"his first album Brown Sugar signaled an antidote to how commercial and syrupy R&B had become by the mid-’90s...At the time, I wasn’t a big fan of Brown Sugar. I had more faith in the UK based artists like The Brand New Heavies. The moment I began to believe in R&B again was with Erykah’s Baduism."

glaring L

"We were picking up where CTI records and cats like Freddie Hubbard and George Benson left off. We were shaking off the shackles of the purist mentality adopted and perpetuated by the likes of Wynton, and now Branford Marsalis."

love CTI but Creed Taylor Incorporated (Creed Taylor is a white man btw) was overdone schmaltzy fusion often geared to WHITE sensibilities of what "jazz" was too often for Payton to even be serious here

"I listened I found no overt references to Cannonball or Duke whatsoever, nor did I see any in the liner notes. Jive, but okay."

smh lol ok

"if he would be able to capture the same magic as he had on Voodoo...I’m not saying he’s lost it, but the things that made him such a force 14 years ago are not apparent on this album."

i wanted it to aound like Voodoo and it didn't sound like Voodoo, i'm mad

"In fact, Black Messiah sounds like a bad version of Bilal’s Love Surreal. I don’t remember folks giving this amount of love to Bilal when it was a far more creative effort than D’Angelo’s latest. Meanwhile, an artist like Van Hunt..."

i know & like Bilal & Van Hunt & am mad people don't like them as much as DAngelo

"I don’t get why it’s acceptable for him to take 14 years to deliver this okay album."

i hold other artists to standards i would resent if applied to myself and also they should be more like me in their approach to their work

"And there is a huge Rock component throughout the album I take issue with. I can’t get with Black people who play Rock. Rock is the White appropriation of the Blues. The Blues didn’t need another name. There is no need to mimic the voice of the oppressor back to him."

Rock White, Rock Bad *grunt*