Musiq Soulchild (born Talib Johnson on September 16, 1977. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), is an American neo soul and R&B artist, and was one of the most popular artists on the Def Soul label. In 2001, he dropped the "Soulchild" from his moniker and began referring to himself simply as "Musiq", stating that he had not yet mastered his craft, and thus was not yet "music's soulchild". However, he reassumed the "Soulchild" surname with the release of the song B.U.D.D.Y. in 2007. Besides being a successful recording artist, Musiq is notable for his disregard for normal rules of capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, which can be seen in the titles of his singles and his albums.
Musiq Soulchild was born and raised in Philadelphia and grew up in a strict Muslim household with his family, including eight brothers and a sister. He released his debut album, Aijuswanaseing (reads: "I Just Want to Sing"), in 2000, which was well-received by critics and audiences. Musiq did much of his own songwriting, and most of the record was produced and co-written by Ivan "Orthodox" Barias and Carvin "Ransum" Haggins, then of the A Touch of Jazz production company headed by Jazzy Jeff, now of Karma Productions. The singles "Just Friends (Sunny)", "Love", and "Girl Next Door" received exposure in America mainly on the more underground music video network, MTV, as well as on BET. His singles also received a good amount of airplay on urban and urban contemporary radio stations.
In 2002, he released his second album named after his best friend Chris Patton, because he is deaf and all he wanted to do was just listen. Juslisen (read: "Just Listen"), as simply Musiq (he dropped the "Soulchild" from his moniker because he said he had not mastered his craft yet, and thus was not yet 'music's soulchild' ). He had continued urban and MTV2 success with its singles, "halfcrazy" and "dontchange", the former of which was one of the most played music videos on MTV2 in the summer of 2002 and during the year overall. Both videos also got substantial play during the year on VH1 Soul. The singles had heavily amounts of airplay on both urban and urban contemporary radio sations in 2002. He also gained exposure during that year by opening concerts for Alicia Keys.
In late 2002, Musiq contributed guest vocals to "Break You Off", the first single from The Roots' Phrenology album. Once again, its video got heavy play on MTV2 and VH1 Soul, as well as on MTV Jams. He also appeared in Santana's song "Nothing at All" which is featured in his 2002 album Shaman. Musiq also collaborated with UK soul singer Beverley Knight on the duet "Beautiful Contradiction", taken from her album Who I Am.
In 2003, the singles and videos "forthenight" and "whoknows" from his third LP, Soulstar. "forthenight" was one of VH1 Soul's most played videos of 2004, and also had a very successful run on American urban radio stations.
Recently, Musiq Soulchild (who has added the "Soulchild" to his moniker again) has parted ways with Def Soul and has signed with Atlantic Records. His album Luvanmusiq(which reads Love And Music) was released on March 13, 2007. The first single "Buddy" has peaked at #38 on the Billboard Hot 100. He made guest appearances on rapper Lloyd Banks's Rotten Apple, Talib Kweli's Eardrum, Black Ice's The Death of Willie Lynch and pays tribute to soul music legends Earth Wind and Fire, appearing on the soundtrack to Tyler Perry's movie Daddy's Little Girls.
