launch.com and listen to it

Plugedit!
[Edited 7/20/05 12:24pm]

Rhondab said:

yeah i loved groove theory and amel is really talented.

It should be called "retro-soul" instead of neo-soul

OnionJuice said:

See that's what sucks about the term. Instead of recognizing that these are artists who are making soul music for today, the term "neo" emphasizes a sort of replication of something from the past.

squiddyren said:

Donnie, Rahsaan Patterson, Amp Fiddler, Saadiq, D'Angelo, Bilal, Alison Crockett, Davina, Hil St. Soul, Joi, Cherokee, Ledisi, Leela James, Badu, Jill, India Arie, Goapele, Adriana Evans, Heather Headley, Amel Larrieux, Maya Azucena, Lathun, Geno Young, N'Dambi, Carmen Rodgers, Brigette McWilliams, Floetry, Martin Luther, Van Hunt, Trina Broussard, Anthony Hamilton, Eric Benet, Glenn Lewis, Chico Debarge, Maxwell.

OnionJuice said:

Jag seems a bit lost in all of this: Neo doesn't mean 'NEW' in this instance as much as it means "Old Soul Music Brought Back By A NEW Generation"

The funny thing is, those artists that don't want to be categorized as "Neo Soul" hurt themselves in the longrun because THEN they get lumped into the category with Usher, Ciara, Ashanti, Mya, and 112 - ALL completely different types of "Soul."

Artists have to come off that shit and realize that the record company has to find a place to market you. Like it or not, there are categories of music. Artists don't sometimes understand that it's a BUSINESS, and it will remain that way until they start giving away CDs for free. If they don't like the business side of it, get the fuck out and release ya shit by yourself and see how far you get.

I'll tell you this, if Neo Soul all of a sudden blew the fuck up, they'd ALL be wantin' that Neo Soul moniker back.

Well, Me'Shell is in a category by herself.

hopefully after some time, the following artists will produce (or continue to produce) such great music that the term "neo" can be dropped.

Jill Scott
Van Hunt
Remy Shand (I said it)
Erykah Badu
D'Angelo
Maxwell
Dwele
Donnie (but his Stevie references are embarrassingly obvious)
Lewis Taylor
Vivian Green
Rhian Benson
Kenny Lattimore

Sisters like Jaguar, Maysa and Ledisi are simply "sangers" too big for neo-soul.

SweetKreme said:

Sorry, I know he has potential, but headphone masterpiece was mainly a bore.

OnionJuice said:

To an extent she's right. But the hip-hop influence on these new "soul" singers is so heavy that they will need to continue to make great music over a long period of time to transcend that label.

Nu soul (or neo soul) I actually liked at first. Sure I dont listen to it now, but today its awful.


Every women became a diva and got narrissistic and had to use lame ass timbaland beats. Also, like hiphop in general, every track featured someone else on it. Corss promotion I beleive it is called. Where once u get famous, u get ur friend famous, and so everyone winds as u get both fans of both artists buying the music.

Neo soul got shitty around year 2000. I like early mary J, early brandy at times, but it got whack.

thesexofit said:

Right around the time the 90's ended . . . hmmmm . . .

Anyways, with

Mama's Gun
Who Is Jill Scott?
Voodoo
the way i feel
subject
infinite possibilities
Van Hunt
Beautifully Human

among others, being released after 2000, I take issue with that statement.

namepeace said:

It all sounded too smaey for me. All got OTT and artists like budu annoyed the fuck outta me with their "holier then thou" bullshit

As a genre, it bores the hell out of me too. The only artist that is typically categorized under neo-soul that I like is India.Arie. RES too if she counts, which she shouldn't.

thesexofit said:

I don't think u 'quite' know what Neo Soul is, yo.

TheCrucialExperience said:

How u define neo soul? Neo was a castoff of nu soul or hiphop soul. Nu soul started with mary, brandy et all. Anyway, if it has a timbaland aping beat, even if real instruments are used, then its neo soul. A term that is hard to define anyway.

Its all linked anyway.

thesexofit said:

it is all linked, however neo soul is a distinct genre. what your refering to with brandy and mary j, is "contemporary R&B" of which Neo-soul is a subset, much as Thrash Metal is a subset of Metal, or Chicago Blues, is a subset of Blues. here is Allmusic's definition of neo-soul:

"Though it's roughly analagous to contemporary R&B, Neo-Soul artists pay more devotion to the era of classic soul, often seeking a sound and a style of songwriting with few concessions to events in the music world post-1975. The work of Lauryn Hill, first in the Fugees and later with her 1998 solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, proved very important to the neo-soul scene, as did the debut of Erykah Badu in 1997. Several more females made splashy debuts around the turn of the millennium, including Macy Gray, Jill Scott, India.Arie, and Alicia Keys, but only the latter broke through to broad stardom. Other figures pursuing the neo-soul sound include Raphael Saadiq, Remy Shand, Sunshine Anderson, Musiq, Peven Everett, and Jaguar Wright."

You wouldn't call Black Sabbath Thrash Metal, even though it is undeniably metal, likewise Brandy wouldn't be considered Neo-soul

byronic said:

I guess, but no doubt can u give credit to just luaryn hill, but I c ur and the reviewers point.

Thats why I love newjackswing so much. Sure it had influences, but it really didn't have half as many as neo soul did. Which is why people either hate it now or still really want it back. It really was new. Neo soul really isn't that new at all.

thesexofit said:

Nope. It was originally called Neo Classic Soul back when it first got its name around 95, mainly due to D'Angelo. They eventually dropped the "Classic" and just started calling it Neo Soul. Brandy and Mary J are R&B, Neo Soul is usually more conscious/sophisticated lyrics and employs jazz elements and that 70s sound. Timbaland was and never will be ever mentioned in the Neo Soul sentence.