He has gone from a sexy, well-toned chocolate, caramel dipped Adonis, to a .....umm, I really don't know what. But I bet he'd place first in a ODB look-alike contest. I remember when the album Brown Sugar out. It was back in the summer of '95, and I was only around 12, but I knew it was sensual and perfect for chilling out. I would play that tape all day long while writing poems and dreaming of imaginary boyfriends. I remember arguing with my sisters over the "secret"meaning of the title track and dancing to "Lady" and the awesome remix with AZ, one of my fave rappers.
Fast forward to January 2000, 4 days after my 17th birthday when I bought Voodoo as a gift to myself. I had a portable CD player by that time, and I listened to that CD on the long ass train ride on the way home from school, or to work. It was a little weird, kinna trippy, but I was feeling it. My fave song of this collection was number 7, 'One Mo Gin', but the most memorable track for me was number 12, mainly because of the video which had women tippin their TVs over, as Monique says. At the time, it was the finest male body I had ever see in my life, and I remember how quiet the room would be when my sister and I were watching that video, which was in heavy rotation on BET.
Fast forward once more to now, when D'angelo has been quite obscure, only to emerge with a negative story. I feel for him, and I hope he gets his stuff together. I absolutely crave a new D'angelo CD. Now that I am older and wiser, I feel that i will be able to appreciate his music in a whole new way. I just hope I'm not disappointed for so eagerly anticipating great music in the market where mediocre rappers are outselling genuine vocalists, and half-ass singers are overshadowing true talents across the board.
To his credit, in the interim of a studio album, Dangelo has done impressive work with Erykah Badu, Raphael Saddiq, and baby mama Angie Stone. I even have his live album. I just hope his next effort is sexy, soulful, and memorable.
No comments:
Post a Comment