Author: Tamara Harris
Published: December 31, 1969
Tool: [ email ]
Raphael Saadiq's voice is in R&B's memory as a sensitive soul workman who's creativity endures as a performer and a writer with and for several talents not excluding his solo music. His centrality within the family-knit group of Tony! Toni! Tone! in the late '80s and throughout the '90s balanced out some of the best unbleached love and fun songs that are universal classics. "Anniversary," " Whatever You Want." "Feels Good" and "Thinking of You" among others are sweetness and partying predictable in their way to satisfy Saadiq's fans. The maturity of their last album House of Music in '96 had them sounding like new and improved Al Green, West Coast hip-hop and a tad of smoky funk jazz in the style of some bands like Miles Davis's Bitches Brew crew. Most of their songs succeeded in a mainstream mode because the men sang songs that would appreciate the carnal with pure
affection. In their videos they looked like a group that mothers and daughters could listen to and equally understand. And when the group disbanded Saadiq took all his years of playing (his early big profile job was on the Parade tour with Prince and Shelia E) bass, singing and writing to eventually show everyone the mission statement for Gospeldelic. But not before he did several freelance collaborations and took a hiatus from the music industry social world. "I needed to take a break from the music industry and do things that regular people do. I went to movies I started to play golf. I think I just got caught-up in the moment of work with other people and before I knew it 12 years sort of passed by."
There were the two songs from the films "Higher Learning" and "Boyz In The Hood." His presence is on the consummate Brown Sugar debut LP in '95 of best friend D'Angelo, that made many people say he was the Godson of Prince. He also wrote "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" with D'Angelo which won a Grammy. TLC, Angie Stone, Isley Brothers and Kelly Price are a piecemeal list of artists who have prospered with him through their work.
When people heard about the lineup of him with Dawn Robinson and Ali Shaheed Muhammad fans of all three mentally "bought" their record before it came out. However, Pearl only lived a short while because of tension among them which lead to Robinson being dropped without her knowledge and being replaced by singer Joi. Those issues did not deny them a flaming CD. The cocky "Don't Mess With My Man" that had women pointing their fingers mimicking the song in clubs. "Dance Tonight" rekindled Saadiq's tender seduction in music that got a little nastier at the edges. Because of his steady projects with the sector of musicians that do more Marvin Gaye cooing than Teddy Pendergrass growling the record companies are firm in calling him a leader of neo-soul. All artists who do not partake in assortments of overproduced records, namecalling for fashion, and anything that can match a headwrap are "neo-soul." Saadiq explains the falseness of the word " It [the term] was not made by us. It was like you wake-up one day and somebody was in their office calling something, something they don't know anything about. It just didn't/never fit anything that I did and I can see why some people beg to differ. But it wasn't made by us." Being a lover of funk and soul is not a proscriptive politic, in fact he can not match what he does to any contrivances related to nostagalia, his music is now. Neo-soul is really just a time marker of those people doing soul music after hip-hop because it is a complementary relationship that Saadiq acknowledges through the way rhythm is accessed. "Hip-hop relates to what I do because we are all learning from the same rhythms it's just that they [hip-hop artists] sample but we play. I never really made a distinction with the music I never sectioned it off like this is this." Saadiq's cool references for the retro yet timeless strains of soul never cover him up in awkward platform shoes but honors the limitless emotion of seamless funk rhythms that do not serve divisive catch-phrases. He calls all of the matter in his sound dreams Gospeldelic.
People did not know that he played the bass but they knew that desirous grooves would be the hub of his sound that he also calls " Slum Gospel." Gritty LSD fantasies of the Temptations re-imagined in the song "People" are not poetic cliches of Black music but Saadiq's honest undulations through a collection of music mostly recorded in the 45 format. "Acapella intro-ed "Excuse Me" puts a sizzling burner underneath blues impressions that could've come from the late great R & B singer Johnnie Taylor. The arty video for "Still Ray" boosted the humor and goofiness of a cartoonish tuba and slow-talking courtship. Best friend D'Angelo appears on the "Be Here" single that repetitiously gives monogamous love to their girlfriends. Last summer he took Gospeldelic to New York City's Central Park where the crowd received bits of an open-air Pentecostal jam. The real difference between Saadiq's Gospeldelic and his other work is that he allows himself to fall into the groove instead of a radio driven destiny for the songs. This doesn't mean that the material is "non-commercial" but for those used to faster moving numbers, Gospeldelic lacks gimmicks. The artist makes it known that the other part of the credo is invested in letting people know that urban artists like more than programming machines. "You know we use amplifiers too, we don't just use DATs, urban artists plug up too."
The electric spaces pioneered by Jimi Hendrix thrive in people like Saadiq who sounds like some of the Axis: Bold As Love sketches on "Make My Day."
It's close to a year ago that the album dropped and Saadiq has won a Grammy, embarked on more alliances and has artists that he is developing on his own label. "Love Of My Life" written with a team of songwriters from the "Brown Sugar" soundtrack won the Best R & B Song accolade. He says he's grateful for the award and that it is an honor. It was a surprise for him to win after receiving five nominations and being dropped by his former record company Universal at the end of last year. Kelly Price, Angie Stone and Nappy Roots have material coming out this year with Saadiq on it. New artists Terry Dexter, Skky Smith (who sings on the etheral "Skky Can You Feel Me") and another new artist named Jasmine are also on the Oakland, CA native's "to do" list. Maybe he will form another group but he admits that he will probably reunite with Tony! Toni! Tone! to make his family happy. Pookie Records and Saadiq's music will be watched and valued by those who enjoy the way he handles rhythm.
