For years, ‘neo-soul’ was used to try and define the burgeoning R&B artists of the time. They weren’t quite the bands like Jodeci and Boyz II Men. Nor were they the formal, mainstream juggernauts like Joe or Brian McKnight. Instead, they were rooted deeper in the traditions of soul, smooth with rich instrumentation. Artists like D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Maxwell, and Raphael Saadiq were some of the prominent artists folded into the neo-soul category.

However, the former Tony! Toni! Toné! crooner has been extremely reluctant in embracing the term and sub-genre. Instead, he went about giving a history lesson as to how the idea came to be in the first place. In an Instagram comment, he declared that he wasn’t a neo-soul artist, nor was D’Angelo or Maxwell. Rather, it was merely categorization that music executives were using for certain artists at the time. Artists like Raphael Saadiq may only get a certain amount of the budget vs the big pop acts on the label.

Consequently, calling someone neo-soul in its truest meaning was to define someone to their sales expectations. But the music itself had nothing to do with it, according to Saadiq.

Raphael Saadiq Explains Why Neo-Soul isn’t a Real Genre

“Neo-Soul was a term created by one Black executive purely as shorthand. It helped labels internally identify which acts would not require crossover marketing budgets,” Saadiq explained. “Those funds were reserved for pop boy bands. That word neo-soul signaled to exectives in marketing meetings: these Black artists might sell 150k-350k [copies], maybe 500k if they’re really good, and 1M at best. It had nothing to do with the sound of the music.”

Raphael Saadiq concluded that the idea of neo-soul contrasts with the idea of hip-hop. Hip-hop, at its core, is more than just a genre of music. Rather, it’s a rich culture built on DJ’ing, breakdancing, graffiti, and rapping. It’s an extension of Black culture in New York, spreading its way across the entire United States. Neo-soul, by contrast, was essentially music industry jargon, per Saadiq.

The Black executive Raphael Saadiq mentioned was Kedar Massenburg, who coined the term for marketing purposes. He served as president on Motown records from 1997 to 2003, all while personally managing the late great D’Angelo. Additionally, with Kedar Entertainment being founded out of his New York home, he also discovered Erykah Badu. To help her rise to fame, he passed out copies of “On & On” to people at the 1996 Soul Train Awards.