Neo Soul Niche Research - Jorja Smith, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Hiatus Kaiyote

Album art during the 90's had a similar vibe, the picture was a portrait of that artist. Now it's become something different as neo soul has evolved so has the album art, it's more varied, nothing stands out as being consistent across the genre.

Jorja Smith

Some artists still use a portrait of themselves, Jorja Smith's album 'lost and found' has a portrait as the cover, album art designed by Rashid Babiker (https://www.instagram.com/rashidbabiker/), head creator for BALC (https://www.instagram.com/balcfilmlab/), a film processing lab based in london.
Rashid Babiker uses a lot of film for their designs, incorporating it into Jorja Smith's music videos as well as posters and album art.

Debut single was 'Blue Lights', which samples Dizzee Rascals 'Sirens'.

Jorja Smith's music can be classified as many things, her style varies from song to song, some focus on more R&B style, where as others are more soul. This is an example of how the genre of neo soul has developed over time, and has become a sub genre for many musicians to experiment with.

London studios

Lost and found was recorded in a myriad of studios:

• Forwa3D, London
• Red Bull, London
• Fish Factory, London
• The Sauna, London
• King Size, Los Angeles

Erykah Badu

Labelled as the 'queen of neo soul', she rejected this statement as she felt it was too restricting, and that she would only be able to produce music that would be accepted if it was within the genre. 

Album 'Baduizm' (1997) was classified as being her most authentic neo soul album, and after her music style began to drift. Again album art contained a portrait, but appeared more distressed, Photography was by Marc Baptiste (http://www.marcbaptistephoto.com/2016/10/6/erykah-badu), and the design was by Susan Bibeau. 

Erykah Badu - photography by Marc Baptiste

Marc Baptiste moved from Haiti to Brooklyn, now resides in Brooklyn with his wife and children.
Passionate about photography, focuses on fashion and portrait photography. Photographed many musicians for magazine/online pages (including Lauryn Hill). 

Focuses a lot on the female form, has published books: Beautiful – Nudes by Marc Baptiste, in 2001, followed by Intimate in 2003, and Innocent, in 2006.

Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill - photography by Marc Baptiste

Critics generally praised The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill for Hill's presentation of a woman's view on life and love. Interesting as Neo Soul has been a genre where mostly women excel in the area.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill contributed to bringing hip hop and neo soul to the forefront of popular music. It recieved 5 awards at the 41st annual grammy awards. 
The length of the album is 69mins 20 seconds. 

According to the Encyclopedia of African American Music (2010), "some tracks are based more in hip hop soul than neo soul, but the record is filled with live musicians and layered harmonies, and therefore it is a trendsetting record that connects modern hip hop, R&B, and classic soul music together, creating groundwork for what followed it in the neo soul genre."

Hiatus Kaiyote

"Kaiyote" is not a word. It's a made up word, but it kind of sounds like peyote and coyote – it's a word that involved the listeners creativity as to how they perceive it. So it reminds you of things but it's nothing specific. When I looked it up on online it was like a bird appreciation society around the world, so for me that was a great omen, because I'm a bird lady. A hiatus is essentially a pause, it's a moment in time. So, to me, a hiatus is taking a pause in your life to take in your surroundings, have a full panoramic view of your experiences and absorbing, and "kaiyote" is expressing them in a way involves the listeners creativity." - Nai Palm 

• The idea of a panoramic view across the vinyl sleeve could be something to play around with, extend an image or make spread across the whole sleeve.
• Could use the hiatus as a pause in some way, think about the symbol (double lines) - could combine with the idea of a panoramic image.

Look at insta for gold filling pottery (kintsugi) https://www.instagram.com/artykarateparty/
philosophy of kintsugi - vicissitudes, successive, alternating, or changing phases or conditions, as of life or fortune; ups and downs.

• Think about coin scratching away (coin stratching) to show changing over time
• could use gold leaf or print in gold on the sleeve?