Saadiq was also a member of The Ummah, a music production collective, alongside D'Angelo, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and J Dilla; and was a member of the supergroup Lucy Pearl with Dawn Robinson. He has released five solo albums, including the critically acclaimed retro-styled The Way I See It (2008) and Stone Rollin' (2011). The more contemporary-sounding Jimmy Lee was released in 2019, and earned Saadiq further acclaim.[4]
Raphael Saadiq-As Ray Ray BETTER Full Album Zip
In 1995, Saadiq had his biggest solo hit to date, when "Ask of You", featured on the Higher Learning Soundtrack peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart. In 1995, Saadiq produced and performed on Otis & Shug's debut album, We Can Do Whatever.
Tony! Toni! Toné! would become major R&B superstars throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. However, after the 1996 album entitled House of Music failed to duplicate the group's previous success, Tony! Toni! Toné! went their separate ways in 1997.
In 1999, Saadiq's next big project became the R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl. He recorded the self-titled album with Dawn Robinson (En Vogue) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest). The group only lasted for one album.
His 2000 song collaboration "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" won D'Angelo a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance; it was also nominated for Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.[14] The song was ranked #4 on Rolling Stone's "End of Year Critics & Readers Poll" of the top singles of 2000.[15] D'Angelo's album Voodoo won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards.
Saadiq's third solo album, The Way I See It, released on Columbia Records on September 16, 2008, available in a collector's edition box set of 7" 45 rpm singles as well as on traditional CD, was critically well-received, made several critics' 2008 best albums lists, and garnered three Grammy nominations including Best R&B Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocals (for "Never Give You Up", featuring Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton); Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (for "Love That Girl") and Best R&B Album for The Way I See It. Music from The Way I See It was featured in the following motion pictures: Madea Goes To Jail, Bride Wars, Cadillac Records, Secret Life of Bees, In Fighting (Rogue), and It's Complicated.
He produced songs for LeToya Luckett's forthcoming second album Lady Love, released August 2009. In 2009, Saadiq produced "Please Stay" and "Love Never Changes" for Ledisi's August 2009 release "Turn Me Loose". Saadiq also was the executive producer for an emerging group called Tha Boogie. Tha Boogie's first EP was released on iTunes and is titled Love Tha Boogie, Vol. 1 (Steal This Sh*t).
In 2016 he executive produced Solange Knowles' album, A Seat at the Table, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States.[25][26] He also guest starred in Luke Cage, where he performs his songs "Good Man" and "Angel" at Harlem's Paradise.
In 2022, Saadiq was credited as a collaborator on multiple songs from Brent Faiyaz's album Wasteland, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart.[32][33] Saadiq also collaborated with Beyoncé on her seventh studio album Renaissance for which he received two Grammy award nominations.
Ray Ray is the second studio album by American R&B singer, songwriter, and producer Raphael Saadiq. It was released October 5, 2004, by his record label, Pookie Entertainment. After being dropped from Universal Records, Saadiq formed the label and recorded the album. He pursued a 1970s-inspired musical direction that was looser than his 2002 debut album, Instant Vintage, and produced Ray Ray with Michael Angelo, Jake and the Phatman, and Kelvin Wooten.
The album debuted at number 86 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, but fell off the next week. It received generally positive reviews from music critics. Although some were ambivalent towards its loose blaxploitation concept and Saadiq's songwriting, critics praised the album's production quality and vintage musical approach. It is currently out of print.
In 2002, Saadiq released his debut solo album Instant Vintage, which received critical acclaim and earned him five Grammy Award nominations.[1] However, despite attaining a following among listeners in Europe, it was largely ignored by contemporary R&B listeners in the United States and did not sell well.[2][3] After its release, he was dropped by his record label Universal Records.[4]
Saadiq subsequently formed his own label, Pookie Entertainment, on which he released the double live album All Hits at the House of Blues in 2003.[5] The live album showcased Saadiq's solo material and songs he recorded as a part of Tony! Toni! Toné! during the late 1980s and 1990s.[6] Saadiq also continued working as a producer for other recording artists, including Erykah Badu, Kelis, Jill Scott, Nappy Roots, Earth, Wind & Fire, Sunshine Anderson, and Jaguar Wright.[2]
Having fulfilled his creative ambition with Instant Vintage, he sought a looser direction for a follow-up studio album.[5] He said of the direction for Ray Ray in an interview for Rolling Stone, "You only get to make a first statement one time, and I had definite ideas of how I wanted it to sound. Ray Ray represents a more fun side of what I do. I wanted to have a good time with it."[5] In an interview for The Baltimore Sun, Saadiq discussed the inspiration behind the album's blaxploitation concept:
Saadiq recorded the album with producers Michael Angelo, Focus..., and Jake and the Phatman, among others.[5] He also worked with singer-songwriter Joi, former Tony! Toni! Toné! member D'wayne Wiggins, singer-songwriter Teedra Moses, singer Dawn Robinson, formerly of Saadiq's other group Lucy Pearl,[5] singer-songwriter Babyface, and rapper Allie Baba, Saadiq's nephew.[7]
The album contains a more funk-oriented sound than Instant Vintage,[7] accompanied by generally romantic and some message-oriented themes.[8] In comparison to his first album, Saadiq regarded Ray Ray as "more aggressive, more radio-friendly ... one of those good, Saturday-playing records".[9] Its music incorporates R&B, funk, and soul styles, along with elements of gospel and hip hop music.[10]
As with Instant Vintage, Ray Ray features Saadiq's characteristic fusion of programmed beats, strings, neo soul melodies, and live guitars.[7] The songs are mostly mid-tempo and groove-based,[11] and also feature rubbery bass lines and horns.[12] AllMusic's Andy Kellman views that the album's music is "a little funkier and a lot more energetic than 2002's Instant Vintage, yet just as full of Saadiq's stylish flourishes."[8] He writes of the album's subject matter, "for every song that's charmingly simple and full of lighthearted romantic sentiments, there's something message-oriented".[8] Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe characterizes the album's mood as "playful" and writes that it is composed as "a bouncy song cycle that's a throwback to '70s funk."[12]
The album's first two tracks, "Blaxploitation" and "Ray Ray Theme", serve as audio vignettes introducing Saadiq's alter ego as the main character of a faux-Blaxploitation soundtrack.[7] The latter track has singer Joi calling upon the character, addressing him as "soul brother number one", to "shoot me with your bop gun".[13] Both songs help establish the character as a ladies' man with a penchant for fast cars.[12] However, the concept is not sustained in the following songs on the album.[3] "I Know Shuggie Otis" is a tribute to psychedelic recording artist Shuggie Otis and features a screeching guitar solo.[13] "This One" features orchestral pop and gleeful tones.[10] "Chic Like You" contains elements of G-funk,[13] gospel-styled, vocal "mmms" and fluid, funky keyboards.[3] Its lyrics depict sensual images: "She soaks in green tea lotion / Her legs are so outspoken".[13]
The album was titled as a reference to his mother's nickname for him, also a childhood name.[5][9] Its cover artwork was inspired by the blaxploitation films of the 1970s.[8] It shows Saadiq dressed in a vintage cornflower blue suit, knicker pants, and lime green argyle socks, while leaning on a white 1967 Mercury Cougar.[2]
Ray Ray was released by Pookie Entertainment on October 5, 2004, in the United States.[15] That same year, two singles were released in promotion of the album: "Chic Like You" and "I Want You Back".[16][17] The album debuted at number 86 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart in the week of October 23.[18] It was the album's only appearance on the chart.[18] Ray Ray also spent eight weeks on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, on which it peaked at number 18.[18] It eventually went out of print in the U.S.[15] In France, the album charted for two weeks and reached number 145.[19]
Ray Ray was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 66, based on six reviews.[20]
Reviewing the album in The Independent, Phil Johnson called it "madder and badder" than Saadiq's debut record and found its sound "more radical". "No one can distress a production like Raphael", he said, believing the singer's "multi-instrumental talents and Stevie Wonder-ish voice make him a Prince for the Noughties."[4] Andria Lisle of Paste commended Saadiq's "versatility" and found the album "softer than Cee-lo and sexier than Ricky Fanté".[10] Neil Drumming of Entertainment Weekly complimented Saadiq's "bass virtuosity" and "grown and sexy" vibe, although he viewed some of his songwriting as "amateur".[11] The Boston Globe's Ken Capobianco observed an "overriding sense of joy and mischief throughout jams", and found Saadiq's "musical exuberance ... infectious".[12] Although he found it lacking a "centerpiece track", Capobianco ultimately praised the album as a "funk" departure from most of the contemporary soul he found "studied and overly reverent".[12] Slant Magazine editor Sal Cinquemani found it flawed as a concept album, but commended Saadiq for "conjuring soul greats like Stevie Wonder ('Live Without You'), Curtis Mayfield ('Grown Folks'), and Prince ('I Know Shuggie Otis') throughout", and stated, "just because the storyline(s) ... ceases to exist after the first few songs that doesn't mean the rest of the tracks aren't good."[7] Geoffrey Himes of The Washington Post noted Saadiq for having "a rare gift for linking seductive melodies to slinky grooves" and stated, "Ray Ray is just a collection of disconnected songs ... failing to establish a narrative. But what terrific songs they are."[14]
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