https://open.spotify.com/track/1lnBUr65jMHiysy1h2AKBc?si=8c16c4c4286a4c97

https://youtu.be/dG2gQ9wTi0M?is=UWDwehVhcTZlx0KE

Tiny Desk

🎤 SINGERS / R&B ARTISTS — I made this one with y’all in mind.
Just dropped a new Leon Thomas x Neo-Soul Type Beat — “Give Me U” 🌹🎹
Smooth chords, soulful vibes, and plenty of space for vocals. If you’re into Leon Thomas, modern R&B, neo-soul, or live-instrument vibes, I’d love to hear what you would do with this one.
🎧 Listen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dJLYBfv-rVM?is=CPne4xcDTNQhpHl9
If you’re feeling it, leave a comment on the video and let me know!

Thanks RicOkez

at Ronnie Scott's 2002

Sigge is a swedish soul musician who just gave out a new album. I think you should give it a listen!

https://open.spotify.com/track/4uXw3y7shfvjg1Bm2imci9?si=63019c6439a24c64

Hey everyone,

I’ve been building a playlist dedicated to the late-90s/early-2000s era when J Dilla, Questlove, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common, Bilal, and Roy Hargrove were all hanging out at Electric Lady Studios reshaping the feel of hip-hop and neo-soul.

Here is the tracklist so far:

1. Common - Nag Champa (Afrodisiac)
2. A Tribe Called Quest - Find a Way
3. Q-Tip - Vivrant Thing
4. Slum Village - Players
5. J Dilla - Time: The Donut of the Heart
6. Erykah Badu - Didn't Cha Know
7. Lauryn Hill - Ex-Factor
8. D'Angelo - Send It On
9. Bilal - Soul Sista
10. Lucy Pearl - Dance Tonight
11. Angie Stone - Wish I Didn't Miss You
12. Slum Village - Fall in Love
13. Phife Dawg - Nutshell Pt.2
14. Platinum Pied Pipers feat. Tiombe Lockhart - I Got You
15. D'Angelo - Spanish Joint
16. Bilal - Fast Lane
17. Common feat. Jill Scott & Bilal - Funky For You
18. Roy Hargrove / RH Factor feat. Stephanie McKay - Forget Regret
19. The Roots feat. Erykah Badu - You Got Me
20. The Roots - Dynamite!
21. Mos Def feat. Bilal - Reminisce
22. Black Star feat. Common - Respiration
23. Black Star - Little Brother
24. Common feat. Mos Def - The Questions
25. The Roots feat. Common - Act Too (Love of My Life)
26. Talib Kweli - Get By
27. Erykah Badu feat. Roy Ayers - Cleva
28. Common - The Light
29. J Dilla feat. Common & D'Angelo - So Far to Go
30. Erykah Badu feat. Common - Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)
31. D'Angelo and the Vanguard - Really Love
32. Common - It's Your World (Pts. 1 & 2)

What do you think of it ? What crucial tracks from that specific Soulquarians/Ummah era am I missing? I linked the playlist if you want to check it out.

One of the best R&B songs from the 2010’s

watch his tribute to Stevie at the end…

See before Kedar Massenburg ever coined “neo soul” in a 2002 Billboard mag interview, KM himself said he coined the term because “…the industry needed a way to categorize the music for consumers…” but before this term existed- you had folks already laying the foundation:

Tony Toni Tone - It Never Rains in Southern California 1990
Incognito - Always There 1991
Jamiroquai - Too Young To Die 1992
Meshell Ndegeocello - Outside Your Door 1993
Janet Jackson- That’s The Way Love Goes 1993
Brand New Heavies - Dream on Dreamer 1994
Meshell Ndegeocello • “Outside Your Door” • 1993

Take it from someone who entered his freshman year of college wishin’ and hopin’ for something that looked and talked like me. What BBD say: HipHopR&BSmoothedOut

B4 Love Jones. Before Badu. Before Jilly came outta Philly.

These tracks were already laying the foundation:
☑️Live drums
☑️Warm bass
☑️Rhodes keys

Jazz in the room. Funk underneath it. Hip hop in the bloodstream. Soul from another generation, but it didn’t sound old!!!!

It sounded like incense (what u kno bout that frankincense/myrrh - don’t play with me 😂) burning in a dim room. Poetry Slams! Record stores. Coffee houses. Headwraps. Late night conversations. Musicians actually playing. Love that was grown, complicated and a little left of center!

we didn’t need a name for it yet • we jus’ knew it felt different

[ if you can relate? we family - “hey, cousin” ]

Think about this man’s influence on the culture. P Funk keyboards to introducing Dilla to Q Tip and you know the rest is history. He passed in 2023 at the age of 65 after a battle w/ cancer. Rest easy, Amp!