On today’s 5-on-5 we dig into the world of Solomon Fox, a North Carolina-born singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who has quietly become one of the defining architects of the new soul wave.

Before he ever stepped to the mic as a solo artist, Fox was helping to shape the sound of others, co-creating the gospel-infused anthem “Stand Up” for the film Harriet and earning Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe nominations as a producer in the process.

His story runs straight through Durham, North Carolina, where he cut his teeth in the hip hop and R&B collective Young Bull, touring and helping revive a local scene while still in high school. From there he went to Harvard, studying Religion and Music under heavyweights like Cornel West, Vijay Iyer, and Esperanza Spalding.

That mix of church-bred harmony, producer discipline, and intellectual rigor would show up in his own records, where left-of-center soul arrangements, intimate vocals, and off-kilter lyrics sit comfortably next to funk-leaning grooves. Tonight, we trace that journey in five songs.

5 Essential Tracks by Solomon Fox

1: “Body’s An Ocean” (2021) 

Critics noted how Solomon leaned on stacked gospel harmonies, sparse keys and guitar, and heavy, unhurried bass lines that left plenty of space for his voice to sit front and center.

2: “Dreamcatcher” (2021)

Staying with the same album, we move to another cut that shows how he threads dreams, memory, and melody together. Across that project, Fox drew on R&B, soul, and gospel to build a slick, lovesick collection of coming-of-age musical snapshots that effortlessly glide into one another, showing an artist with a high ceiling of potential. That blueprint would carry forward as he moved from Bandcamp and word-of-mouth circles into a wider digital spotlight. 

3: “Weird” (2024) 

By 2024, his sound had jumped from local outlets to global timelines, thanks in part to a single that lived on Instagram and TikTok as much as in playlists. Along with its companion single “You Don’t Cook,” “Weird” racked up millions of views across Instagram and TikTok, putting his off-center R&B on the radar of listeners and legends alike, including Queen Latifah, Ty Dolla Sign, and T-Pain, who lauded his work.

This would set the table for his latest work, the 13-track fully self-produced album “Sweettooth.”

4: “Fallin’ Back (feat. Amaria)” (2025)

“Sweettooth” is a a five-year diary about one relationship and all the back and forth that came from it. One of the clearest windows into that story is a duet that unfolds like a 2 a.m. confession, written and produced in his bedroom and built around a hypnotic beatscape and dreamy chord structure. Solomon trades verses with songstress Amaria on a track that he pares down to warm synth washes, a relaxed groove, and two voices orbiting the same bad habit.

Compared to the boundary-pushing work he has done for artists like Smino and Thundercat, “Fallin’ Back” was less about him flexing his producer toolkit and more about letting vulnerability sit in the foreground. From there, Sweettooth opens out into a full emotional map: gut-punch breakups, sugar-rush infatuations, and the slow recognition that some connections are beautiful precisely because they cannot last.

5: “Blind Date Town” (2025)

Another cut that demonstrates Fox’s understanding of the music and cultural lineage of modern soul is “Blind Date Town.” It merges influences ranging from gospel choirs to D’Angelo to the contemporary soul renaissance. The result is music that feels familiar enough to hold you, and strange enough to keep you listening.

If you dig artists who embody the spirit of new-school soul and future-funk, keep listening to The Progressive Underground every Saturday evening at 6 p.m. on WDET 101.9 FM and wdet.org. For The Progressive Underground, my name is Chris Campbell. See you next time.

This week we are tapping in with GENA, a new project from Dallas-born, now L.A.-based vocalist Liv.e and legendary Detroit drummer and producer Karriem Riggins. The name is loosely inspired by Gina from the classic sitcom “Martin,” and the music moves in that same playful but grown lane, blurring jazz, R&B and left-of-center soul.

“Circlesz” is the first single from their collaboration, and it plays like a late-night loop: dusty drums, fluid keys and Liv.e’s floating vocal lines all orbiting each other in motion.

Here is GENA with “Circlesz,” and it is my Pick of the Week.

That was “Circlesz” from GENA, the duo of vocalist Liv.e and artist-drummer Karriem Riggins.

If jazzy, future-soul cuts like this are your lane, tune in to The Progressive Underground every Saturday evening at 6 p.m. on 101.9 WDET and at wdet.org.