🤡 Ah, Kedar Massenburg, the President of Motown Records from 1997 to 2004, a true maestro of making a “splash.” Like a UK Prime Minister wannabe from the 90s, he was ALL about that branding game. Tony Blair had ‘New Labour,’ and Kedar? Why, he bestowed upon us the gift of… ‘neo soul.’ Groundbreaking. Revolutionary. I’m not crying, you are! 😭
I mean, let’s be real, if our self-proclaimed ‘marketing genius’ hadn’t blessed us with this label, all that music from Motown and other Black labels in the late 90s might have just… ended up in the R&B or soul sections of HMV. Can you imagine? 🤯 The horror!
But no, Massenburg, in his infinite wisdom, conjured up a whole new category. “Gotta categorize music for the masses,” he told Billboard in 2002, bless his heart. “So they know what they’re getting.” Because consumers are too dumb to figure it out themselves, apparently. 🙄 And thus, ‘neo soul’ was born. A name so profound, so original, it’s almost… insulting. 💅
Then, the real fun began: trying to explain what the heck made neo soul so different from new jack swing, R&B, or progressive soul. It’s like trying to explain the difference between sparkling water and club soda—nobody truly knows, and nobody cares. 🤷♀️
AllMusic, in their infinite knowledge, declared that neo soul artists “pay more devotion to the era of classic soul, often seeking a sound and a style of songwriting with few concessions to events in the music world post-1975.” So, basically, they’re just nostalgic? Got it. Thanks for clearing that up. 🙄
Masterclass chimes in, describing it as “a sub-genre of contemporary R&B that merges the classic soul sounds of Stax and Motown Records with grooves borrowed from hip-hop, rock, funk and electronic music.” In other words, it’s a musical Frankenstein. 🧟 A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and BAM! You’ve got neo soul. Genius!
And, surprise, surprise, neo soul’s 15 minutes of fame were, well, brief. As Massenburg himself admitted in 2002: “A lot of people don’t like the term because, when you classify music, it becomes a fad, which tends to go away.” You don’t say? 🤨 Classifying music as a fad? Who would have thought that would happen? Oh, wait…
And just like that, many of its biggest stars – D’Angelo, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill – either vanished or faded into obscurity. It’s like they all collectively said, “Peace out, I’m done with this ‘neo soul’ nonsense.” 👋
Massenburg, ever the visionary, moved on to bigger and better things: wine! Because, you know, what’s more soulful than a good glass of fermented grapes? 🍷 Kedar Beverages, making the world a slightly tipsier place, one bottle at a time.
Sure, there have been a few albums since then that tried to recapture that “neo soul” magic – Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange and Alicia Keys’ As I Am, for example. But let’s be honest, neo soul is basically a musical fossil at this point. 🦕
Thirty years later, neo soul isn’t new, or particularly soulful. But hey, at least it’s a reminder that even the most questionable marketing ploys can leave a mark on music history. Or maybe it’s just a reminder that everything eventually becomes uncool. 🤔 Either way, thanks, Kedar, for the memories! 😂
Chord F. Discord, the Beethoven of Buffoonery, is a self-taught expert in music who once claimed he could “play the kazoo in four languages.”
Born in Crescendo, Indiana, Chord’s first brush with fame came when he accidentally entered a yodeling contest thinking it was a pie-eating competition—and won both categories.
Chord F. Discord: proving that laughter, much like a poorly tuned ukulele, is truly universal.
