D’Angelo Appreciation Entry

After watching Digging the Greats’ amazing breakdown on D’Angelo’s Voodoo, I felt inspired to listen to the Virginia native’s discography once more. And, like everytime I listen to those three albums, my love for D’Angelo, and the entire Soulquarian subgenre, grows exponentially. D’Angelo has a level of musicianship not seen since Stevie Wonder (I am so sorry for even thinking about comparing him to 4Batz), and all three of his records are top 200 albums of all time. And, with these albums all having major anniversaries (30, 25 and 10 respectively), I thought it was time to give my thoughts on D’Angelo’s legendary career.

Album 1: Brown Sugar

If anyone were to start listening to Michael Archer’s discography, the clear and obvious choice to start would be his 1995 debut, Brown Sugar. If you like albums like Daniel Ceaser’s Freudian, Solonge’s A Seat At The Table, or Frank Ocean’s early work (nostalgia _ULTRA and channel ORANGE), you will love this record! This album finds D’Angelo putting his own, jazzy, spin on traditional ‘90s R&B, which was dominated by acts like Faith Evans, Keith Sweat, R. Kelly, TLC, and of course, Mary J. Blige at the time. These styles were derived from the more mainstream parts of Hip-Hop (think Wu-Tang, Snoop Dogg, and The Notorious B.I.G.). Meanwhile, D’Angelo took inspiration from the Native Tongues scene in the early 90s, but, more specifically, A Tribe Called Quest. Songs like “S**t Damn Motherf*****”, “Jonz in My Bonz”, and the title track have bass lines that seem like they were pulled out of the recording sessions from Midnight Marauders (it helps a lot that the mixing engineer from Midnight Marauders, Bob Power, mixed the majority of this album). 

Brown Sugar is full of great songs, but by far the highlight is the two-song run of “Crusin’” and “When We Get By”. “Crusin’” is a cover of the Smokey Robinson song with the same name, and it is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. D’Angelo injects a crazy amount of falsetto, and it makes the song fly! How he says “Hey, baby ” at 2:14 sends me to the 5th dimension. And those strings at the end are SO GOOD. “When We Get By” is a jazz-inspired track that takes D’Angelo’s singing to 11. I love how different the drums are from any song in ‘90s R&B and teh horns during the chorus. If you play this song in any jazz club, it would fit right in. And that’s the magic of D’Angelo. No matter what genre he dips his musical toes into, it will not only work, but it will be one of the best things you’ve ever heard. 

Album 2: Voodoo

Even though Brown Sugar was very different from R&B at the time, and it kicked off the entire Neo-Soul movement that was picked up by Erykah Badu and Maxwell; D’Angelo wanted to make an even bigger statement against the mainstream. He wanted to go back to the days of Hendrix, Marvin, and Stevie with a more modern feel inspired by the producer Jay Dee, better known as J Dilla (Fun Fact: Dilla did a remix of “Me And Those Dreamin’ Eyes of Mine” on one of his mixtapes). And what better way to honor those legends than to record at their studio, Electric Lady. Teaming up with D’Angelo for the majority of the album was Roots drummer Questlove and bassist Pino Palidino. And on January 25th, 2000 the album Voodoo was released. 

Just to clarify: this album is not for everyone the way Brown Sugar was designed to be. The instruments, and specifically the drums, are stripped down to their rawest form, and the feel is designed to be like Dilla’s, which is satisfyingly off time and swung heavily (it is impressive if any drummer can play the Dilla feel). And, all songs are over 4 minutes, and don’t really have a structure. Think of it as recorded jam sessions with lyrics. BUT, if you either look past those choices, or embrace them fully, this album is truly one of the greatest of all time.

Take the intro “Playa Playa”. With an amazing horn line and a unique drum pattern, this song should sound amazing to the naked ear. But, it doesn’t. For a casual music listener, it sounds clunky and off beat. The reason why is because none of the instruments are quantized, meaning completely locked to a metronome. What comes out of this preference is, for lack of a better phrase, a controlled musical free-for all. Another thing you might notice is how unintelligible D’Angelo’s voice is, as he sings in a very high falsetto and slurs his words. I personally love this, as it makes you pay attention to the amazing performers on the other instruments, rather than just focusing on the lyrics. 

This album has a myriad of high points: “Spanish Joint” (his best song), “Untitled”, “Feel Like Making Love”, “Send it On”, the Prince influence on “Left & Right”, the guitar lick and call-and-response parts of “Chicken Grease”, etc. I seriously can’t say any more about it. Just listen to it, and experience musical greatness. 

Album 3: Black Messiah

After 15 years out of the spotlight, D’Angelo finally returned to music with Black Messiah in 2014. The album name is not only a political commentary on America and how we need a Black Messiah, but it is most likely a callback to the Issac Hayes album Black Moses. And, surprise surprise, this album sonically is the most different D’Angelo album yet. There are some songs like “Betray My Heart” that are a reminder of the Voodoo days, but most of the album is reminiscent of Hendrix (“Ain’t That Easy”, “Prayer”) and Prince/Kool & The Gang (“Sugah Daddy”, “Back To the Future [Parts I & II]”). The closer “Another Life” is a fantastic ballad with beautiful piano chords and strings. Meanwhile “Really Love” is a deeply depressing track with phenomenal guitar playing from Isaiah Sharkley and a great bass line from Pino Palidino. But, with all these highlights, this album gets even better, as it has a song that is considered one of the best of the decade… 

F**K it, a whole section on ‘Sugah Daddy’ —

This is Funk done right!! Every instrument is amazing. The horns come in perfectly every time, the piano is tuned perfectly, and how D’Angelo plays those chords are perfect. The drum and bass groves are so funky, and those few moments when all the brass instruments synchronize are some of the best seconds I’ve ever heard in music. Prince should be proud that this legendary piece of music is attributed to him.

Bonus: His Features

Another amazing part about D’Angelo is his feature game. He has contributed to many classics and/or made songs so much better. “Nothing Even Matters” (you might know it as “Cole Summer”/the RDC WORLD & Clique Productions song sample), “So Far To Go”, “Imagine”, “Cold World”, his guitar playing and vocal melodies on “The Hypnotic”, and “Ibtihaj” are all amazing songs that Archer makes even better.

In conclusion, D’Angelo is a musical mind that, while known and talked about as great in most circles, should be talked about as a Stevie Wonder-level virtuoso, not just some great singer. 

I really appreciate you reading this entry. Please leave a comment with your thoughts on D’Angelo and / or thoughts for my future musicians, songs, or albums to dig into.