D’Angelo’s last album, Voodoo, was released five days after Bill Clinton left office in January of 2000. He was 25 at the time and now he’ll soon turn 41. In the nearly 15 years that have passed since the release, it’s been easy to forget that D’Angelo’s sophomore album was long-in-the-making, delayed, and a bit mythical itself. NYU Professor and cultural critic Jason King wrote retrospective liner notes for a much-deserved vinyl reissue of the album in 2012, and in the more than 8000-word piece he paints D’Angelo as a sort of hermit—“distracted by weed and weightlifting”—in between those first and second albums. The pressure of a follow-up to the debut, Brown Sugar, which was released in 1995, clearly mired D’Angelo through the late ‘90s, but it also seemed to test and perfect Voodoo, an album that has endured more obviously as his bona fide modern classic.
After its release, D’Angelo retreated again and whispers of new music came and went for more than a decade. He also suffered himself through a host of troubles unrelated to music, including an arrest in 2005 for drunk driving—he was high on cocaine as well—and marijuana possession, despite two stints in rehab that preceded the incident. And then, after glimpses both good and bad, in 2012, D’Angelo suddenly emerged for a string of performances, first in Europe and then in the U.S. At a Philadelphia performance with ?uestlove last year, the singer himself hardly spoke. The Roots bandleader—one of the most notable albeit informal spokespersons D’Angelo has—introduced him and then proceeded to narrate much of the show as the real main act remained slumped in front of a keyboard and microphone in between songs. At a performance in Brooklyn earlier in the same year, ?uestlove reportedly said, “Let him know that he’s loved,” as if he truly didn’t know, and, “If y’all don’t make noise, you’re going to be waiting ’til 2042.”
News that Black Messiah was not only years in progress but a last-minute rush effort accompanied its release, and the urgency this time was apparently sparked in part by D’Angelo’s reaction to a Ferguson Grand Jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed Black teen Michael Brown. In that way the surprise release was more than a marketing convenience, and the revelation has already helped shape the record’s narrative. The album itself isn’t a sustained reaction or purely a vehicle for commentary from D’Angelo but specific tracks are, and more generally it’s a statement that he wants to be heard now.
The issue of the album’s title, which could be passed off as a grandiose, hopefully fulfilling bit of self-prophecy, is instead anchored by artwork that for the first time in a career doesn’t feature D’Angelo himself (The picture of raised Black hands that graces the album’s cover holds a special significance in 2014 and the particular image was captured at Afropunk’s annual concert last year). For Voodoo he appeared shirtless and then shortly after stood naked in a bigger-than-the-album video for “Untitled (How Does It Feel?).” The launch into sex symbol status didn’t seem to fit D’Angelo’s artistic mission or personality, and in retrospect it seems like an accidental blunder according to a few years old Spin feature. “You’ve got to realize, he’d never looked like that before in his life,” D’Angelo’s trainer, Mark Jenkins said in 2008. “To be somebody who was so introverted, and then, in a matter of three or four months, to be so ripped — everything was happening so quickly.” On a song on this album, ”Back To The Future (Part 1),” D’Angelo makes light of the attention he no longer wants simply and cleverly: “So if you’re wondering about the shape I’m in / I hope it ain’t my abdomen that you’re referring to,” he sings.
The new album’s recording was committedly retro and analog and like Voodoo, Black Messiah was cut directly to two-inch tape. The sound is earthy, both warm and soft even when it’s gritty, and you can hear a hushed static in the silent moments at the beginning or end of many of the songs. Musically though it’s never straight-ahead nostalgia. “1000 Deaths,” the second track, drones on with a constantly double-time bassline at the center of a busy, psych-y production. It’s the album’s grungiest moment and a fast introduction to a new guitar/bass centered funk-rock from D’Angelo. The next song, “The Charade,” is the most politically poignant, both lyrically timeless and depressingly present: “All we wanted was a chance to talk / ‘Stead we only got outlined in chalk.” The music betrays the tone of the lyrics though; a glimmering lead guitar line is simply pleasant and the general feel is soft and upbeat.
The next song has all the workings and moving pieces of the album’s trademark, but an outrightly sweet melody, shared on both the flamenco-tinged guitar and the lead vocals, carries “Really Love,” a lullaby to a lover. Even with its distinctive layers—an acoustic bass, a heavy clap that grounds the rhythm in the center, swooping strings—it stands utterly apart from a song like “Sugah Daddy,” which is more of an intersection between D’Angelo’s Sly Stone and Prince fascinations. That song was written with help from Q-Tip and the apparently pivotal pen of Kendra Foster, a Parliament/Funkadelic and George Clinton collaborator whose name is credited several times. “Sugah Daddy” was also one of the first peeks at the album as D’Angelo had performed the track in 2012 at the BET Awards. The song is the approachable pick of the bunch to a Voodoo-stuck fan and certain lines are pure raunch without being exaggerated thanks to his constantly moving, sometimes mumbling delivery.
The second half of the album jumps from “Betray My Heart,” the most straight-ahead Jazz offering, to the casual jam of “Back To The Future (Part II).” With “The Door,” a song in which D’Angelo warns a lover, “Don’t lock yourself out that door” after singing, “You wasn’t very nice,” he has reached Randy Newman levels of simplicity in short melody, and the immediate predictability of the lead whistling and other sounds is comforting, not off-putting. “Another Life,” the closer, is a drowsy bit of feverish infatuation by comparison, a loose groove held together in the name of the sensual ode.
Together the album is well contained and doesn’t jump around carelessly, but it moves to different places and resists a single thread or sound as D’Angelo does genres. Earlier this year he shrugged off the “neo-soul” label in a RBMA interview with Nelson George, saying, “Anytime you put a name on something, you just put it in a box.” The apprehension toward the term is justified and fits his character, even if the name was originally meant to describe exactly that reluctance in him towards being boxed in. Black Messiah is ambitious and adventurous, and in that way it delivers wholly on the promise of D’Angelo as an artist. In another way it’s new and different for him, the sound is heavier and grittier in places, and more simple and sweeter in others. After so many years, that unwillingness to settle into the same groove is part and parcel to the D’Angelo we’ve all been waiting for. There’s a comfort in not having to worry about more new music for now. There will be years spent with Black Messiah; it deserves the time to grow. And rise.
HHDX, why don’t ya’ll cover real visionary artists like Maino, Joell Ortiz, French Montana, P. Diddy Azalea? This is why rap ‘culture’ is dying.
Obviously joking, D’Angelo makes 99.99% rap music for the utter dogshit it is.
French Montana, P. Diddy and Azalea? I hope you’re just trolling lol. Gotta be fucking kidding me.
amazing album
Easily one of the best albums this year.
Well written…but how many DX readers do you really think understood how to use your Randy Newman reference?
But then again, there might be some crate diggers in the building…
Besst album i’ve heard in 10 years.
GOLD. This is music. From the soul. #DILLA
Incredible album. D’s album sounds different, in a good way, from any other R&B album that was released in recent years. This album needs a good 3-5 years of listening to fully settle in. 4.5 Stars
On another note…I am glad D’Angelo was able to make it back from a surely dark place in his life that consisted of drug and alcohol abuse. Welcome back and keep fighting those addictions. That in itself is bigger than fame and fortune.
First album I have bought in years… Masterpiece
Other artists hear this album and feel shame, envy, or both. Shame at how inferior they are to D’Angelo, and envy because they naturally wish they could be as otherworldly good as D’Angelo. Black Messiah is a masterwork.
What great grooves. A total breath of fresh but funky air. Don’t want to shut it off.
wooooooooowwwwww
Thanks D Angelo for the lasting music
Sometimes you gotta wait to know how timeless and great an artist is. And does D’Angelo show this with Black Messiah? Fucking hell yes. There’s no songs I dislike, it reminds me of a prince version, combining of Sky’s There’s a riot going on and Marvins what’s going on. But fucj take another 14-15 years if you need. Good god
calm down whitey
how is he white? fucking idiot
4/5
D just schooled the whole R&B genre with this album. This is what grown man music sounds like. Nothing trendy about it, just amazing music. Hope everyone takes heed.
God damn I wish D would give me that D.
Should be 5 stars you f’n idiot
Nice to see D’angelo back doin his thing . I remember the Brown Sugar days , that album was dope .
classic
Great, great album. The Voodoo album was a classic. This is along those lines.
Straight up classic
I don’t remember the last time music took my breath away. Thanks!
The musicianship on this album is amazing! “Voodoo” has been one of my favorite albums for years…”Black Messiah” is definitely on that same level.
Cool album , i can respect this . D’angelo is a true artist . Nice comeback album Geeeaah Your my lady Your my lady . 90’s classic song by him
Definitely worth the 15 year wait. Incredible!
“Sade & D’Angelo can take a decade or two…
Just keep that good music coming & they’ll wait for you”
-King Kweli
is it a rap album? okay… and where’s the taylor swift review?
It’s Hip-Hop, fam. …Part of that culture that gave birth to Rap. Yu gotta love it!!!!!!!!!
1Love, Peace
This is hiphop because the album is knowledge. There needs to be more rap like this.
few rappers have the patience, insight, or humility to work in this space. d’angelo himself *mumbles* a lot of his lyrics, on purpose i think, so that the listener doesn’t fall into the trap of the talking head… he gets this from the deep delta blues tradition. notice how he made no attempt to update to “back and forth” on this album, or pander to any fans that might have been hoping for a “sequel.”
Word!!
I THINK I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS ALBUM ALREADY , JUST FROM THE FIRST LISTEN IT SOUNDS BEAUTIFUL . GREAT COMEBACK ALBUM GEEAH
LEAVE IT UP TO D’ANGELO TO SAVE THE DAY FROM THIS NEW WEAK MUSIC WE HAVE NOWADAYS . THANK YOU D’ANGELO WE LOVE IT
Don’t get me wrong, this album is good..great even. A deserved 4,5/5. But you guys calling it a classic and whatnot… c’mon..
though i agree that the term “classic” by definition needs TIME to be legitimately applied, d’angelo is clearly proving himself to be someone who IGNORES TIME. just listen to “back to the future pt. 1” a few times in terms of lyrics, arrangement, mix, and production and i think you’ll see what i’m pointing at. that track alone embraces funk, soul, jazz, dub, hiphop and freestyle poetry all at once and does it sooooo well. check the way that “really love” evolves into its groove. these and so many other moments will be *studied* in the future. this record will be up there with “what’s going on?” sooner than you think. Black Messiah is like babe ruth pointing out the home run before the pitch.
#instantclassic #seeuin10years
a beast of an album. genius
serious record. incredibly detailed and executed in a way that just makes what is passing for “R&B” and “Soul” today sound utterly ridiculous. R. Kelly is afraid to listen to this record. so is drake. john legend is shook, and even frank ocean is nervous. the whole autotune hook crew will buy this record but never actually play it. even the “nostalgia wonderboy” Adrian Younge is hesitant to look himself in the mirror.
Black Messiah is definitely accessible on that boom-clap level that was born in the ashes of ATCQ and spirited off for preservation in Detroit thanks to Dilla… but if you know, feel and /need/ Authentic Black Music — and I mean on a deeper frequency than your subscription to Wax Poetics or your lurker habit on Okayplayer.com — this thing is fantastically rewarding and gives you more with every listen you give to it.
d’angelo is one timely motherfucker.
R Kelly can outsing this cat any day of the week.
Great from a great
Do good thing come to those who wait?..
Beautiful return from D’Angelo. This album came at the right place and the right time. D’Angelo claims this album is not complete but it does a great job of portraying emotion and he takes his music in various different directions. I’m eagerly looking forward to the completed version.