Genre
Neo-Soul
5 artists
What is neo-soul? Neo-soul is a modern take on '60s and '70s soul, mixed with hip-hop, jazz and funk. Warm, organic and often deeply personal, with real instruments and a strong hip-hop rhythm.
Where it comes from. The term was popularized in the late '90s by Motown executive Kedar Massenburg, who worked with D'Angelo and Erykah Badu. D'Angelo's Brown Sugar (1995), Badu's Baduizm (1997) and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) defined the sound. The Soulquarians, a collective with D'Angelo, Badu, Questlove, J Dilla and Common, took it further around 2000. Mary J. Blige, the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul", had already shown how soul and hip-hop belong together. Today Ari Lennox and The Internet carry it forward.
The sound. Rhodes piano, live bass, loose, swinging drums (often in J Dilla's style) and expressive vocals full of feeling.
Key albums
- Brown Sugar, D'Angelo (1995)
- Baduizm, Erykah Badu (1997)
- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Lauryn Hill (1998)
- Voodoo, D'Angelo (2000)
- Mama's Gun, Erykah Badu (2000)
- Shea Butter Baby, Ari Lennox (2019)
