Neo-Soul, what is wrong with that Terminology?

[souljoint-chief]

I was reading the Neo-Soul Today Blog yesterdau and i found a post there demonstrating that Raheem Devaughn is not a Neo-Soul Atist. The Blogger is no doubt putting a lot of work behind every post and everything he writes is well documented, but the question is knowing what the so called Ne-Soul musicians think about that term see Jaguar Wright's "Divorcing neo to Marry Soul", what is the point of the Blog about Music Term that is actually a marketing gimmick?

What's the point of debating whether or not Raheem is "neo-soul"? How does that help him increase his fanbase?

I've known Raheem for years. I've seen him grow from a young kid with dreams into a seasoned professional. His shows and music appeal to the hood, to the boho/incense/nag champa set, to old heads who feel Marvin and Sam Cooke in his voice, to folks trying to shake their a** in the club... everyone! If he establishes his neo-soul club by defining who is or who isn't welcome, it could easily and needlessly divide people when all that should matter is whether or not the music makes them feel good.

The dreadlocked sista will sneer down her nose at the 'round the way girl because she can't partake of her precious neo-soul experience. Or the 'round the way might not even want to be bothered with the pretensions of those "conscious" folks. I see it happen all the time. Definitions breed perceptions which become reality.

All that should matter is connecting good music with people who will appreciate it. Reviews and artist spotlights are helpful in this regard, but do you really believe that rules, definitions, charts and graphs also achieve the same end?

[Tito_Jackson]

I was reading the Neo-Soul Today Blog yesterdau and i found a post there demonstrating that Raheem Devaughn is not a Neo-Soul Atist. The Blogger is no doubt putting a lot of work behind every post and everything he writes is well documented, but the question is knowing what the so called Ne-Soul musicians think about that term see Jaguar Wright's "Divorcing neo to Marry Soul", what is the point of the Blog about Music Term that is actually a marketing gimmick?

What's the point of debating whether or not Raheem is "neo-soul"? How does that help him increase his fanbase?

I've known Raheem for years. I've seen him grow from a young kid with dreams into a seasoned professional. His shows and music appeal to the hood, to the boho/incense/nag champa set, to old heads who feel Marvin and Sam Cooke in his voice, to folks trying to shake their a** in the club... everyone! If he establishes his neo-soul club by defining who is or who isn't welcome, it could easily and needlessly divide people when all that should matter is whether or not the music makes them feel good.

The dreadlocked sista will sneer down her nose at the 'round the way girl because she can't partake of her precious neo-soul experience. Or the 'round the way might not even want to be bothered with the pretensions of those "conscious" folks. I see it happen all the time. Definitions breed perceptions which become reality.

All that should matter is connecting good music with people who will appreciate it. Reviews and artist spotlights are helpful in this regard, but do you really believe that rules, definitions, charts and graphs also achieve the same end?


Good post.

[Tito_Jackson]

Damn I thought someone would add on.
I agree with you on a certain level but the paradox involves the fact that you must must have these definitions. Without definitions of various genres there would cease to be any and that in and of itself could not be sustained. Every art from needs definitions and boundaries to define itself otherwise it would cease to exist as anything but generic.
So yes the end result should be to connect good music to people but beyond that the music itself must be defined. The better question would be "who defines the music".
Just my thought on the matter.

[souljoint-chief]

I think Musiq and Jill Scott and the likes are different from Marvin and Roberta and they are way too different than Jagged Edge so they need maybe a new label... which one neo-soul? I don't think so. Musiq and others have been very vocal about it, there is nothin new about Neo... http://souljoint.com/Article578.html

if you ask poeple in poll to choose name that describe or capture the essence of this music, do you feel most of them will come out with Ne-Soul... or if you ask those same people to think a minute or two about the reason that music is called Neo-Soul...

Explaining to poetntial repondants that neo means new in latin and that this Neo-Soul Label alone suggests that Scott, Musiq, Arie and others have a created/ivented a new genre of music...? no they don't... they consider it a sub-genre that need to have some sort fo classification label...

I agree with the need to distinguish it, but that term is not what it should be...

Who define the music? Wow i don't really know, the people maybe but so fra it is the marketing executive?

To Give you an example: Do you remember how RnB that we listen today (Usher, Ciara, Bobby Valentino), was known as New Jack Swing back then? according to several site specialized on this (www.njs4ever.com specially) the NJS era stoped in 1996... I don't know how old you are but if you were old enough to go to party to dance on Don't be cruel and do the Runner step, then you should agree that at no point there was a real chiasma between NJS and current RnB, for any music listner this was just about the same music... i went from SWV's to Destiny's child without thinkin that it wasn't New Jack swing anymore, for me all of this was about the same, at one point i called it NJS and then when marketers told us to change i started called that RnB... but it was about the same music...

[Tito_Jackson]

I see what you're saying with the NJS thing, but obviously there had to be difference in the music initially to warrant a new name. I'm guessing the reason for the change lies in the fact that the music which once was sub-genre became the standard. To call the standard "New Jack" would have been contrived and cliched. Just like what will eventually happen with Neo-Soul. More and more artist will adopt the sound until it will become the standard and just referred to as RnB. Sure the naming is a marketing gimmick but so was every other genre. And yeah Neo-Soul probably isn't the best name for it but it is a name that distinguishes (or used too) it from othere genre's. If anything having this discussion with you made me realize that this Neo-Soul craze is just part of an industry cycle. Eventually when so called Neo-Soul becomes (more) formalaic and indistinguishable from Rnb there will be another sub genre which the music industry will label something silly. Up and coming artist will jump on the bandwagon,until the point where everyone new is labeled _______, then start bytching about being "labeled _______" then are just chunked into the RnB bracket and the cycle continues.
Bottomline there will always be definitions. Whether it's the right name or not is purely semantics.

[nightdwella]

Can Kindred be considered Neo-Soul. They do have a nice 70's funk sound but more of a smooth r&b sound that possessed the 70's and early to mid 80's. They are currently touring with John Legend but Kindred like Raheem DeVaughn doesn't get the notoriety they rightfully deserve. Their music is so inspiring and loving that it can be compared to Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway or even Ashford and Simpson. They have this one song called "Where Would I Be?" It is nice as hell!!