Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Chicago Tribune
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
MusicHound R&B	4/5
Q
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Urban Latino

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite is the debut album by American R&B singer Maxwell. It was released on April 2, 1996, by Columbia Records. Maxwell recorded the album between 1994 and 1995 at Electric Lady Studios, RPM, Sorcerer, and Chung King Studios in New York City, and CRC Studios in Chicago. The record's music features a mellow, groove-based sound with elements of funk, jazz, smooth soul, and quiet storm. A concept album, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was composed as a song cycle that focuses on an adult romance, based in part on Maxwell's personal experiences.

Although Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was not an immediate commercial success, it was helped by the release of its second single "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)". Eventually becoming a million-seller, the album was also a success with critics, who praised it as a departure from the mainstream, hip hop-oriented R&B of the time, while earning Maxwell several accolades and comparisons to soul singers of the past, particularly Marvin Gaye and Prince.

The success of Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite elevated Maxwell's reputation to that of a sex symbol and a notable performer in the music industry. He was credited with shaping the "neo soul" movement of musicians that rose to prominence during the late 1990s. Along with D'Angelo's Brown Sugar (1995) and Erykah Badu's Baduizm (1997), the album provided commercial exposure to neo soul and has since been cited by several critics as Maxwell's greatest work.

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Wikipedia