12 essential D’Angelo songs, according to Rolling Stone – Rolling Stone Brasil

12 essential D’Angelo songs, according to Rolling Stone – Rolling Stone Brasil

The R&B visionary, who died aged 51, leaves behind a catalog rich in melody and meaning

D’Angelo He released only three albums during his lifetime, but each one was a classic that defined his moment in music. How many artists can say that? The soulful singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, whose death at age 51 shocked the world, kicked off the neo-soul revolution early with Brown Sugar (1995); took this movement to what can be considered its artistic peak with Voodoo (2000); and returned to surprise everyone in a completely new way with Black Messiah (2014). Any one of these albums alone would be the crown jewel of another artist’s career. D’Angelo he did all three and never released anything below this very high standard. He left us a catalog rich in melody and meaning. Here are 12 of his best songs, from hit singles to deep cuts, covers and collaborations.

“Brown Sugar” (1995)

The sensuality of D’Angelo was central to his work, even when the subject of his songs wasn’t technically a person. It was easy for casual listeners to miss that he’s actually courting his weed in “Brown Sugar”the title track from her equally striking debut album. And he wanted it that way. “A lot of people are too busy trying to get their message across,” he told Vibe in 1995. “Without letting the listener use their imagination. You should be able to sit back, close your eyes and create your own vision.” The afrobeats star Tiwa Savage recently told Rolling Stone who was a student of the discreet approach of D’Angelo in “Brown Sugar”: “You think it’s just a sexy song about a girl or something, then you come back and it just makes you love it even more and think about how genius this song is.” —Mankaprr Conteh

“Lady” (1995)

Raphael Saadiq had a chorus for “Lady” kept since the late 80s, but its managers thought it was a failure. And that’s where he stopped, until he crossed the path of D’Angelo a few years later. “When I met D I said, ‘I have this idea’, and I started playing and he just looked at me and said, ‘I like it’”, Saadiq told the podcast Yes, Girl! from the Essence in 2019. “So we started writing the lyrics together.” The two R&B visionaries worked together to develop “Lady” in one of the centerpieces of D’s debut, a celebration of someone special that unfolds at a leisurely pace. It ended up being a Top 10 hit, the biggest of his career. D’Angelo. —Simon Vozick-Levinson

“Cruisin’” (1995)

In the late 70s, “Cruisin’” of Smokey Robinson it was one of the songs that summed up the quiet storm sound; in 2000, it became an adult-contemporary chart hit when Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis covered it for the soundtrack of a long-forgotten comedy. In the middle of the way, D’Angelo took her to a much more refined place. His falsetto was a divine instrument, elevating the song to a new level of pleasure mellowed over a luxurious arrangement of strings and bells. When he sings “Music was made for love”, you believe it. And by the end of the six-and-a-half-minute recording (the longest on his debut), this song was his forever. —SVL

“She’s Always in My Hair” (1997)

Many people would be afraid to face their idols, but for the soundtrack of Scream 2 (1997), D’Angelo decided to have fun with his favorite track by the artist who seemed to inspire him the most. He created a heavy, rock-influenced version of “She’s Always in My Hair” of Princethe bouncy single that originally appeared as the B-side of both “Paisley Park” how much of “Raspberry Beret”. He struts his way through each verse, adding an extra dose of harshness to the stone-smooth edges of his voice, soiling the track with just the right amount of boldness and vulgarity. It is a quiet confidence that came from having the blessing of Princeto some extent: In an interview with Ananda Lewishe shared that he had told Prince about the cover when they played together for the first time in Tramps in New York. —Julyssa Lopez

Lauryn Hill feat. D’Angelo, “Nothing Even Matters” (1998)

“Nothing Even Matters” is the softest place to land on the legendary debut album by Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). The iconic meeting of the voices that would help define the organic soul revival of the ’90s seems to have happened as smoothly as the song sounds. “Collaborate with Lauryn It was really cool,” D’Angelo told Rolling Stone in 2008. “She was warm and sweet. Originally, we were going to swap songs for each other’s projects because I was working on Voodoo at the same time and my keyboard player James Poyser I was also working with her. I went to her house in New Jersey, and she played me several songs and gave me a rough copy to listen to. When Lauryn and I went into the studio together, I recorded my vocals over the course of an hour.” —MC

“Untitled (How Does It Feel)” (2000)

D’Angelo may have ended up with mixed feelings about this single’s provocative video, but it’s undeniable that the super-sensual “Untitled” only rivals “Let’s Get It On” for the title of best bedroom song of all time. As in most Voodoothe formidable rhythm section of Pino Palladino and Questlove is so far behind the beat that the track practically travels through time, while the ever-soaring lead vocals of D’Angelo and the stacked harmonies offer—in the classic soul tradition—a libidinal take on gospel. The song casts such a distinct spell that it feels downright wrong to hear it with the lights on. —Brian Hiatt

“Devil’s Pie” (2000)

The most resonant social commentary doesn’t need to pound listeners’ heads. Between “Devil’s Pie”a single by Voodoo where D’Angelo portrays what Questlove described it as “the money-hungry, materialistic state of the world we live in”, brilliantly using euphemisms for money (cream, cheese, dough) as metaphorical devices for the sinister side of life. D’Angelo begins the song as one of the bakery’s conflicted customers softly hums, “Who am I to justify, all the evil in our eye/When I myself feel the high, from all that I despise?” He spends the rest of the track exploring humanity’s inherent hypocrisy and gluttony over one of the smoothest basslines you’ll ever hear. DJ Premier initially created the beat for the rapper Canibusbut he refused, leading to one of the most blunt and funky portraits of Western excess we’ve ever seen. If it’s not the serpent’s apple, it’s the devil’s pie. —Andre Gee

“Send It On” (2000)

When D’Angelo he did Voodoohe filled it with tons of soul, in a very real sense: The album overflows with deep, intensely felt reflections on love, spirituality, and fatherhood. Perhaps no moment is as tender as “Send It On”the first song written for the album, dedicated to his first child. He worked on it alongside Angie Stonethe child’s mother, intensifying an interpolation of “Sea of ​​Tranquility” of Kool & the Gang to its most emotive point and adding layers upon layers of light-as-air vocals that grow more soulful by the second. The end result is as sweet as a lullaby, but with the clarity and foresight that make it a father’s timeless words of wisdom. —JL

Snoop Dogg feat. Dr. Dre and D’Angelo, “Imagine” (2006)

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are revered for relentless depictions of violence and hedonism, but every now and then, as in “Imagine” (2006), they slowed things down to question the madness around them, with D’Angelo offering a silky chorus that fit the song’s pensive tone. It is one of the few participations of D’Angelo in rap, and the gangsta icons knew they had to get it right and go deeper with it on the track. Similar to “Why” of Jadakissthe two adopted a stream of consciousness approach, with Dre examining the power of hip-hop (“Imagine Russell still struggling/No Def Jam, just another nigga hustlin’”) and Snoop pondering, “Imagine if these niggas never saw a color/Would it be peaceful in them streets, would niggas kill each other?” Maybe one day we’ll have the answer to some of the guys’ questions, but regardless, we’re grateful to have “Imagine”. —AG

“The Charade” (2014)

When D’Angelo reemerged from his decade-plus studio hiatus with Black Messiahhe came with a new sound — heavier on rock guitars (many played by D himself) — and a renewed sense of purpose. He told Rolling Stone that he is the co-author Kendra Foster they had read a lot James Baldwin before writing this subtly insistent plea for justice and understanding: “All we wanted was a chance to talk/’Stead we only got outlined in chalk.” And while it resonated with listeners in the 2010s as an anthem of Black Lives Matterhe said the music was rooted even further back. “It just shows how ongoing this shit is, because I wrote this even before the whole thing. TrayvonMartin happen,” he said. “It’s crazy that we’re still in the streets protesting the same shit.” — SVL

“1000 Deaths” (2014)

In “1000 Deaths”, D’Angelo inaugurates a big bang, trembling under a sample of Dr Khalid Muhammad delivering a treatise on the black revolution. Black Messiah arrived after the death of michael brown in the hands of the police Fergusonand in this song, the ever-elusive artist is compelled from his own exile by a greater need. An inversion of the old adage that a coward dies a thousand deaths, the song offers a thesis for his own comeback. After the public’s reaction to the music video by “Untitled (How Does it Feel?)”, D’Angelo disappeared from the public eye, only to return with a robust, unapologetic expression of creative and cultural resilience. —Jeff Ihaza

“Really Love” (2014)

The sweet and gentle “Really Love” was one of the first songs that D’Angelo wrote to Black Messiahand it eventually became their first single. Over an exuberant string arrangement, the guest Gina Figueroa speaks in Spanish, berating a possessive lover. But as the slow song opens, D’Angelo tells a different story: He’s mesmerized by how deep his love for his partner is, intoxicated by their connection on every level. His smooth falsetto declares “I’m in really love with you” in the chorus. D’Angelo wrote the song back in 2007, when Questlove leaked some demo excerpts to Australian radio. The single would be nominated for Record of the Year node Grammy Awards 2016, and took home Best R&B Song. – Brittany Spanos

Source: Rollingstone

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