When the late, great musician D’Angelo (aka Michael Eugene Archer) entered the scene, he shook things up when he brought old school R&B and soul to the masses with an inimitable down and dirty grit and masculine sensitivity that ushered in the neo-soul movement of the mid-90s to the early ’00s.
Many people fell in love with D’Angelo’s music (and his abs) from his lead single “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” from his critically acclaimed and Grammy-winning album Voodoo.
I loved staring at his abs as much as the next person, but it’s his Brown Sugar album that drew me into the orbit of the Godfather of neo-soul. He had a strong presence on the Questlove-founded alt hip hop and R&B site Okayplayer during its Golden Era. Ahead of his time, my dancer friend who was part of dance company in Houston, TX do a whole suite dedicated to his album while I saw a myriad of Black fraternities pay homage to his shirtless Untitled performance during Greek Olympiad in Texas in 2000.
It was his masterpiece, Vooodoo that put him on the mainstream map. Not only with Untitled but with a menagerie of music that not only preserved the artistry of soul and R&B, but moved it forward and set the bar for everyone following him. For me, “Devil Pie” was the jam — which also popped up on the Hype Williams’s Belly soundtrack. I found this clip of him working on the track and it’s quite amazing. It’s giving Prince energy.
Over the decades, he worked with like-minded, musically inclined artists, Angie Stone, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill (I swoon over “Nothing Really Matters”), Method Man (love me some “Break Ups 2 Make Ups”), J. Dilla, H.E.R., as well as frequent collaborators The Roots and Raphael Saadiq. He worked with some of th e coolest names in the biz that dig into the artistry of music with wild intent and an unbelievable amount of soul.
Can’t wait for a whole new generation to find D’Angelo and be inspired to carry on his legacy!
I leave you with this video of D’Angelo speaking about his performance of Johnny Gill’s “Rub You The Right Way” at the Apollo Theater at at the 2014 Red Bull Music Academy Festival in New York.
RIP D’Angelo (February 11, 1974-October 14, 2025)
