Delano's Neo Soul Mix
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5.) Slum Village's lineup has switched numerous times throughout its 26-year career. The Detroit trio originally started off with childhood friends and one of my favorite producers/rappers, the late J Dilla (1974-2006) and his mates Battin (1974-2009) and T3. They gained fame in 1997 by a boot-legged release of their first album titled Fantastic(Vol. 1) which got many plays throughout the streets landing them a record deal with Barak/A&M records in 1998. While the group struggled to take off, Dilla alone had a rep in the industry working with major artists like Janet Jackson, Pharcyde, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, and Q-Tip. This led him to be the first to leave the group and progress in his solo career. I chose Selfish as my selected song which was featured on their fourth album Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit) by members eLZhi and T3 and produced by legendary Kanye West. The message is relatable as a lot of time we want our cake and to eat it too. They acknowledge that and admit that it's "selfish" but they can't help it, that's just how they feel. The Neo-soul era was still hot at the time and is the reason why a song with such toxic lyrics is so easily digestible as it glides so smoothly.
4.) The Foreign Exchange consists of members Phonte from Raleigh, NC, and Nicolay from the Netherlands. They would collab strictly online coining the name The Foreign Exchange. In 2004 their well-acclaimed album Connected was released which was a childhood favorite of mine. The song "Come Around" questions the whereabouts of a partner with a reassuring response of "I'm still here". We have lives outside of our relationship where we work and gain skills and hobbies to aid the relationship so have no fear of infidelity.
3.) Alicia Keys, the soulful singer from Hell's Kitchen, NY definitely has created some of my favorite songs of all time. She is one of the front runners of Neo-soul, exuding a brown aura on her album The Diary of Alicia Keys. The hit song "You Don't Know My Name" always held a special place in my heart heightened by its music video with Mos Def as the guy Keys is after. I love her dialogue which can be heard in both the music video and the album version where we see something rare happen. Keys the woman is making the first move to get what she wants since she can't seem to knock the feelings for this guy. She recites his outfits and his order to him and rounds it out with a powerful crescendo at the end which really sets the tone of the song.
