Neo-soul or “new soul” was born in the 1980s and ‘90s when artists began melding R&B vocals with hip hop beats and soul instrumentation, adding influences from jazz, funk, pop, and African music for a truly hybrid genre. Unlike their predecessors, neo-soul artists focused on powerful, conscious lyrics and were often women. Artists like D’Angelo and Erykah Badu paved the way for many other alternative soul and new school hip hop acts to follow in their footsteps.
As hip hop was exploding into the mainstream, neo-soul artists moved away from programmed drums and towards live, organic instrumentation, pulling inspiration from the soul superstars such as Al Green, Nina Simone, Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. In the 1990s, we saw acts like Lauryn Hill maintain soul foundations while leaning heavier on hip hop influences as heard in her record The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
In the 200s and 2010s through today, alternative artists incorporated more future-funk elements, evolving neo-soul yet again. We hear this in Thundercat, Anderson .Paak, and The Internet who’ve added infectious dance elements that skyrocketed the genre into the mainstream limelight and made for highly entertaining live shows.
