Let’s Call This …

There was something familiar about Raphael Saadiq to me. He’s been blowing up in my consciousness stage for one in the last few weeks (perhaps everywhere, but I have no pulse on those kinds of things). I knew I liked his sound, and it’s been a seriously long time since I’ve been excited about a new musical talent. Except, of course, that Saadiq is far from a new talent, considering that the source of familiarity is because he has been ringing my my head for over 10 years as Tony! Toni! Toné, whose song “If I Had No Loot” still ranks among my all-time favorite jams from the 90s. He’s somewhere on the short and incredibly talented spectrum between Stevie Wonder and Al Green, reminiscent of both at times and certainly under their influence. But he manages to capture the quality of a male version of India.Aire — fresh, positive music with a truly distinctive vocal quality.