Raphael Saadiq is a well schooled soul composer. As much as he’s an auteur, he’s a curator whose vision is culled from the classics, with ears and eyes focused on the way ahead. In a class of groove savants like Prince, Erykah Badu, and Bilal, Saadiq’s stamp on Neo-Soul is bold, brilliant, beautiful, and touching–like his latest, Jimmy Lee. He chimes in with us to discuss the Jimmy Lee we all know and are.
“What is Neo-Soul?” someone asked us recently. That’s a show in itself, more like one of those epics with an intermission. For the sake of time we rattled off a few choice cuts from this conscience driven fusion of funk, electronica, jazz, Afro beat and the proverbial kitchen sink. On cue: Freestyle Fellowship, 4Hero, Mos Def, Hiatus Kaiyote, Bilal, J Dilla, Spacek, Viktor Duplaix, plus plus plus.