I know I’m not the only one that laments the years of hip hop that were foisted upon us by Clear Channelization. Don’t get me wrong, some hip hop was good, Outkast comes to mind.

But I’m seriously digging two neo-soul artists on the scene right now. John Legend and Van Hunt. I’m currently listening to John Legend’s Once Again album. Oh alright, it’s in my iTunes library. Interestingly the neo-soul movement has a heavy Motown influence in it. That happens to be alright with me, I love Motown.

My first exposure to Legend was via his song “Ordinary People” on his Get Lifted album. At first I thought it was a bit over the top but grew to like it. It was sort of how I found out about Jamiroquai a few years ago. The first track I heard from them was “Return of the Space Cowboy” and hated it almost immediately. But then “Virtual Insanity” came out and I picked up the Traveling Without Moving disc. Now I have all but one of their discs, and Jay Kay is still singing.

It’s funny, I’ve been called repeatedly by a radio rating service. I told them I don’t listen to commercial radio anymore. I listen to NPR of all things. How does new music make it into my life? Well, there’s a lot of cross pollination from our iTunes libraries at work. And Van Hunt and John Legend came into my life via Keyron.

It’s funny – my musical tastes run more towards music to get laid by than anything else. A co-worker is a metal head who once made a comment about my iTunes library being mostly slow-jams. I asked him how conducive metal was to getting laid. Hasn’t made any comments since.