Sheldon Taylor's Souls of Black Notes

On August 25, 1998, Lauryn Hill embarked on her maiden voyage as a solo artist with the release of her debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Clocking in at nearly 70 minutes its sprawling cohesion recalls Stevie Wonder’s 1976 Songs in The Key of Life.                                                                   Against a host of contenders releasing groundbreaking albums during 1970s, Wonder emerged victorious, winning consecutive Grammys for Album of the Year.  Emerging as Motown's biggest star, Wonder inked a new multi-album deal for $30 million dollars---the biggest contract for any recording artist at the time. Disenchanted with America, Wonder flirted with retirement and moving to Africa. Instead, he moved forward to complete work on his highly anticipated follow-up. Two years in the making, Songs was finally released as a two-record set/four-song EP. It earned Wonder his third Grammy Album of the Year win in four years.                  

"You know what you need to learn/old school artists don't always burn/you're just another rapper who's had his turn" I'm Still #1 ---Boogie Down Productions (1988) In just four bars, BDP lead rapper KRS-One delivered a dead-on dissertation of rap music's stylistic changeover and constant turnover of its ever-evolving cast of characters. Early deejays and emcees were supplanted by seminal figures who delivered rap's first recorded hits. It happened again when Run-D.M.C---Joey "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and deejay Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell emerged in '83 with game-changing two-sided single "It's Like That /Sucker MC's". The record's big-beat sound abruptly ended the party-rocking Sugar Hill/Enjoy style. Now the legendary group was on the ropes as rap's Golden Age was approaching.  Part of the seminal class of '84 along with Whodini and the Fat Boys

 In April 1986, Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All was rising fast on the charts. Released a few weeks earlier as the final single from her triple-platinum debut Whitney Houston album, it was looking to be every bit the success of her previous hits like You Give Good Love, How Will I Know, and Saving All My Love For You. Composed, arranged, and produced by Michael Masser and lyrics penned by Linda Creed, Houston’s thrilling rendition of the 1977 original is permanently lodged in the public consciousness but the song's history and lyrical inspiration have been lost with time.               By 1976, Linda Creed was looking to spread her wings. As a staff writer at Philadelphia International Records, she joined forces with producer Thom Bell’s to create some of the greatest songs in the Philly Soul songbook.  In just four and a half years they'd racked up over 20 platinum and gold singles and albums. Creed was just twenty-three when she launched her proli