>http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dangelo-new-album-black-messiah-20141212
>
>D'Angelo Will Unveil New Album 'Black Messiah' at NYC
>Listening Party
>
>The R&B singer will play the album in its entirety at an event
>hosted by Nelson George
>
>By Jason Newman | December 12, 2014
>
>After 14 years, numerous false starts and nearly two years of
>D'Angelo's next album being "99 percent done," the singer will
>unveil the follow-up to 2000's Voodoo this Sunday.
>
>The R&B singer will play the completed album, Black Messiah,
>in its entirety at a listening session in New York hosted by
>writer Nelson George and organized by Red Bull Music Academy
>and Afropunk.
>
>As Consequence of Sound notes, D'Angelo's manager Kevin Liles
>shared a mysterious teaser trailer to promote the album.
>George and the singer sat down in May at New York's Brooklyn
>Museum for a public discussion. When the topic of "neo-soul"
>came up, D'Angelo hinted that he was embarking on a new
>musical direction with his own music. "I respect
>for what it is, but anytime you put a name on something, you
>just put it in a box," said D'Angelo. "You want to be in a
>position where you can grow as an artist. You never want to be
>told, 'Hey, well, you're a neo-soul artist.' Right now, I'm
>not. We're going someplace else."
>
>D'Angelo also referenced his return to the spotlight, which
>began with a triumphant covers set at Bonnaroo 2012. Since
>then, whispers of a new album have appeared periodically.
>
>Shortly after Bonnaroo, Questlove told Rolling Stone that
>D'Angelo had recorded nearly 30 tracks at Electric Lady, the
>same New York studio where the singer cut Voodoo. "He is about
>to take a radical 180 turn with this record," Questlove said
>at the time. "It's going to throw people off the same way that
>Prince's Dirty Mindthrew his R&B fanbase off. In the past few
>years, he's discovered Bowie and Led Zeppelin, the Beatles,
>Pet Sounds, Captain Beefheart and Zappa." At the time,
>Questlove said that the musician was experimenting with guitar
>arrangements and creating his own keyboard sounds.
>
>In January 2013, Questlove told Billboard that D'Angelo's
>album was "99 percent done." "I would not be far off by saying
>this is probably my generation's version of Sly >Family Stone's] There's a Riot Goin' On," the drummer said.
>"It's potent. It's funky. It's an extremely hard pill to
>swallow.
>
>"It's going to take you about 10 years to digest this record,"
>he added. "Totally brilliant. Just the way this society works
>with music...being able to judge if something is a classic
>after the first listen, you can do that after 30 seconds on
>this. And the fact that we started this record in 2004, and it
>still sounds like it came out five years from now, it is a
>testament to the timelessness of it."
>
>In a June interview, Liles said that the Bonnaroo show
>inspired D'Angelo to want to finish the album. "He very
>bluntly put it, 'Kev, the studio and the stage: that's my
>lifeblood. Now that I've touched it again, now that I see it
>again, I wanna be sure that the baby I'm about to have – the
>album – that I take it to the point where it's all it can
>be.'"
>