And while I like D'Angelo I never really took to his stuff, although I liked Black Messiah more than I thought I would.

To me both artists are genius in their craftsmanship more than their ability to break 'new' ground with their music or subject matter.

I consider a genius to create a *new* way to organize music or a new way to contextualize music. I don't get the sense that either artist is like Dre or RZA or Q-Tip or Bomb Squad in that they created something so new and iconoclastic that I can't unhear it and I don't look at music the same way again.

Like I can't think of a musician in modern times with a better voice than D'Angelo. But I also can't think of many songs of his I'd go out of my way to listen to. To be fair I don't listen to vocalists often so my ear may not be developed enough to fully contextualize how great he is.

And I respect Dilla's ability to make music out of seemingly anything recorded. But its rare that I heard a Dilla song and felt OMG in the same way I did with Q-Tip or Premier or Dre or RZA.

It probably doesn't help that my memory for older music -- the genres both artists pulled from -- is lacking. And so I don't have the background knowledge to fully appreciate their wizardry.

If I were a musician (producer or vocalist) I'd probably think they were geniuses in their own right.

But it's been an interesting experience being on these boards for twenty years and reading post after post about both artists and simply not 'getting' what everyone else felt.