However, because there wasn’t a label for Musiq to thrive as a hip-hop soul singer, he was put into the box known as “neo-soul” which allowed him to obtain success beyond his wildest dreams but at the same time stunted his growth as an artist. He was like if Bobby Brown was influenced by A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul instead of Big Daddy Kane or LL Cool J. Throughout his career, Musiq Soulchild has been a singer with a soulful voice with a flair of hip-hop added in his music, similar to how Bobby Brown added New Jack Swing to his sophomore album Don’t Be Cruel. The first time you heard him beatbox on “Just Friends (Sunny),” Musiq was hip-hop soul. When he got signed to Def Jam in 2000 Musiq was hip-hop soul. When he started performing at local open mic events like Words and Sounds hosted by a North Philly songbird named Jill Scott, Musiq was hip-hop soul. When he started experimenting with music that ultimately led to the creation of Aijuswanaseing, Musiq was hip-hop soul. When he was inspired to be a singing version of the hip hop band The Roots, he was hip-hop soul. When he was singing on the corners in Center City, Musiq was hip-hop soul. With all the praise he has received since the release of Aijuswanaseing, Musiq Soulchild looks at his career as a bittersweet blessing because for a majority of it, the public continued to categorize him as a neo-soul singer, instead of the style that he came in the door with 20 years ago. Two decades later Aijuswanaseing is still loved and cherished as a classic R&B album with timeless hits such as “Just Friends (Sunny)”, “Girl Next Door”, and “Love”, which could be argued as the best love song of the 2000s.
But on November 14th of 2000, he would introduce himself to the world as Musiq Soulchild with the release of his debut album Aijuswanaseing. “Mama Knew Love” was a great album intro, but The Roots joint is a classic.In the late 90s, a young man named Taalib Johnson was known for singing on the corners downtown in his hometown of Philadelphia. Round 1: Anthony Hamilton – “Mama Knew Love” vs The Roots featuring Musiq Soulchild – “Coming To Break You Off” Jermaine Dupri was the DJ for Anthony Hamilton and he was also supported on select songs by The Hamiltones as his background singers. The Diplomats | Ja Rule vs Fat Joe | KRS-One vs. SWV | Swizz Beatz vs Timbaland Rematch | Eve vs Trina | Bow Wow vs. Monica | Gladys Knight vs Patti LaBelle | Gucci Mane vs Jeezy |Į-40 vs. Like we have done previously with these Verzuz battles, here’s a round by round break down of the Anthony Hamilton vs Musiq Soulchild Verzuz. His last album Love is the New Black was released in September 2021. He’s released 8 solo albums in total, including one Holiday album.
From there he continued as a songwriter, co-writing Donell Jones’ “U Know What’s Up.” It wasn’t until he teamed up with Jermaine Dupri and So So Def for his magnum opus, Comin’ from Where I’m From in 2003, that a majority of fans started to pay attention. He began his career on MCA Records and his debut album went pretty quietly. Hamilton hails from Charlotte, North Carolina. His last album, Feel The Real was released in 2017. In total he has released 8 R&B albums, 1 album under the name Husel (a rap project) and a joint album with Syleena Johnson.
Two years later, in 2020 he dropped his debut album, Aijuswanaseing, featuring the lead single “Just Friends (Sunny)” and the smash follow-up, “Love.” He released five album from 2000 – 2008, during the height of the neo-soul era. Philly native, Musiq (born Taalib Hassan Johnson) signed to DefSoul back in ’98.