It took him some time, but D’Angelo got there in the end.
Late Sunday night, the long-silent R&B star finally released his hotly anticipated third album, “Black Messiah,” to iTunes with virtually no warning. It follows his feted 2000 collection “Voodoo,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart and has since established itself as a modern soul classic. It’s also remembered for the famous images of the shirtless and immaculately toned Virginian on the cover.
In a statement, the 40-year-old referred to the politically charged lyrics and explained that the album is “about people rising up in Ferguson, and in Egypt, and in Occupy Wall Street and in every place where a community has had enough and decides to make change happen.”
Musically, the lush album continues where “Voodoo” left off, comprising thick, jazzy grooves and lush, sexy soul. Speaking at an industry playback in New York just hours before the release, D’Angelo collaborator and Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson explained that he felt the album was “the Apocalypse Now of black music; it’s beautiful, it’s ugly, it’s truth, it’s lies.”
The 14-year gap between releases has been punctuated by D’Angelo’s personal problems. The singer (real name Michael Archer) has fought massive weight gain and drug addiction, and in 2010, he was caught soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in Greenwich Village.