D'Angelo

𝘿’𝘼𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙤’𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 ’𝟵𝟬𝙨 𝙍&𝘽. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙪𝙭𝙚, 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙎𝙪𝙜𝙖𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙠𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙖 𝟮𝟭-𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧-𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙪𝙨.

Brown Sugar, D’Angelo’s debut, became an important forebear of what’s now called neo-soul. Released before Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite (1996) and Erykah Badu’s Baduizm (1997), D’Angelo changed the sound of R&B while paying homage to its pioneers: Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield and the like.