Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (W.I., also soley, soulie) as a term of address to a fellow black.

1916		J.G. Cruickshank Black Talk 74: Soley/soulie – a term of endearment [...] ‘Soley! I gone.’.
1959		P. Marshall Brown Girl, Brownstones (1960) 32: Soul, I don know.
1970		F. Collymore Notes for Gloss. of Barbadian Dial. 106: Soul, soulie. [...] a nominative of address, and implying sympathy and/or familiarity, as What happen to you, soul? Also soulie gal.

2. (orig. US black) the essential quality of being black, which is unavailable, however much aped and pirated, to anyone who is not black (and American); esp. as it is reflected in black music like jazz and soul music.

[1795		Sporting Mag. Aug. VI 281/1: Lads full of spunk and soul].
1946		Ebony Sept. 34: His playing is full of what jazzmen refer to as ‘soul’.
1959		N.Y. Jazz Festival 3 18: What is ‘soul’ in jazz? It comes from within; it’s what happens when the inner part of you comes out.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 180: ‘Soul’ had started coming out of the churches and the night-clubs into the streets. Everybody started talking about ‘soul’ as though it were something that they could see on people or a distinct characteristic of colored folks.
1974		N. Heard Cold Fire Burning 16: [of a white woman] This girl had paid some dues. She had gotten soul from somewhere, even if she didn’t wear it as naturally as a sister could.
1975		D. Goines Inner City Hoodlum 114: Drink this shit and let’s see if you’ve got soul!
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 27: You hear James Brown new record? Fonky nigger. He got soul.
1986		R. Hewitt White Talk Black Talk 101: The American concept of ‘soul’, that analogous quality which is said to inform soul music and many other aspects of black American life.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 29: This band had soul, spirituality, the lot.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 173: You one them gray boys wish he a spade, a ofay boy lookina get soul.

3. see soul food n.