Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq är enligt mig en utav de bästa låtskrivarna som finns, han har skrivit låtar ihop med artister som Erykah Badu ("Love of My Life"), Angie Stone ("Brotha"), Bilal ("Soul Sista"), D'angelo ("Untitled", "Lady") och även varit med i band som Lucy Pearl och Tony! Toni! Tone!. Så därför tycker jag att det är han som får bjuda på första låten i denna blogg.

Låten heter "Be here" och finns med på hans album "Instant Vintage" som släpptes år 2002. Som en bonus får vi även höra skönsång (och gitarrspel) från D'angelo.

För att se videon surfa in här.

En rolig detalj med denna videon är neonskylten man ser inne i det blåa badrummet. På den står det "GOSPELDELIC" som är Raphael's egna beskrivning av sin musik, såhär säger han i en intervju med MTV:

Saadiq has been scrutinizing many a term and phrase these days. One he's not feeling is "neo soul," a category some have wrongfully placed his music into, he said.

"When I saw 'neo soul,' I didn't understand it," Saadiq said. "I thought it was wack. What's 'new soul'? There is no such thing as 'new soul.' I understand why they do it for marketing reasons."

To make sure no one mislabels his style, Saadiq put a big fat stamp of "gospeldelic" on his self-produced solo debut.

"Gospeldelic [means] truth of expression," he explained, "meaning some of it's true, some of it's fun, some of it's serious. That's what gospel is. Gospel is true statements. The 'delic' is from my funkadelic, psychedelic era. I wanted to throw that in there so I can be a little wild.

"I know people are gonna categorize me as 'neo soul,' and I wanted to stay away from that as much as possible," he added. "I sort of came up with my own way of how it should be called. I don't think 'neo soul' fits me at all." (källa)

//John