Hip hop soul

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Hip hop soul
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsEarly 1990s, U.S.
Derivative formsNeo soul

Hip hop soul is a

subgenre of contemporary R&B music, most popular during the early and mid 1990s,[1] which fuses R&B or soul singing with hip hop musical production.[1] The subgenre had evolved from a previous R&B subgenre, new jack swing,[2] which had incorporated hip-hop influences into R&B music.[2] By contrast, hip hop soul is, as described in The Encyclopedia of African American Music, "quite literally soul singing over hip hop grooves".[1]

The genre was most popular during the mid and late 1990s[1] with artists such as Mary J. Blige (known as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul"), Jodeci, Faith Evans, TLC, and R. Kelly.[2] By the late 1990s, hip hop soul would lead to the creation of neo soul,[1][2] which retained the hip hop and R&B influences while also adding elements of classic 1970s soul music.[1]

Description

Hip hop soul evolved directly from

hip-hop music—primarily hip-hop-inspired drum tracks and rapped verses[1]—into contemporary R&B music also heavily inspired by the work of Prince
. [3] Hip hop soul shifted from new jack swing's reliance on synth-heavy production and took the hip-hop/R&B synthesis further by having R&B singers sing directly over the types of sample-heavy backing tracks typically found in contemporary hip-hop recordings like boom bap.[1][3]

The creation and evolution of hip hop soul led to an increasingly symbiotic relationship between its parent genres.

urban music.[8] However, the creation of hip hop soul has been argued by music journalists and fans of R&B music to have "killed off" traditional styles of R&B.[5]

History

R&B singer Mary J. Blige is known as the "queen of hip hop soul" due to her frequent collaborations with rappers and hip hop producers.[9][10]

The term "hip hop soul" is attributed to record producer and later rapper

Sean "Puffy" Combs,[8] who came up with the term during the promotion of What's the 411?, the 1992 debut album of Uptown Records artist Mary J. Blige.[8] Blige was promoted by the company as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul", and her debut album, primarily produced by Combs, was filled with mid-tempo R&B ballads sung over hip-hop beats and samples.[8] Similarly, Diary of a Mad Band (1993), the second album from another Uptown act, Jodeci, featured the four-man male vocal group moving away from its new jack swing origins into hip hop soul recordings driven more by hip-hop rhythms than melodies.[3] A large number of male acts, both solo performers and groups, followed or competed with Jodeci, among them R. Kelly, 112, Tony! Toni! Toné![7] and Blackstreet, a second group formed by Teddy Riley.[3]

Hip hop soul artist Montell Jordan was the first R&B singer signed to hip-hop record label Def Jam Recordings;[6] his 1995 single "This Is How We Do It", built around a sample of Slick Rick's 1989 hip-hop song "Children's Story",[4] typified the sound of the subgenre. Another key recording is "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By", a 1995 duet between Wu-Tang rapper Method Man and Mary J. Blige which interpolated Method Man's rapped verses with Blige singing a cover of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "You're All I Need to Get By".[11] "I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need to Get By" won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.[3]

The female vocal group

Bad Boy Entertainment.[3]

Hip hop soul as a distinct subgenre experienced a lull in popularity with the spread of hip-hop influences into more standard R&B music by the end of the 1990s[12] and the emergence of neo soul, an R&B subgenre which blended hip-hop and contemporary R&B with heavier influences from the soul music of the 1960s and 1970s.[1] Examples of neo soul artists include Tony! Toni! Toné!, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, and Lauryn Hill.[3] Several newer artists continued to perform in the hip hop soul subgenre in its original form from the 2000s forward, among them John Legend, Anthony Hamilton, and Keyshia Cole.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0313341991 – via Google Books
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-082046345-2
    – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gardner, Elysa (1999). "Hip-Hop Soul". In Light, Alan (ed.). The Vibe History of Hip-Hop (1st ed.). Three Rivers Press. pp. 307–317.
  4. ^
    Complex
    . Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  5. ^ a b c Van Nguyen, Dean (November 13, 2011). "The R&B Renaissance". PopMatters. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  6. ^
    ISSN 0006-2510
    – via Google Books.
  7. ^
    ISSN 1070-4701
    . Retrieved July 23, 2014 – via Google Books.
  8. ^
    ISSN 0006-2510
    . Retrieved January 17, 2020 – via Google Books.
  9. ISBN 978-0-86547-997-5
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-313-33058-2
    . Universally known as the 'Queen of Hip Hop Soul' because of her frequent collaborations with rap artists and Hip Hop producers...
  11. ISBN 9781135204624
    – via Google Books.
  12. ISSN 0006-2510
    – via Google Books.
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