Throughout his childhood years, he sang in gospel groups with friends but his big break came at the age of 18 auditioning to be in Prince protege and drummer Sheila E’s backing band for the Parade tour.
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He never made explicit reference to the series of misfortune in his music and the listener would have to look hard to find the slightest trace of anger in his songs - although it is there in tracks such as 'The Answer' off 2011's Stone Rollin'. My sister would hate it if I played her blues records and my dad would tell me off if I touched his bass guitar, but I did both anyway.” Saadiq’s sister also died young after being run over by a car the young African American at the wheel was being chased through the neighbourhood by a police car. “I grew up in a neighbourhood where one of the safest things to do was to play music. Later another brother overdosed on heroin and tragically, a third committed suicide, unable to cope with his own opiate addiction. The second youngest of 14 siblings, when he was just seven years old, his older brother was murdered. Saadiq’s childhood in Oakland, California was a thing of heartbreak, tragedy and appalling luck. When a corrupt councilwoman tells the street-smart villain: “Raphael Saadiq, he’s just as good live as you said he was!” Cottonmouth, looking high off power alone, confidently replies: “No, he’s even better.” But to make sense of Saadiq’s current place in music, you must look backwards as well as forwards. In the opening episode, he sings two songs live in the fictional Harlem nightclub owned by drug dealer Cottonmouth (played by actor Mahershala Ali, who recently picked up an Oscar for his work on Moonlight).
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Its 2016 TV series Luke Cage, which focuses on Marvel’s black Harlem superhero, who can’t be pierced by bullets, saw him play a starring role. Yet, he shrugs: “Meh, I didn’t go to the Grammys I just had some dinner and watched Netflix instead.” Netflix has also been important in helping the general public belatedly discover the Saadiq name. The Grammy he recently picked up for being the primary producer on the album (which he describes as a “testament to the power of healing”) would have been swiftly exchanged for PR by most. Last year, Solange’s political pop masterpiece validated Saadiq’s ear for a beat. But, the 50-year-old Californian, who has four solo albums under his belt, is rarely mentioned among the greats. A skilled studio musician, Saadiq also finds himself playing for the likes of Mick Jagger, Elton John and Stevie Wonder. Last year’s A Seat At The Table by Solange was moulded in part by him. Saadiq has produced some of modern soul’s most cherished masterpieces D’Angelo’s Voodoo and Brown Sugar, The Roots’ Illadelph Halflife and Bilal’s 1st Born Second all carry his mark. Yet it’s the psychedelic edge to his reverb-heavy guitar and drums - clearly inspired by friend J Dilla, whose picture proudly hangs in the heart of Saadiq’s North Hollywood studio – that ensures his sound gravitates just as much towards the 21st century.
Tonally, he can switch from upbeat and joyous to pure melancholy with ease and his ageless voice, is the very definition of what Phife Dawg would call ‘smooth like butter’.
He is responsible for infectious ballads replete within cinematic big band arrangements that could easily have been lifted from Ray Charles’ Genius sessions in the late fifties. In an age where many emerging artists will do just about everything to disconnect from their musical roots listening to Raphael Saadiq is the perfect tonic should you want it. It’s a blessing as people get to rediscover me every single day.”
“But at the end of the day, I am happy being the sleeping elephant. He said to me recently ‘Everybody don’t know you as dope as you are’ and I said ‘Bro, that’s not my job’", the 50-year-old soul singer Raphael Saadiq tells tQ, the day after winning a Grammy for producing Solange Knowles’ epic single ‘Cranes In The Sky’.
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