Soul / R&B / Jazz Rap
familyStarted 1989Peak 1996-2005Last big hit still active
Rap that leans on Black musical tradition: gospel harmony, soul warmth, jazz chords, and the feel of live players in a room. Rhodes electric piano, walking or fluid bass, horn stabs, brushed or pocket-deep drums, and singing that bleeds into rapping. Lyrics tend conscious, romantic, or spiritual; the groove breathes rather than slaps.
History
Grew from late-'80s jazz-rap and the Native Tongues, then crystallized when D'Angelo, Erykah Badu and the Soulquarians fused hip-hop with live-band soul in Philadelphia and New York. The aesthetic seeded neo-soul, Robert Glasper's jazz-rap crossovers, and a 2010s revival via Anderson .Paak and Chicago's soul-leaning rappers.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_soul
- https://timeline.carnegiehall.org/genres/neo-soul
- https://www.blackmusicproject.com/genre/neo-soul