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PREVIEW: Angie Stone
by Chris Osuh31/ 3/2005
R&B ain't what it used to be.
Although the genre ticks over and offers temporary delights, it's
pretty hard to find an artist with the creative stature of Isaac
Hayes, Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield.
Albums with groundbreaking production, individual style, a social
conscience and an awareness of the richness of black music are just
not what record-buyers expect from mainstream African American
artists any more - we've grown accustomed to heavy advertising and
girls shakin' it in the video.
Great black hopes like Philadelphia's Bilal appear on the scene,
sell a handful of records and disappear, leaving us with the tepid,
MTV-friendly likes of Marques Houston and Christina Milian.
Actually I exaggerate - it's not all doom and gloom.
A few artists, with just a little, totally unavoidable major label
help or manipulation, have ploughed their own creative furrow,
stayed true to the music and managed to achieve some
longevity.
Angie Stone, plump, older and unapologetic, is one of these
luminaries.
Along with artists like Erykah Badu, Raphael Saadiq and pioneer
Meshell Ndegeocello, she's described as a "neo-soul" performer,
which means an afrocentric outlook, an anti-corporate, anti-thug
stance, and a love of soul, jazz, funk, blues and rock.
Born in 1964 in Columbia, South Carolina, Angie Stone began singing
gospel at an early age in church.
She began her career as a recording artist in 1980, as a member of
all girl rap trio The Sequence, who were signed to legendary New
York label Sugarhill Records.
Collaborations with Mantronix and Lenny Kravitz followed and by
1993 she was enjoying chart success with R&B group Vertical
Hold.
Six years later saw the release of Stone's first solo album, Black
Diamond - which featured contributions from one-time boyfriend
D'Angelo and Lenny Kravitz - and set the smooth, old-school
flavoured template that has shaped her work since.
At the turn of the century the neo-soul scene started look like a
cohesive movement - buoyed by the success of conscious rappers like
Common and the emergence of Philadelphia artists like Jill Scott
who looked to seventies producers like Gamble and Huff for
inspiration - and Angie Stone finally got her big break.
The break came with the 2001 release of Mahogany Soul, which
featured the mellow burner Easier Said Than Done, the epic hit
Brotha and the exquisite Wish I Didn't Miss You Anymore, which was
backed by a gorgeous sample from classic O' Jays song
Backstabbers.
The album, which sounds like sunny, wistful afternoons, got Angie
the recognition she so richly deserved in a competitive, consensus
loving industry.
The follow-up, Stone Love, was well-received and featuring
collaborations with rappers like Snoop Dogg as a sop to the
mainstream, firmly established Angie Stone as an artist to
remember.
The neo-soul scene is not perfect - it too has become tainted by
cliché, but at least its members believe in music and have a
reverence for their heritage.
Neo-soul artists generally give electrifying, jazz-infused
performances and attract intelligent crowds who don't make trouble
in venues.
I'd be very surprised if Ms Stone bucks this trend.
Go check her out.
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