December 27, 2014

D'Angelo - Black Messiah [2014]

The Joy of Disbelief: A Rant/Review of Black Messiah, D'Angelo's Latest Masterpiece



Where do I even begin about this album? I’m not going to act like I literally waited around all almost 15 years, because I got into D’Angelo after the fact (years after the fantastic Voodoo), but on the real - I actually had no faith in this album seeing the light of day. It is a miracle in itself that I am even typing about it right now (I say this half sarcastically and half seriously). Take out his two classic albums and D’Angelo would be the original Jay Electronica - loads of talent, long wait, media hype, quotes from other famous people, but no albums. People who follow D’Angelo, especially people who have posted on Okayplayer forums over the years, probably know the story all too well by now. Once upon a time a dude named D’Angelo released two fantastic records, these albums were really good - like really fucking good. His musical chops combined with a certain music video made him ridiculously famous. Maybe he struggled with the fame, maybe he struggled with being seen as a sex symbol - who really knows. Moving on, there was talk, rumors, whatever about the greatly anticipated third album, with the world of people who enjoy R&B/Soul patiently waiting. This was apparently a lot of people by the way, as the reaction on the internet/on Itunes to this album has been overwhelmingly positive.