D’Angelo’s Verzuz: The Art of Staying Power
Kendra Martin
D’Angelo took the stage at the Apollo Theater last Saturday sponsored by VERZUZ and made history as the first solo VERZUZ. Although the event was originally advertised as “D’Angelo and Friends'' with many speculations as to who the “friends” could possibly be to show up (I was personally rooting for Maxwell to be in attendance), and even though that was not the case, this VERZUZ event solidified D’Angelo as a legend and it was amazing to watch him receive his flowers because it was truly deserved. And although people might have been initially disappointed in the fact that this was not a standard VERZUZ of artists competing back and forth with their respective catalogs, but let’s be honest, who could have won against D’Angelo?
When it comes to R&B artists, D’Angelo’s discography is one to really marvel at. From introducing himself with Brown Sugar in 1995, avoiding the sophomore slump with an album that is still influential today with Voodoo in 2000, to going through a lengthy 14 year hiatus with sporadic features here there and coming with a surprise come back album that has been highly influential to the R&B, soul funk sound scape today with Black Messiah in 2014, D’Angelo is still a force to be reckoned with and even though his catalog only consists of three official studio albums over twenty five years, it goes to shows that quality over quantity will always matter when it comes to how music and musicians are remembered when looking back at their careers and this VERZUZ event was a reminder of that.
While I was watching his concert, I really had to ask myself, “Does D’Angelo even have a bad song?” There are so many artists that I am fans of and that I hold in high regards but I can always pinpoint songs or even albums where I personally feel fell short or are just flat out bad, but with D’Angelo, it’s hard for me to narrow done on a song that I feel is bad or even average.
Brown Sugar is just ten straight songs of quality. There is nothing that I would remove or I feel is a hindrance to the album. It’s like the R&B version of Illmatic to me. Reason why I say this is because I believe they are perfect albums as well as groundbreaking debuts for generational artists. Ten songs, straight to the point, every song has a place, flawless album. “Me and Those Dreamin Eyes of Mine” is my favorite D’Angelo song to this day and “Crusin’” which is a cover of Smokey Robinson’s song is, in my opinion, better than the original.
While Brown Sugar is my personal favorite, Voodoo might be even better as we get a more experimental, funk inspired hip-hop elements that didn’t come off forced. “Devil’s Pie” was on the Belly soundtrack for a movie that came out two years ago but still managed to sound seamless within the album. And although I have a love/hate relationship with this song because it really did catapult his career but also stalled it in a way, “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” is a timeless single and video. “Send It On” is one of the most beautiful songs written and the J. Dilla and Soulaquarian influence throughout this album is unmatched.
Black Messiah was a pleasant surprise because honestly, this was my true introduction to his music. Although I remembered healing a lot of D'Angelo growing up with the music that was played around me in my childhood, this was the first album I heard from him and it was around the time it came out. “Another Life” is a perfect closer to an album and is in my top three D’Angelo songs of all time even though throughout the song, I have zero idea of what he is saying half the time. You might not understand it cause I sure didn’t, but you feel it.
While no one can say where R&B will be in another ten, twenty or even thirty years, D’Angelo will always be one of the greatest artists of all time. I appreciated him bringing H.E.R. to perform my favorite song of time, “Nothing Even Matters” and in a way, passing the torch to the new generation, D’Angelo is going to always be and remain a legend with a flawless discography and I was happy to see that be acknowledged.
