Neo Soul
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Neo Soul
Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contemporary R&B. Heavily based in soul music, neo soul is distinguished by a less conventional sound than its contemporary R&B counterpart, with incorporated elements ranging from funk, jazz fusion, hip hop, and African music to pop, rock, and electronic music. It has been noted by music writers for its traditional R&B influences, conscious-driven lyrics, and strong female presence. Neo soul developed during the 1980s and early 1990s, in the United States and United Kingdom, as a soul revival movement. It earned mainstream success during the 1990s, with the commercial and critical breakthroughs of several artists, including D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell. Their music was marketed as an alternative to the producer-driven, digit ...
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Soul Music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became popular for dancing and listening, where U.S. record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa. It also had a resurgence with artists like Erykah Badu under the genre neo-soul. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and an especially tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds. Soul music reflects the African-American identity, and it stresses the importance of an African-Ameri ...
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Progressive Soul
Progressive soul (often shortened to prog-soul; also called black prog, black rock, and progressive R&B) is a type of African-American music that uses a progressive approach, particularly in the context of the soul and funk genres. It developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s through the recordings of innovative black musicians who pushed the structural and stylistic boundaries of those genres. Among their influences were musical forms that arose from rhythm and blues music's transformation into rock, such as Motown, progressive rock, psychedelic soul, and jazz fusion. Progressive soul music can feature an eclectic range of influences, from both African and European sources. Musical characteristics commonly found in works of the genre are traditional R&B melodies, complex vocal patterns, rhythmically-unified extended composition, ambitious rock guitar, and instrumental techniques borrowed from jazz. Prog-soul artists often write songs around album-oriented concepts and socially ...
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Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and social science. The company publishes approximately 1,800 journals and 5,000 new books each year and their backlist encompasses over 70,000 titles. Routledge is claimed to be the largest global academic publisher within humanities and social sciences. In 1998, Routledge became a subdivision and imprint of its former rival, Taylor & Francis Group (T&F), as a result of a £90-million acquisition deal from Cinven, a venture capital group which had purchased it two years previously for £25 million. Following the merger of Informa and T&F in 2004, Routledge became a publishing unit and major imprint within the Informa "academic publishing" division. Routledge is headquartered in the main T&F office in Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire and ...
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Mark Anthony Neal
Mark Anthony Neal is an American author and academic. He is the Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African and African-American Studies at Duke University, where he won the 2010 Robert B. Cox Award for Teaching. Neal has written and lectured extensively on black popular culture, black masculinity, sexism and homophobia in Black communities, and the history of popular music. Neal is the founder and managing editor of the blog NewBlackMan. He hosts the weekly webcast ''Left of Black'' in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University. A frequent commentator for NPR, Neal contributes to several on-line media outlets, including Huff Post Black Voices and SeeingBlack.com. Mark Anthony Neal is a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. Publications ''What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture'' (1998) In this work, Neal interprets the vast array of issues and overlapping instances that create black music and culture. T ...
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Michigan Chronicle
''The Chronicle'' is a weekly African-American newspaper based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1936 by John H. Sengstacke, editor of the ''Chicago Defender''. Together with the ''Defender'' and a handful of other African-American newspapers, it is owned by Detroit-based Real Times Inc. Its headquarters are in the Real Times offices in Midtown Detroit. Early history The ''Chronicle'' first editor was Louis E. Martin, whom Sengstacke sent to Detroit on June 6, giving him a $5.00 raise above his $15-per-week salary at the ''Chicago Defender'', $10 in cash and a one-way bus ticket. The ''Chronicles first issue had a circulation of 5,000 copies. In 1944, long-time publisher Longworth Quinn joined Martin at the ''Chronicle''. Quinn became a leader in Detroit's African-American business and church groups, and those groups supported the ''Chronicle''. The ''Chronicle'' garnered national attention in its early years for its "radical" approach to politics -- advocacy of organi ...
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Independent Music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing. The term ''indie'' is sometimes used to describe a genre (such as indie rock and indie pop), and as a genre term, "indie" may or may not include music that is independently produced, and many independent music artists do not fall into a single, defined musical style or genre and create self-published music that can be categorized into diverse genres. The term 'indie' or 'independent music' can be traced back to as early as the 1920s after it was first used to reference independent film companies but was later used as a term to classify an independent band or record producer. Record labels Independent labels have a long history of promoting developments in popular music, stretching back to the post-war period in the United ...
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Maxwell (musician)
Gerald Maxwell Rivera (born May 23, 1973), known mononymously as Maxwell, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to prominence following the release of his debut studio album ''Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite'' (1996), which received widespread acclaim, and spawned the singles " Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)" and "Sumthin' Sumthin'". The album has since been cited by music critics for helping form the "neo soul" movement that rose to prominence during the late 1990s. Maxwell then released the albums ''Embrya'' (1998), and ''Now'' (2001), both of which were certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); with the latter reaching number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. After taking a hiatus from music, he returned in 2009 with his fourth studio album ''BLACKsummers'night,'' which became his second album to reach number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. ''BLACKsummers'night'' was nominated for six Grammy Awards, inclu ...
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Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. Hill is credited for breaking barriers for female rappers, popularizing melodic rapping and for bringing hip hop and neo soul to popular music. She is known for being a member of Fugees, and for her 1998 solo album ''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'', which became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Hill has won many accolades, including eight Grammy Awards, the most for a female rapper to this day. Hill starred in the film '' Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit'' (1993). She later formed the group Fugees, alongside Pras Michel and his cousin Wyclef Jean. The group released two albums, including '' The Score'' (1996); which spawned the hit single " Killing Me Softly", with Hill on lead vocals. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rap A ...
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Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu (), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut album ''Baduizm'' (1997), placed her at the forefront of the neo soul movement, earning her the honorific nickname "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Neo Soul" by music critics. Badu's career began after she Opening act, opened a show for D'Angelo in 1994 in Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth; leading to record label executive Kedar Massenburg signing her to Kedar Entertainment. Her first album, ''Baduizm'', was released in February 1997. It spawned four singles: "On & On (Erykah Badu song), On & On", "Appletree (song), Appletree", "Next Lifetime" and "Otherside of the Game". The album was certified music recording sales certification, triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) ...
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D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" for R&B supergroup Black Men United. His debut studio album, ''Brown Sugar'' (1995), received widespread acclaim from music critics, who have credited the album for ushering in the neo soul movement; and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Its third single " Lady", reached the top ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. He would then collaborate with artists such as Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and then girlfriend Angie Stone. His next album, ''Voodoo'' (2000), debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and continued to receive critical acclaim. The album's lead single "Untitled (How Does It Feel)", earned him the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance; likewise, ''Voodoo'' won Best R& ...
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Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, pitch corrected vocals, and a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Electronic influences are becoming an increasing trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip hop may be reduced and smoothed out. Contemporary R&B vocalists often use melisma, and since the mid-1980s, R&B rhythms have been combined with elements of hip hop culture and music and pop culture and pop music. Pre-history According to Geoffrey Himes speaking in 1989, the progressive soul movement of the early 1970s "expanded the musical and lyrical boundaries of &Bin ways that haven't been equaled since". This movement was led by soul singer-songwriter/producers such as Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, ...
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Kedar Massenburg
William "Kedar" Massenburg (born 1963) is an American record producer and record label executive, who was the president of Motown Records from 1997 to 2004. Massenburg is best known for bringing Erykah Badu to fame. He trademarked the term "neo soul." Massenburg is the founder, president and CEO of Kedar Entertainment. Early life and education William "Kedar" Massenburg was born in 1963. Massenburg is a 1981 graduate of Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York and a 1986 graduate of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Career After college, Massenburg spent several years in marketing positions, including two years as a district manager for PepsiCo (maker of Pepsi Cola), and a year with SmithKline Beecham Clinical Labs Pharmaceuticals.Black Enterprise, November 1994, p. 128 In 1995, he established Kedar Entertainment, originating out of his New York home, with a $1,700 outlay from his own pocket and consisted of a desk set, fax machine, copier, and porta ...
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