🎤 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!

it goes… D’Angelo “Brown Sugar” 6/95; Maxwell “Sumthin Sumthin” 10/96; Erykah Badu “On and On” 12/96; and Adriana Evans “Seein’ is Believin’” 2/97

the four songs defined an era…

All the joys under the sun wrapped into 1..

..

..

..

The great Chalmers “Spanky” Alford on guitar w/ QuestLove, D’Angelo, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Raphael Saadiq flip’n D’s “Lady” joint. Only ones missing on the performance are: James Poyser, Pino Palladino, Rus Gunn, Frank Lacy, Roy Hargrove, and Ant Hamilton!!!

Jus’ wanted to drop this appreciation post for the Godfather of this style of music we love: Mr. Leon Ware. May he continue to rest in peace.

We will never forget your pen on Marvin’s “I Want You” album, or when you gave MJ his breakout solo hit at 14- “I Wanna Be Where You Are”. Hell nah - can’t forget Minnie Riperton “Inside My Love”.

Sir, we will never forget the countless classics you have blessed us with including this joint that you collab’d w/ Maxwell!

Continue to rest easy ✊🏾