Why 'Neo Soul' Ended - Here's Why

the early to mid 90s ushered in a new wave of artists that pushed the boundaries of black music until they broke they defied pop culture with an indifference to what the streets wanted in favor to what the soul wanted artists like Erica Badu D'Angelo and Maxwell are credited with pioneering the genre known today as neoo the unique spin on R&B swept the radio and became a household fixture by the early 2000s but as groundbreaking as it was its Commercial Appeal was shortlived Neil so artists experienced a whirlwind success and within a decade for various reasons many of them went on Hiatus a few to never make another album again how does a class of artists who gave us legendary hits like nothing even matters by Lauren Hill just vanish some say the genre fell off as quickly as it blew up others would say it just took a new form but what's for certain is that the Neo Soul that we knew in 1995 is no more here's why neo soul disappeared D'Angelo's 1995 brown sugar album is credited as one of the first neilo albums ever that could be because his manager at the time Kar masberg was the one who coined the term although many of the artists who gave Neil so his International impact rejected the label itself masberg felt it was necessary to give this new alternative R&B a name he told billor magazine in 2002 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 that's nothing really new Under the Sun but in terms of marketing today there's a need to categorize music for consumers so they know what they're getting so for lack of indiffer term I coined Neo Soul if things feel like it's jogging in place it makes it so easy for something to come in like boom kicking the door waving the for four and that's what Neo Soul did at that time it literally kicked in the door it waved a 4 four this is the new standard of how really earthy honest Jazzy R&B slash a little bit of Hip Hop so Q-tip can fall into that it it it was definitely a departure from um I I you know I worked with Teddy like back in the day I toured with black street so was definitely departure from New Jack City uh New Jack Swing yeah so it was something new it was slower it was Lush but it was honest and dope but for the mainstream listeners in the 9s Neil Soul was a brand new sound the genre infused contemporary R&B with elements of jazz funk hip-hop gospel and of course Soul artists like Jill Scott music Soul Child and common came on the scene sporting knit hats head wraps and afro in stark contrast to the shiny suits and blinged out Hip Huggers of popular Urban culture at the time Neo lyrics had more of a conscious such as stated by Demitri early for Vi magazine in 2002 the content had a deeply personal approach to love and politics neo soul in the90s made you either want to fight the power or take a long walk around the park after dark with your love yet it was still connected to the streets Neo Soul just felt real there was even a different sonically featuring less of a synthesized sounds of R&B in favor of more live instrumentation you could clearly hear the genre's influences of Marvin Gay Stevie Wonder Shaka Khan the list goes on they were inspired by the greats and intended to continue their legacy of making music for the soul when asked what components make up a neosa artist Jazz great Mike Phillips would say harmonically melodically I think um the progressions a little bit more open and more skewed towards Jazz um message wise um honesty even if it's it comes by way of vulnerability no matter no matter how you look at it the unbilical cord cannot be cut off from the culture now Kar masberg at the time was the former mtown records president who will go on assign the legendary Erica Badu to her first major deal with universal records under his kedar entertainment imprint Badu's debut album bism released in 1997 stamped in incense burning Dallas native as the first lady of Neo Soul as one of the biggest names of the genre she has never shied away from her indifference towards the neoo label like in 2008 she told today what's funny about neoo is that I don't even know what it is I know what the two words mean but the term was thrust upon myself and D'Angelo by Kar masberg he has a talent for spotting Underground Music that he feels is the next wave I guess that's what neoo is to kear a new wave of soul I accept it but I don't want to be called the queen of it or anything because I'm going to change and then everybody's going to be disappointed I feel like the term is brilliant but it's not me it's one part of me I don't feel like I created it during a public lecture for Red Bull Music Academy 2014 Badu's former label mate D'Angelo was asked how he felt about his music being classified as neo soul and the singer pled the fifth I don't want to disassociate and I respect it for what it is but anytime you put a name on something you put it in the Box I never claimed I do neoo when I first came out I said I do black music many neoo artists felt the label was a trap that stiffed their creativity because if they are labeled as neosa artist they'd never be able to create anything that isn't deemed Neo Soul the amb benevolence of Neo Soul artist towards the new found classification of their sound did not diminish the stardom that followed in the years to come by the year 2000 Neo so had reached its peak and was filled with chart topping record-breaking artists in 1998 then a member of the rap group Fuji Lauren Hill released her first and only solo studio album The critically Acclaim the miseducation of Lauren Hill earning her five Grammy Awards amongst a host of other accolades the album was a turning point for Neil So by the year 2000 the genre had reached a commercial breakthrough you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing a long walk by Jill Scott or love by music Soul Child the same year three albums produced by the collective soulquarians continue to solidify Neil so's position in music D'Angelo's Voodoo Commons Like Water for Chocolate and and Erica Badu's Mama's gun pushed the needle for creativity and black music and were mostly met with widespread Acclaim but the more the artists began to experiment with their sound the more their fears of being boxed in came to be for Erica abadu Mama's gun was nothing like her debut and although it is credited as one of the singer's best albums the sales didn't quite reflect the praise in an interview with the South African Sunday Times she revealed I worked really hard on Mama's gun I really felt I had something to prove and when it came out I was very pleased with my work but the commercial success in the United States was not as great as I expected and I was down for a little bit and doubted his power but when I started a tour again and saw all the people show up who knew the words it was confirmation that the work is not always for commercial success it's also for Spiritual upliftment neoo artists were always about the art first this success and fame that came along with it presenting their precious work to the world was just a bonus but in the music business it's all about the numbers unfortunately the need for artists who create for the love to be able to experiment their sound and do what feels right for them doesn't always equal record sales from the R&B group jacked Edge Brian Casey seemed to prophesized Neo Souls fate to Vibe magazine in a 2002 interview he said I appreciate a a lot of those Neo artists but they lost sight of making a hit record and if you don't make hit records people don't hear your music from the time of Neo Soul's Inception to the height of its popularity many of his biggest stars had already experimented repeated delays in releases or disappearances from the scene altogether common would further explain the notion for Spin Magazine in 2008 these artists won't allow anything they believe is AAR to be out there I can hear stuff the D'Angelo dead messing around in the studio and think it's incredible but if he doesn't feel it fans aren't going to hear it same thing for Lauren or Erica after a second album Badu found herself with a case of writers block and was relatively quiet aside from her frustrated artist tour until 2003 by the time her colleague Lauren Hill had effectively vanished from the public eye her 2002 live MTV Unplug number 2.0 album felt like a diary reading revealing her frustration with Fame and creating Whispers of the singer's unstable emotional well-being it would be one of her last recorded offerings as a solo Entertainer she told Essence in 2009 I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine I was being way too compromised this unique Afrocentric class of singers and songwriters from the '90s were thrust into the spotlight quickly and they had it all but many of them realized it came out of cost that they weren't willing to pay their creativity and freedom of expression felt limited with Fame and many of them were conflicted about mainstream success and a public sudden infatuation these factors along with other reasons like the artist personal struggles and record label conflicts led to less music from the artists who represented the original Neil soul group later in the 2000s we were introduced to more artists who held on to the foundation of Neil so like Heather Hedley Anthony Hamilton and Raheem Devon music classified as Neo so hasn't stopped being released and a few of the originals have maintained relevance but the genre as we knew it then has somewhat faded into Oblivion things have its time and its time has a lot to do with people in general so um fight the power can get some legs right now because of everything that's been happening that still happens but there's some music that don't get the legs because of where we are socially so if we want to consider ourselves in a social decline um why would musically be consumed um commercially that shows honesty and vulnerability and just good feeling if we're literally in the social decline which means if we're in a social decline then anything that gets absorbed commercially is a part of that Decline and if that music at that time was vibrating High why would we expect it to be popular now ironically the biggest neoo artists resented being labeled as neoo was the genre Doom from the start was classifying the free spirit a group of creatives the beginning of the end many fans and critics will argue that Neil So hasn't really left us but it has just taken on a new form the latter part of the 2010s gave us a new generation of R&B artists who have taken influence from those who originated New Soul in these days thanks to more digital marketing it doesn't really matter what you call it siza lucky day her summer Walker and Ari Linux are just the few that carry the torch for the black left of center artists who create from the soul black art is ever evolving and that's what makes it great we may no longer have Neo Soul the marketing tool but Soul music will be here forever

Channel: Comedy Hype

Views: 107,313

Keywords: comedy, jokes, laughter, stand-up, erykah badu, true story, best comedians, news show, dangelo, bilal, jazz, neo soul, documentary, here's why, real talk, music, common, jill scott, lauryn hill, lauren hill, ex factor, q tip, neo soul artist, best songs, top songs, soul sista, anthony hamilton, maxwell, bet, 106 and park, bet uncut, upn sitcoms, nothing even matters

Id: njyHGsxIwjY

Length: 12min 44sec (764 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 26 2023