like it was the first album to come out and actually be called "neo-soul." When Brown Sugar dropped, people were struggling to figure out how to categorize it.

By the time Erykah dropped, Kedar had already got his brand together and worked out how he was going to market it. Baduizm also standardized the sound of neo-soul, right from the very first track which defined what the drums were supposed to sound like ("Rimshot.")

Between Brown Sugar and Baduizm there was a brief "anything goes" period where people were trying all kinds of diverse ideas and then Erykah's album came out and said "THIS is what neo-soul IS."