New Artist Alert: Jasmine Jones

By Sean
Editor-in-Chief, Neo Soul Today

Artist S/V Rating: R&B/Underground
(What is this?)

It is difficult to discover a neo soul artist you've never heard of, heard, or seen before on iTunes. There is simply too much new and old music to search through. One can quickly grow tired of listening to one 20-second sample after another in search of something or someone new. Over the last 3 years, my first resort for finding new and emerging neo soul artists has been Liquid Soul Elements at Live365.com. When I had XM radio in my car, my second resort was The Flow on channel 61. However, on a regular basis, I still check iTunes to see if I happen to stumble upon a new neo soul artist, album, or song.

It was sometime around June 14, 2005. It was one of those times when I happened to be browsing through the R&B/Soul section of the iTunes Music Store. I wasn't looking for anything in particular; just checking to see if they had any new or emerging neo soul artists, albums, or songs. That night turned out to be my lucky night. There was an intriguing looking sister named Jasmine Jones exclusively billboarded atop the main R&B/Soul page featuring her newly-released album entitled "Battery Proper" (2005, Nickel City). So I proceeded to clickthrough to her album page to listen to some track samples. I was pleasantly impressed and surprised by what I heard; impressed enough to have had it in my rotation for a month and a half.

What immediately impressed me was the sheer sound quality of the tracks. There are many veteran neo soul artists whose song quality comes nowhere near that which was achieved on "Battery Proper." However, "intriguing" is the word that describes my first impressions of the independent Jasmine Jones' work on this album. Each track offers a completely different sound and flavor. Many of them I would place within the R&B sound category along the neo soul sound range. Yet, there are elements of hip hop beats that weave their way throughout the CD as well. Although Jasmine is just getting her career off the ground, my first impression is that she is a neo soul artist. However, it is too early to tell whether she'll ultimately be a neo soul artist or a contributing artist. She has a soft, unique voice with an apparently wide octave range. Her lyrics are easy to understand as she sings which makes the songs easier to experience.

"Battery Proper" has 15 tracks in total; all of which she wrote the lyrics for. Impressive for a first album. My overall favorite track is number 15 (Bonus Track) which is a reprise of track 6 (Everything) consisting simply of Jasmine's vocals and a piano paced by a rimshot, high hat, and bass drum to set the metronomic tempo. This song is nearly flawless. Listed below are all of my favorite tracks on the CD.

Audio Samples of My 8 Favorite Tracks
3. Detour Ahead
4. Brand New
6. Everything
9. My Prayer
10. Hold It
12. Sigh
13. Come On
15. Bonus Track

Admittedly, I only purchased and downloaded 8 of the 15 tracks from iTunes; which means that if I physically bought the CD from the store, I would be doing a considerable amount of track-skipping. Nevertheless, I'm more impressed with the fact that an independent neo soul artist's first-ever album has 15 tracks (with 8 of them still keeping the CD in the rotation). Given my stringent music tastes, this is a testament to the hard work and focus that went into making this CD.

As with any independent neo soul artist's first album, distribution of "Battery Proper" appears to be a challenge. As quickly as the album was featured on iTunes, it was no longer available there. Likewise, I find it surprising that the album isn't available at dustygroove.com or cdbaby.com, two of the world's major staples for purchasing independent neo soul music. The only legitimate outlet I found where the CD can be purchased is at amazon.com.

Jasmine Jones is definitely an emerging neo soul artist to watch. And if you're an early adopter like me, then we recommend that you purchase it today! You won't regret it.

Neo Soul Today Album Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars

For more information on Jasmine Jones, visit:
Nickel City Music
Purchase and download Battery Proper tracks at emusic.com
Artist Profile for Jasmine Jones at music-mp3.net

We welcome your comments.

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Neo Soul Today Album Review: Angela Johnson's "Got To Let It Go"

By Sean
Editor-in-Chief, Neo Soul Today

Artist S/V Rating: R&B/Underground
(What is this?)

“Got To Let It Go” (2005, Purpose Records) is Angela Johnson’s sophomore album. The release of Angela’s (we hope it’s alright if we call her Angela) debut album, “They Don’t Know” (2002, Purpose Records), came after being the lead vocalist and keyboardist of the veteran, NY-based, underground-favorite band Cooly’s Hot Box for roughly 10 years. Angela produced, wrote, and arranged all 12 songs on “Got To Let It Go.”

The Album: A Story of Two Halves
We’re just going to cut to the chase. As a whole – and in a weird way – we love “Got To Let It Go.” We love the album in a weird way because the second half of the album is incredible. Thus, we’ll focus most of our attention there. Tracks 6 through 12 are a carefully crafted, diverse combination of neo soul songs featuring elements of the R&B sound and elements of that British sound characteristic of Cooly’s Hot Box.

We have consistently listened to tracks 6 through 12 on the CD without skipping past a single one. Our favorite track is Early Bird; track 8. It is this track that prompted us to research the album and ultimately make the purchase. Early Bird is a flawless collage of that unmistakable Roy Ayers soul sound combined with the British flavor of the neo soul sound range. What’s even more creative is that Angela switched roles with her friend and normal background vocalist, Tricia Angus. Tricia took the lead on this smooth, soul-soothing track while Angela handled the keyboards, percussion, and string arrangement. This song is also backed by other robust, live instruments including a horn arrangement (Jacques Schwarz-Bart), trumpet (Matt Shulman), violin (Pauline Kim), congas and triangle (Ernesto Abreu), bass (Justin Wallace), and guitar (Jeremy James).

Audio Samples of our 6 Favorite Tracks (courtesy of cdbaby.com)
6. Let’s Get Together (featuring Jeremy James)
7. You’re Here With Me
8. Early Bird (featuring Tricia Angus)
9. Tell Me
10. Where’s the Love
11. Home Away From Home
12. Whatever It Takes

As for tracks 1 through 5, we do not dislike them. We simply would not place them in the “incredible” category as is the case with tracks 6 through 12. Nevertheless, it is always difficult to come across a neo soul album where more than half of the songs are very good. Furthermore, it’s almost impossible to come across one where all of the very good songs appear consecutively without the need to skip tracks. Overall, we recommend “Got To Let It Go” as a definite buy.

Neo Soul Today Album Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars

For more background on Angela Johnson, visit her official website: http://www.angelajohnson.com/.
For more information on Cooly’s Hot Box, visit their official website: http://www.coolyshotbox.com/.
For more information on Purpose Records, visit their official website: http://www.purposerecords.com/.

We welcome your comments.

Neo Soul Lexicon: Visbility

By Sean
Editor-in-Chief, Neo Soul Today

This fourth installment of the Neo Soul Lexicon Series is devoted to categorizing the different levels of visibility attributed to neo soul artists.

Vocabulary Prerequisites
Before delving into visibility and to prevent any confusion or misinterpretation, it is worthwhile for you to know what we mean by the following terms: neo soul, neo soul artist, and contributing artist. When using the term “artist” in this installment, we are referring to neo soul artists as opposed to contributing artists.

Visibility
Visibility is the essential attribute that describes how visible a neo soul artist is to listeners, the media, and the general public. An artist generally falls into one of 3 well-defined artist visibility levels. These 3 artist visibility levels are collectively called the artist visibility range of neo soul. The neo soul artist visibility range is a continuum of the levels of visibility of neo soul artists ranging from the least visible to the most visible. In order to easily classify the visibility of neo soul artists for the purposes of more effectively finding, promoting, and reporting on them, we have isolated 3 discrete levels along the artist visibility range.

The 3 artist visibility levels of neo soul, listed in order of decreasing visibility, are:

Mainstream: Mainstream neo soul artists are easily known by and accessible to mass audiences of listeners, industry players, and the media. They are highly accessible through mainstream online and brick-and-mortar record stores, television, newspapers, periodicals, websites, and other channels. Mainstream artists include, but are not limited to, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Maxwell, and D’Angelo.
Midstream: Compared with mainstream neo soul artists, midstream artists are not as easily known by and accessible to mass audiences of listeners, industry players, and the media. However, they remain somewhat accessible through mainstream online and brick-and-mortar record stores, television, newspapers, periodicals, websites, and other channels. They are highly accessible through specialty channels. Midstream artists include, but are not limited to, Leela James, Les Nubians, Van Hunt, and The Brand New Heavies.
Underground: Underground neo soul artists are not easily known by and accessible to mass audiences of listeners, industry players, and the media. They are somewhat accessible to midstream audiences. They are primarily accessible through specialty and niche online and brick-and-mortar record stores, television programs, periodicals, websites, and other similar channels. Underground artists include, but are not limited to, Eric Roberson, Peven Everett, and Julie Dexter.

We welcome your thoughts.

Neo Soul Lexicon: Sound

By Sean
Editor-in-Chief, Neo Soul Today

This third installment of the Neo Soul Lexicon Series is devoted to categorizing the different sounds of neo soul.

Vocabulary Prerequisites
Before delving into sound, to prevent any confusion or misinterpretation, it is worthwhile for you to know what we mean by the following terms: neo soul, neo soul artist, and contributing artist. When using the term “artist” in this installment, we are referring to neo soul artists as opposed to contributing artists.

Sound
Sound is the essential attribute that describes the auditory characteristics of neo soul songs, artists, and the artform itself. Although, each artist realistically has her own unique sound, it generally falls into one of 8 well-defined sound categories. These 8 sound categories are collectively called the sound range of the neo soul artform. The neo soul sound range is a continuum of the different sounds of neo soul ranging from the least eccentric to the most eccentric. In order to easily classify neo soul sounds for the purposes of more effectively purchasing, marketing, writing, producing, remixing, and matching of tastes, we have isolated 8 discrete categories along the sound range. While these sounds can be categorized any number of different ways, we thought it important to strike a balance between isolating sound categories that are most identifiable to people, not missing key ones, and keeping them down to a number that is easy enough to remember. We believe confusion will set in if the number of neo soul sound categories exceeds 8.

One or more neo soul sound categories can be used to characterize individual songs, artists, or the artform itself. When characterizing artists, obviously for many, each of their songs has its own sound. Many neo soul artists are enormously talented and have songs with vastly differing sounds. Nevertheless, each artist has what we call their primary sound. An artist’s primary sound is that which applies to the majority of all of the work she has ever done.

The 8 sound categories of neo soul, listed in order of increasing eccentricity, are:

Hip Hop: Neo soul infused with elements of the hip hop genre such as rap and beats. Artists include, but are not limited to, Bahamadia and Ladybug Mecca.
R&B: Neo soul infused with elements of the rhythm and blues genre. R&B has the most overlap with neo soul since classic soul and R&B have the same roots. A majority of neo soul artists have R&B as their primary sound. Artists include, but are not limited to, Jill Scott and Eric Roberson.
Jazz: Neo soul infused with elements of jazz. Ledisi’s album “Feeling Orange But Sometimes Blue” (2002) is entirely devoted to this sound.
House: Neo soul infused with elements of deep house. Ever After from Seek’s “Venus and Mars” album (1999) falls into this sound category.
Alternative Rock: Neo soul infused with elements of alternative rock such as acoustic and electronic guitar and more treble than bass. Artists include, but are not limited to, Res and Van Hunt.
Electronic: Neo soul infused with elements of electronic and computerized instruments. Artists include, but are not limited to, Naked Music NYC and Amp Fiddler.
British: Neo soul infused with elements of the acid sounds from London such as acid jazz and drum and bass. Artists include, but are not limited to, Cooly’s Hot Box and The Brand New Heavies.
World: Neo soul infused with elements of sound characteristic from places around the world outside of the U.S. and England including Paris, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Artists include, but are not limited to, Les Nubians, Osunlade, and Zap Mama.

The figure below provides examples of 27 neo soul artists and what we believe their primary sound is along with any of their alternative sounds, if applicable.

We welcome your comments.

Neo Soul Lexicon: Neo Soul Artists vs. Contributing Artists

By Sean
Editor-in-Chief, Neo Soul Today

This brief second installment of the Neo Soul Lexicon Series is devoted to what we refer to at Neo Soul Today when we use the terms neo soul artist and contributing artist. I believe it is important to articulate what these two terms mean before further delving into a lexicon (or vocabulary) for neo soul. I hope that this installment proves enlightening; especially in terms of who is not really a neo soul artist.

Neo Soul Artist
A neo soul artist is a person or group of people who sing, write, produce, remix, or play neo soul music as their primary music. It is common for neo soul artists to branch out and make songs (or even entire albums) within other closely-related genres. However, their core-competency is neo soul. To be objective, a neo soul artist is defined as such by a combination of the sound of the songs he makes and the general consensus of mature, rational neo soul listeners. A neo soul artist is not defined as such by himself, record labels, the media, or any other party. Using the power of blogging, Neo Soul Today strives to credibly represent the general consensus of mature neo soul listeners on numerous neo soul topics such as the various sounds of neo soul and who makes them. The table below contains examples of neo soul artists.

Examples of Neo Soul Artists
Singers	Bands/Instrumentalists	Producers/Writers	Remixers
Adriana Evans Alison Crockett Amel Larrieux Amp Fiddler Angela Johnson Bahamadia Bilal Carmen Rodgers Cody Chesnut Conya Doss D'Angelo Dwele Eric Roberson (Erro) Erykah Badu Fertile Ground Grenique Floetry Goapele India.Arie Ivana Santilli Jaguar Wright Jasmine Jones Jazmine Sullivan Jazzyfatnastees Jill Scott Julie Dexter Kim Hill Kindred "The Family Soul" Laurnea Ledisi Leela James Les Nubians Lizz Fields Maxwell Maysa Me'shell Ndegeocello Michael Johnson Musiq N'Dambi N'Dea Davenport Omar Peven Everett Pru Res Rhian Benson Shaun Escoffery Siji Van Hunt Vikter Duplaix YahZarah Zap Mama Zero 7	The Brand New Heavies Cooly's Hot Box Incognito Roy Hargrove Soulive	Eric Roberson James Poyser Kaidi Tatham (a.k.a. Agent K) Osunlade

Contributing Artist
A contributing artist is one from another genre who contributes to the neo soul art form occasionally by creating neo soul songs over the course of his career. It is very common for artists from other closely-related genres to branch out and make neo song songs either on their album, on a compilation, or as a collaborator on another’s album. However, their core-competency is not neo soul. To be objective, a contributing artist is defined as such by a satisfaction of the following criteria:

1. His primary sound is not in the neo soul sound range
2. The sound of one or more of his songs falls within the neo soul sound range
3. It is the general consensus of mature, rational neo soul listeners that the above criteria are true about the artist

A contributing artist is not defined as such by himself, record labels, the media, or any other party. Using the power of blogging, Neo Soul Today strives to credibly represent the general consensus of mature neo soul listeners on various neo soul topics such as artists from other closely-related genres that contribute to the neo soul art form. The table below contains examples (many surprising) of contributing artists.

Examples of Contributing Artists
Singers	Bands/Instrumentalists	Producers/Writers	Remixers
Alicia Keys Anthony Hamilton Beyoncé Common Destiny’s Child Glenn Lewis Jody Watley John Legend Kelis Kofy Brown Mary J. Blige Mos Def Q-Tip Raheem DeVaughn Raphael Saadiq Sweetback Talib Kweli Tweet Ultra Naté Vivian Green	The Roots	Pete Rock Jazzy Jeff	4 Hero DJ Spinna King Britt

Many of the examples above may come as a surprise to many. However, when using our evaluation framework which assesses the sound of the majority of their songs (which will be detailed more throughout the Neo Soul Lexicon Series), they are not neo soul artists. Nevertheless, it is a testament to their diversity that they are considered contributing artists to the neo soul art form.

Some of the names above are obvious as their primary genre is clearly not neo soul (e.g., Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Ultra Naté, or Jody Watley). Yet, some are not as clear-cut. I’d like to use the Philly-bred Vivian Green as an example.

The Vivian Green Story: An Artist Offering Mature, Conscious, and/or Innovative Soul-Rooted Music Is Not Always a Neo Soul Artist
Many are surprised to witness Vivian Green’s departure from neo soul with her self-titled sophomore album. Perhaps she was never a neo soul artist to begin with. Nearly everyone considered Green neo soul when she came onto the scene in 2002. She hit the mainstream singing mature, soulful lyrics with her debut single and video, “Emotional Rollercoaster.” The song hit the market with the typical neo soul positioning. However, out of 14 tracks on the debut album, “A Love Story,” the only ones that fell within the neo soul sound range were “What Is Love?,” “Fanatic,” (the track that actually led me to buy the album) and “Keep On Going.” I was disappointed not because it was a bad album (actually, it was a decent R&B album). Rather, I was disappointed because, as a consumer, I expected a neo soul product and got something else instead. However, it was not Green’s fault and it is debatable whether Columbia was fully at fault.

Prior to writing this installment and after my 2002 experience with “A Love Story,” using the evaluation framework articulated in the sections above, I didn’t consider Green to be a neo soul artist. Rather, I considered her to be a contributing artist. This assessment was validated after researching the facts. As “Emotional Rollercoaster” began to penetrate the market in 2002, Columbia Records merged with Sony Music. In response to a question during a June 2005 interview with Urban America News Network entitled “Vivian Green: The Truth about Ms. Green,” Green answered, “People based their image of me from my first single and video.” She went on to say, “I never had another chance to do another video and put out another single, because there were so many changes at Columbia…I don't think people really got to see the many styles and sides of me.” Green is a wonderful R&B artist with a limitless future (What can I say? She’s from Philly). However, she is not a neo soul artist and never was. She is a contributing artist. It just turned out that she was going through some painful issues during her first album.

We welcome your comments.

Neo Soul Lexicon: The Controversial Phrase "Neo Soul"

By Sean
Editor-in-Chief, Neo Soul Today

Neo Soul Today is devoted to sharing information and opinion on neo soul music. The Neo Soul Lexicon series is devoted to establishing consensus around terminology to describe different aspects of the artform. Thus, we find it fitting to kick off the series with our position on the phrase "neo soul" itself.

The Origination of the Phrase "Neo Soul"
According to Wikipedia, the then Kedar Entertainment founder and Universal Records senior VP Kedar Massenburg coined the phrase "neo soul" in the late 1990s. However, according to a November 1998 Essence article titled "Brothers on the Move - Successful Black Men Under the Age of 40," the same Kedar Massenberg coined the phrase "neoclassic soul" to describe the then-budding R&B sub-genre during this same timeframe after discovering "original and self-contained" artists with "vision" such as D'Angelo and Erykah Badu.

"Neo Soul" or "Neoclassic Soul"
It turns out that Massenburg himself used both phrases -- "neo soul" and "neoclassic soul" -- interchangeably when interviewed about the new sub-genre by different media outlets. In a February 27, 2002 interview with The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on the eve of that year's Grammy's, Massenburg himself used both terms in the same interview. When asked by the program's Gwen Ifill to explain what "this neo soul movement" is, Massenburg did not correct her usage of the term and proceeded to characterize the sound, its current artists, and how they're reminiscent of older artists. After making comparisons of Erykah Badu to Billie Holiday and D'Angelo to Marvin Gaye he went on to say, "That's where you basically get the term from. You know, neoclassic soul. Because it's new soul music today from the classics."

So which one is it: "neo soul" or "neoclassic soul?" Granted, the phrase "neo soul" implies a new type of soul while the latter phrase, "neoclassic soul," is more specific and -- in our opinion -- more appropriate. Nevertheless, Neo Soul Today's investigation shows, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the two phrases were intended to mean the same thing. It is no secret that the "neo soul" moniker stuck. A simple analysis proves this. A Google search on the phrase "neo soul" returns over 219,000 hits compared to only 21 hits when searching for "neoclassic soul."

It is unclear to us exactly why the phrase "neo soul" caught on so strongly. In our opinion, it's rather unfortunate. However, in all fairness to Massenburg, we'll simply dismiss it as an honest oversight assuming that he didn't anticipate the impending controversy.

The Controversy Around the Phrase "Neo Soul"
Ironically, many of the artists who make neo soul what it is strongly dislike the phrase and dismiss it as merely a marketing label affixed to the artform by large record companies. Rather, they prefer for them and/or their work to be referred to as soul, art, music, or any other similar adjective that they deem appropriate. The following quotes are evidence of this.

"I know people are gonna categorize me as 'neo soul,' and I wanted to stay away from that as much as possible...I sort of came up with my own way of how it should be called. I don't think 'neo soul' fits me at all."
- Raphael Saadiq, VH1, June 2002

"Neo-soul is just another label...We don't make up those labels. Who knows where they come from? Probably from somebody who can make money by boxing it and selling it."
- Erykah Badu, Denver Post, February 2004

"Well nobody in Philly likes that term."
- Vikter Duplaix on the term "neo soul", Know The Ledge, April 2004

"I was really glad to hear her say that, although I've been saying the same thing for years...None of us like that whole 'neo-soul' tag. We understand that writers like these terms, and they pick them up. I'm a soul singer, period."
- Angie Stone on Chaka Khan adding her name to the list of artists critical of the term "neo soul", Nashville City Paper, September 2004

Love It or Hate It: The Music Will Always Be Recognized as "Neo Soul"
Our position on this issue should be obvious given the title of this blog. Love it or hate it: the music will always be recognized as "neo soul." It is what it is. While we agree with the artists' criticisms of the moniker "neo soul," we believe that this new artform is unique to the extent that considering it merely soul does it no justice. As (predominantly) generation X-ers who absolutely love this music and who purchase it mainly for its ability to reach the soul in a way that is fundamentally different from classic soul, a term is better than no term. We understand that the phrase is not a perfect one. However, without some way for listeners to distinguish it from classic soul (or all other R&B for that matter), we will have no access to it. Without access to the music means no listener access to the artists. Without listener access to the artists means empty seats at artist performances. Ultimately, this means no money in the pockets of the artists. Without money in the artists' pockets, there will be no more albums and the artform will fade away as quickly as the New Jack Swing fad of the late '80s-early '90s did.

It should comfort the artists to know that neo soul is a niche and its listeners are knowledgeable, mature, and conscious individuals around the world who know good soul music when they hear it. We love the music for the same reasons artists resist embracing the phrase "neo soul." So long as you don't succumb to the marketing pressures of supply and demand, we will still be here. Neo soul it is!

We welcome your viewpoints.

The Neo Soul Lexicon Series

By Sean
Editor-in-Chief, Neo Soul Today

This post introduces a Neo Soul Today series entitled "The Neo Soul Lexicon." The purpose of this series is to take a stab at establishing standard terminology and categorization to describe the sub-genre of neo soul. As thought leaders for neo soul music, we will work to establish a basic vocabulary for neo soul, its different sounds, levels of visibility, and other aspects. We believe it is important for us to focus hard on categorization and lexicon from the outset before diving deep into other topics about the artform. Neo soul is in its infancy and the artform continues to reinvent and refine itself with each new artist, song, album, and performance.

Why spend energy on this topic?
The sole reason Neo Soul Today exists is to combine the power of blogging with our knowledge of and love for neo soul music in order to enable the artform to mature. Blogging will enable this maturation process to occur naturally since consensus will prevail at the end of the day. Our job is to raise intelligent topics and voice substantive opinions backed by considerable research, analysis, and facts available. Your job as current listeners, prospective listeners, and artists is to comment on these topics rationally. In the end, our collective voice supported by consensus will, over time, prevent the media and large record labels from forcing their vision for and impression of neo soul on the market (us). This is known as push marketing in the business world. Rather, these companies will promote, produce, sell, and report based on our (the market’s) idea of what neo soul is and what our needs are. This is known as pull marketing in the businesss world and is our desired outcome for the future of neo soul.

Priority No. 1: Gain Agreement Between All Artists and All Listeners About What Neo Soul Is and What It Is Not
One of our biggest concerns about neo soul and its future is the well-documented disconnect between how artists perceive themselves and their craft and how listeners do (see Neo Soul Lexicon: The Controversial Phrase “Neo Soul”). The neo soul artform is indeed undergoing an identity crisis. However, it is largely one-sided. It is no secret that many artists become irritated when they are “labeled” as neo soul artists. However, it is much less of a touchy subject among listeners. Hence, the identity crisis only exists under the context of these artists’ resistance to acceptance of the phrase. In plain terms, a sizeable number of neo soul artists are not on the same page as their most loyal listeners. This only results in a confused audience. Since this disconnect is only over petty verbiage, we view it as an opportunity to bridge this gap by creating a mutual understanding based on consensus. This is priority number one for the artform. Otherwise, it is unrealistic to expect the media to properly cast neo soul music and its artists in the correct light; and even more unrealistic to expect large record labels (and even small independent ones, for that matter) to promote signed neo soul artists to the right audience (us) and to know where to look for new talent.

Features

The Controversial Phrase "Neo Soul"
Indeed, the phrase "neo soul" itself is a controversial one. Thus, for your reading pleasure, the opening post of this series is an opinion piece on the phrase "neo soul", the controversy surrounding the phrase, and Neo Soul Today's position on the issue.

Neo Soul Artists vs. Contributing Artists
This brief second installment is devoted to what we refer to at Neo Soul Today when we use the terms neo soul artist and contributing artist. I believe it is important to articulate what these two terms mean before further delving into a lexicon (or vocabulary) for neo soul. I hope that this installment proves enlightening; especially in terms of who is not really a neo soul artist.

Sound
This third installment is devoted to categorizing the different sounds of neo soul.

Visibility
This fourth installment is devoted to categorizing the different levels of visibility attributed to neo soul artists.

The Artist Sound/Visibility Rating
This fifth installment is devoted to establishing a quick and easy-to-understand rating system for neo soul listeners to use when searching for and learning about neo soul artists.