With all things considered, Raphael Saadiq is the thread that has weaved the fabric of contemporary soul music together.
His midas touch has turned the careers of countless "soul sisters"—Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and Mary J. Blige—and "soul brothers"—John Legend, Musiq Soulchild and D'Angelo—into gold. And while his artistic resume is largely unknown by the masses, such high-profile collaborations expose a mere fraction of Saadiq's musical contributions.
After a successful decade as a member of Tony! Toni! Toné! and R&B's pioneering supergroup, Lucy Pearl, Saadiq launched a solo career in 2002 with the release of Instant Vintage. His refreshing "gospedelic" mix of soul eventually earned him five GRAMMY nominations—a first for an artist who lacked a major record label deal. In 2004, Saadiq released his highly-anticipated follow-up, Ray Ray.
The Way I See It (2008) continues Saadiq's life-long tribute to "old-school" music. Upon review of the album, Raphael Saadiq managed to find time in his busy schedule to settle down for an interview with Clayton Perry, where together they reflected on "neo-soul," Kanye West and the current state of R&B.
When you launched Pookie Entertainment in 2002 and began releasing your work independently, what major hurdles did you often find yourself against?
The main struggle I face is replicating my music on the road. My music requires a band and it's hard to take a band around the world. Some artists are out all the time, just touring, and they can build their fan base by just staying on the road. But for me, being a producer as well as having a label, it's a struggle. I did well recording the live records, like [All Hits at] the House of Blues. They weren't huge struggles but they were struggles. People that have major labels have problems with taking their bands on the road because there are not too many bands in the urban genre, so there's no system for them to go out and perform like rock bands. When they go to a TV show, they usually perform with a track tape or something. When another band comes up that's black, it's automatic to think that you're going to a tape or something. That ain't really my world. My world is more like the rock world. We got the amp, we like to play. That's the kind of the struggle that I've seen, a trend that shouldn't have been set. It wasn't always like that for urban acts.
Over the course of your career, how has the music industry changed – for better or worse?
When Tony! Toni! Toné! came out, hip-hop was just having its big launch or second wind. At the time, we were one of two bands that were playing band-type of records. We were holding on to things that we loved in the past. Listening to groups that I grew up really loving, that music's really not gone but changed from an industry perspective. The hip-hop artists are probably seeing more change in their peers than I'm seeing in mine. For black urban bands, anything that's happening right now is pretty much the same.
In the past few years, several British artists have cornered the soul market from a commercial standpoint. What factors do you think allowed them to have a little bit more flexibility in the marketplace?
I think Britons are more open to it and I think the British market has always been more receptive of soul music. In the ‘60s, the Temptations went over to Europe and the Beatles came over here. America has always set that precedence for soul music. European audiences probably just got tired of not hearing it. We weren't doing it and they were like "We want to hear it. If they won't do it, we'll do it." That's what I think, especially in Britain. They probably did open up the market a lot and I think that's a great thing. The more, the merrier you know. It's great.
Article comments
1 - Anousonne
Hey,
We've got the chance to film Raphael Saadiq live during Radio Nova's Nuit Zébrée party. Huge concert that makes us re-discover pop soul music of the 60's!
You can watch our video.
See ya !
Anousonne