i see nothing wrong w/homie using a 'gimmick' to generate and/or stir interest in the album. artists have done that since art began. it's fine.

w/o knowing if this 'Black Messiah' thing is even about D'Angelo, i expect that if it's about D it's a reference to all of the expectation surrounding the project. he's embracing it and turning it back on us. he's laughing about it and we're to laugh w/him. and to enjoy the music.

Sly did som'n similar w/There's A Riot Goin On. that title was a gimmick - the title worked on 3 levels: 1) Sly and the Fam had been accused of creating a circumstance in Chicago that resulted in a riot after an audience was kept waiting for hrs for their show to begin, 2) Marvin Gaye had recently released a landmark album that posed the question What's Going On, 3) Sly used the title to comment on the rioting that'd been going on across the country since the mid-60s - he felt there should be no riots.

^ Sly did that and yet the music on the album wasn't overshadowed by the title. it wasn't compromised. that album is widely respected now as a classic.

so this Black Messiah thing doesn't necessarily have to hurt the music or the audience's appreciation of it.

it is to laugh.

laugh. enjoy yourself.

it's okay.