{
  "slug": "neo-soul",
  "name": "Neo-Soul",
  "aliases": [
    "neo soul",
    "nu soul",
    "soulquarians"
  ],
  "description": "Nineties soul rebuilt by musicians raised on hip-hop. Live bands playing deliberately behind the beat, seventies chord voicings, and an insistence on album-length statements at the height of the singles era.",
  "origin": {
    "place": "Philadelphia and New York City",
    "year": 1995
  },
  "lineage": [
    {
      "genre": "golden-age-hip-hop",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/golden-age-hip-hop/",
      "inherited": "The rhythmic feel and the standards. Neo-soul players learned their timing from sampled loops rather than from live soul records, which is why the drums sit fractionally late in a way no session drummer of the seventies would have allowed."
    },
    {
      "genre": "funk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/funk/",
      "inherited": "The instrumentation and the harmony. When the samples came off, what was left underneath was a live rhythm section playing the parts the samples had been lifted from in the first place."
    },
    {
      "genre": "soul",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/soul/",
      "inherited": "The thing being restored. Neo-soul is explicitly an argument that the seventies got something right — the live rhythm section, the album as a statement, the singer as an interpreter rather than a brand."
    }
  ],
  "bpm": {
    "min": 70,
    "max": 100
  },
  "updated": "2026-08-29",
  "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/neo-soul/",
  "trackCount": 9,
  "curatedBy": [
    {
      "name": "The Waxonia Desk",
      "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/",
      "pickCount": 5
    }
  ],
  "playlists": {},
  "tracks": [
    {
      "rank": 1,
      "trackKey": "dangelo--brown-sugar",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dangelo--brown-sugar/",
      "title": "Brown Sugar",
      "artist": "D'Angelo",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dangelo/",
      "year": 1995,
      "label": "EMI",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The record that announced the whole project: a Rhodes, a hip-hop drum feel and a vocal arrangement borrowed from Marvin Gaye. Nothing on radio in 1995 sounded this unhurried.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/D'Angelo%20Brown%20Sugar",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=H_WzjiTzZBA",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 2,
      "trackKey": "dangelo--untitled-how-does-it-feel",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dangelo--untitled-how-does-it-feel/",
      "title": "Untitled (How Does It Feel)",
      "artist": "D'Angelo",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dangelo/",
      "year": 2000,
      "label": "Virgin",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Seven minutes that dismantle the idea of a single. The band play so far behind the beat that the track feels like it might stop, and the video obscured how extraordinary the arrangement is.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/D'Angelo%20Untitled%20(How%20Does%20It%20Feel)",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVNOnPyvIU",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 3,
      "trackKey": "erykah-badu--on-and-on",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/erykah-badu--on-and-on/",
      "title": "On & On",
      "artist": "Erykah Badu",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/erykah-badu/",
      "year": 1997,
      "label": "Kedar",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A jazz vocal delivered over a beat that would not be out of place on a Tribe record. Badu arrived fully formed, and the phrasing on this is still being copied.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Erykah%20Badu%20On%20%26%20On",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=-CPCs7vVz6s",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 4,
      "trackKey": "lauryn-hill--ex-factor",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/lauryn-hill--ex-factor/",
      "title": "Ex-Factor",
      "artist": "Lauryn Hill",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/lauryn-hill/",
      "year": 1998,
      "label": "Ruffhouse",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A Wu-Tang sample, a gospel structure and a lyric with no interest in protecting anyone's dignity, least of all its author's. The most-covered song of the era, and nobody has improved on it.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Lauryn%20Hill%20Ex-Factor",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cE-bnWqLqxE",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 5,
      "trackKey": "the-roots-featuring-erykah-badu--you-got-me",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/the-roots-featuring-erykah-badu--you-got-me/",
      "title": "You Got Me",
      "artist": "The Roots featuring Erykah Badu",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-roots-featuring-erykah-badu/",
      "year": 1999,
      "label": "MCA",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "A live band proving a rap record needs no samples to swing, then handing the last ninety seconds to a drum-and-bass breakdown. Questlove's finest recorded argument.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Roots%20featuring%20Erykah%20Badu%20You%20Got%20Me",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MJCHeEQV454",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 6,
      "trackKey": "maxwell--ascension-dont-ever-wonder",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/maxwell--ascension-dont-ever-wonder/",
      "title": "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)",
      "artist": "Maxwell",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/maxwell/",
      "year": 1996,
      "label": "Columbia",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "The most straightforwardly beautiful record in the genre, and the one that proved this was a movement rather than one man in Virginia. Sade's restraint, updated without being diluted.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Maxwell%20Ascension%20(Don't%20Ever%20Wonder)",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=D7rm9t5S4uE",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 7,
      "trackKey": "slum-village--guess-who",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/slum-village--guess-who/",
      "title": "Guess Who",
      "artist": "Slum Village",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/slum-village/",
      "year": 2000,
      "label": "Barak",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "J Dilla programming drums that are audibly, deliberately out of time and grooving harder for it. The production technique underneath half of this list, laid bare on one track.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/"
        },
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Slum%20Village%20Guess%20Who",
          "exact": false
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 8,
      "trackKey": "common--the-light",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/common--the-light/",
      "title": "The Light",
      "artist": "Common",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/common/",
      "year": 2000,
      "label": "MCA",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Dilla again, a Bobby Caldwell loop, and a love letter that never once condescends. The clearest evidence that the Soulquarians' method worked for rappers as well as singers.",
      "alsoOn": [
        {
          "kind": "curator",
          "slug": "the-desk-the-soulquarians-room",
          "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Soulquarians Room",
          "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-soulquarians-room/"
        }
      ],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Common%20The%20Light",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OjHX7jf-znA",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "rank": 9,
      "trackKey": "solange--cranes-in-the-sky",
      "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/solange--cranes-in-the-sky/",
      "title": "Cranes in the Sky",
      "artist": "Solange",
      "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/solange/",
      "year": 2016,
      "label": "Saint",
      "isrc": null,
      "whyItMatters": "Twenty years on, the same values — patience, live strings, a refusal to raise the voice — applied to an entirely modern record. Proof the genre became a grammar rather than a period.",
      "alsoOn": [],
      "links": {
        "spotify": {
          "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Solange%20Cranes%20in%20the%20Sky",
          "exact": false
        },
        "youtubeMusic": {
          "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=S0qrinhNnOM",
          "exact": true
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}