The Line From Marvin Gaye to Proceed 2 by Kennard
A Baltimore Singer Carries Church-Trained Soul Into Alternative R&B, Hip-Hop and Neo-Soul
Marvin Gaye‘s What’s Going On proved in 1971 that a soul album could carry heavy subject matter and stay warm. Baltimore singer Kennard names Gaye as an influence, and Proceed 2 applies that instinct to eight songs about loss.
Kennard’s music is in the playlist below, and his full run of coverage sits on his artist profile. Proceed 2 came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Give the playlist a listen, then keep reading.
The Soul Lineage Kennard Names Runs From David Ruffin and Marvin Gaye to Baltimore’s Own Mario
Kennard’s route into music starts where so many soul voices start: in church. He began singing at 13 at Israel Baptist Church in Baltimore City. Three years later, he was writing his own songs. A 2026 New York Weekly profile lists the influences he carried out of those years. They read like a family tree. First comes his grandmother. Then come David Ruffin, Marvin Gaye and Mario.
Each name, however, stands for a different branch of the same tradition. For example, Ruffin’s 1964 lead on The Temptations’ My Girl set the template for the pleading vocal up front. Gaye, meanwhile, showed that the same kind of voice could carry social and personal weight across a whole album. Mario then brought the line closer to home. He is a Baltimore singer too. His 2004 single Let Me Love You is a textbook case of slow, vocal-first R&B.
What ties them together is the pocket. The groove stays patient, the arrangement leaves room, and the singer does the travelling. That approach never left R&B. In fact, it has found a new home among independent artists who blend alternative R&B, hip-hop production and neo-soul warmth. That independent end of the line is also where Proceed 2 belongs.
Proceed 2 Turns Grief for an Aunt and an Uncle Into Slow Alternative R&B Built Around the Voice
Kennard released Proceed 2 on 22 August 2025, eleven years after his first mixtape, Proceed. Before that came a run of singles. Two 2022 singles from that stretch have official videos: Hello and Lay You Down. He then spent two years on the album and recorded it at Wright Way Studios. It came out through his own independent label. The result is compact: eight tracks in roughly 22 minutes. It opens with Cater 2 U, Pt. 2 and closes with I Just Gotta Know, which features the Los Angeles musician Jamonie Lee.
The subject matter is personal. Kennard wrote through heartbreak and healing. He also wrote through the deaths of his aunt and, a year before the release, his uncle. Rain is where that grief is set most directly to music. The album never turns the loss into spectacle, though. Instead, it keeps the tempos down and lets the singing carry the weight.
That restraint is what NewIndieRadar heard. Its review singled out a clear, honest and versatile voice. It also noted spoken and sung narrative passages over mostly slowed-down, relaxed beats. In other words, those are the album’s three genres in practice. Hip-hop lives in the spoken phrasing and neo-soul in the unhurried grooves. Meanwhile, R&B sits in the lead vocal that holds it together.
Adjacent Acts Who Share the Unhurried Pocket of Alternative R&B, Hip-Hop and Neo-Soul
Three current artists help place the record for new listeners. Anderson .Paak moves between rapping and singing inside a single song. Similarly, Proceed 2 mixes spoken and sung passages. Lucky Daye builds new R&B out of older soul shapes, which is close to how Kennard treats his influences. Finally, Daniel Caesar brings a gospel-shaped harmony sense to indie R&B. That is a fair parallel for a singer who started out in a Baltimore church.
None of those comparisons is a claim of influence. Rather, they are a map for listeners who already love that pocket and want the next singer who works it. So for alternative R&B and neo-soul fans, Proceed 2 by Kennard is a rewarding place to start.
BlackSounds.News curator team: “Proceed 2 trusts the old soul arrangement. The beat stays slow, the production makes space and the voice does the travelling. On Rain, that trust pays off, because the grief arrives through the singing rather than through any big production move.”
Where to Stream Proceed 2 and Follow Kennard Across Every Platform
Proceed 2 by Kennard is out now. Stream the album on Spotify or Apple Music, then follow him for what comes next.
Follow Kennard across platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and his official site.
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