"D’ANGELO’S ‘BROWN SUGAR’ AND THE BIRTH OF A BLACK MUSICAL MESSIA..."
In July, 1995, 21-year-old singer/songwriter/producer D’Angelo released his debut album, Brown Sugar and changed the sound of soul music forever. As inspired by ’90s hip hop as he was by dusty R&B jams and gospel, the future Black Messiah born Michael Eugene Archer woodsheded for most of his teenage years, transforming his bedroom in Virginia into a home studio. Sonically merging his favorite genres to create what his manager would later dub “neo-soul,” D’Angelo’s sound influenced and inspired a generation of left-of-center artists to do their musical thing.
“It’s about doing something new with soul, not replicating old soul” D’Angelo told writer David Toop in 1995. “You have to use soul to create your own thing.” However, as Johns Hopkins University professor Lester Spence points out, “When you listen to D’Angelo you know it’s new music, but it’s grounded in that ’60s/’70s soul feel. There are times when he sounds like Prince and other times when he’s taking it Teddy Pendergrass deep.”
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