While I was familair with Bilal before this thread and knew what he 'generally* sounded like, it's really not the same thing. Dude is one of thOse self-consciously clever, 'jazzy', post-Omar vocalists. Very sophisticated and smart but even on fucking ''VOODOO", D'angelo sounded more forceful, physical and flat-out visceral than this dude.

I can understand why people dig dude but it's not my thing at all whereas D'angelo always been right up my alley. And it has nothing to do with my old-school definition of good soul and funk either even if I guess you could find some shallow comparisons in Gil Scott Hron and others musically. If anyone can recommend some Bilal that actually doesn't sound like music-school noodling, I'll be glad to take it.

Basically, I do not give a flying fuck about neo-soul and I didn't even think ''Voodoo" was THAT good; yet, I care bout this guy, his music appeals to me whereas the likes of Bilal etc. leaves me cold. Maybe that's the very answer to the question; that D'angelo actually appeals to people outside of the core demographic.

As for Van Hunt, I REALLY need to hear more than the lame funk-rock/"alt" shit I've heard from dude which is very little admittedly...