D angelo how does it feel album

After a few months with a personal trainer and the resulting dramatic physical transformation, he was shirtless on the Voodoo album cover and for most of the promotional photo shoots. From the November profile:. One word. I like to go down there. Always have. I like to do it. Then came the video, which premiered on BET in December But what they're really getting is the spirit. There's definitely a sexual side to what I'm trying to express.

But I don't want the exterior to overshadow the music that's coming out of me. Intensely attached fans are par for the course for any celebrity, regardless of gender; since Elvis and the Beatles, pop music has drawn in young women whose fandom is usually accurately or not attributed to affection.

It is exceedingly unusual to have an artist of his talent and charisma choose to present himself specifically to grown women -- not teenage girls, or families, or couples. The music they played was in some ways traditional, but in others thrilling, especially in an era dominated by Puff Daddy and Bad Boy Records.

It quickly became their home base. Poyser, who produced and wrote on several of the classic albums credited to the Soulquarians and who now serves as the keyboard player for the Roots, recalled the collaborative environment vividly.

I got to make this better. Questlove had also acquired a massive treasure trove of old Soul Train episodes for the group to pore over. With Prince, we were going that deep on every level. The songs are raw, but still inviting; stripped down but living, vibrant things. Playing like that required some of the more classically trained musicians in the group to make adjustments. Questlove, in particular, had to change the way he approached his drumming.

His band, the Roots, was an anomaly at the time: a hip-hop group comprising live musicians. Dilla had no use for it; he chopped samples and programmed drums with a priority on feel over machine-like accuracy and left the blemishes in when they sounded right. On Voodoo , he broached more spiritual, deeper concerns. Produced by DJ Premier, the song is unlike any other on Voodoo —its backdrop was a hard hip-hop beat, composed of a chopped Teddy Pendergrass bass line and pounding drums.

Primo had originally offered the beat to Canibus, but the lyrically gifted MC turned it down in favor of something softer. Yeah, I want this! I want this! Despite its appearance in the Nas and DMX movie Belly , the song made little commercial impact, failing to crack the Billboard Hot And while sampling had been a part of hip-hop since its inception, Bad Boy employed the practice liberally.

D'Angelo probably had Dilla's beats in mind when he wanted? In GQ , D cited the Detroit producer's death as the moment he decided to wake up from his booze-and-cocaine fueled lost years. And when he played this year's Made in America festival in Philadelphia, he stepped out to the strains of obscure Canadian band Motherlode's "When I Die", which Dilla flipped on the finale of his last true album, Donuts.

The song's hook: "When I die, I hope to be a better man than you thought I'd be. Because another aspect of the album's overall concept involves an embrace of femininity. Intriguingly, Q-Tip recorded a more thematically appropriate verse for the track, though that version has yet to surface. But everywhere else, Voodoo exhibits a mature attitude toward women and relationships-- one that doesn't pander, but empathizes, and shows that the thenyear-old father of two was becoming acquainted with all sides of love.

Voodoo 's second half, from "One Mo' Gin" through "Africa", goes from the depths of despondency, to regret, to carnal ecstasy, to something more spiritual and everlasting. These songs get to the bottom of nothing less than the core of human interaction; what happens when people collide and come together and break apart.

And it's all done with the omnipotent knowing of a saint. Nothing is overstated. The whole song leads to a kind of exorcism-- in its final minutes, the singer masterfully layers his own voice on top of itself, vocal lines coming in at every imaginable direction, offering a peek inside his brain. Then it all smooths out, finding comfort in infinity: "From the Alpha of creation, to the end of all time. Details also give Voodoo its timelessness.

The album's gentle avoidance of common song structures adds spontaneity; even after hundreds of listens, it's still possible to be surprised. The barely-heard words spoken in intros and outros give things continuity and a voyeuristic quality, like you're hearing it all through a city wall; listen again for the the sweetly awkward conversation with an ex that starts "One Mo' Gin" or the way "Greatdayndamornin'" is introduced with D'Angelo praising?

The concept of voodoo itself-- as portrayed via the record's voodoo-ceremony photos-- is multi-layered. While probably using voodoo's exaggerated and misrepresented image within modern popular culture to add some mystique and danger, D'Angelo's also likely referencing the religion's African origins, and how it was coveted by uprooted slaves, feared by slave owners, and ignited the Haitian Revolution of D'Angelo was born the son of a Pentecostal minister, and he was exposed to that religion's closely intertwining relationship between the spiritual and earthly realms: speaking in tongues, divine healing.

And music. But you know, you've got to be careful. There are many ghosts hidden within this record. They're still being drawn out. Still, many simply know Voodoo for a certain naked music video. The clip for " Untitled How Does It Feel " is the reason why the album went platinum, and it plays a large part in D's ensuing disappearance.

It instantly transformed the singer from a very talented artist to a pin-up. The song was the last track recorded for Voodoo , and it's the most direct thing here, a churning Prince-inspired ballad that bests nearly every actual ballad Prince ever recorded.