Jeovany Tzilin Gomez
Staff Writer
Michael Eugene Archer, also known as D’Angelo, tragically passed away on Oct. 14, leaving behind an influential legacy of genre-defining music and timeless inspiration.
D’Angelo, born in Virginia and raised by a Pentecostal family, learned how to play the piano at an early age, and played in the church where his family worshiped. His talent led to his prodigal success, and thus, he started his musical career. He released three studio albums throughout his career, which were all critically acclaimed.
But, the album that stood out the most was “Voodoo.” The intention behind the name was for D’Angelo to reclaim the term as it has a negative connotation towards Black people. However, it is used in New Orleans to describe the creolized culture that is embraced there. D’Angelo gained inspiration for “Voodoo” when he was at South Carolina to connect with his roots, learning more about the creolized culture.
To further explore D’Angelo’s legacy, there are several defining moments in his sophomore album, “Voodoo.”
“Devil’s Pie” contains a fuzzy, nasty bass line with a drum beat that is a typical early 90s hip-hop sound. He recites parts of a prayer as a juxtaposition between Christian morals and the vice of the Devil’s Pie represented in the instrumental. He sings, “Main ingredients (Uh) to this dish (Yeah) / Goes like this, here’s the list / Materialistic, greed and lust, jealousy, envious / Bread and dough, cheddar cheese,” commenting on the behavior of celebrities wanting more wealth and fame and depicting them as wanting food like pie while asking God for forgiveness.
“Send It On” is a song that D’Angelo and his former girlfriend, Angie Stone, wrote together for their son. It was the first song recorded for the album and it’s about the experience of becoming a parent while dealing with relationship issues. He sings “If you’re feelin’ insecure / You can be sure, it’s all the way, yeaheah / Even if it takes forever and a day for me to do / I gotta send it on to you (Ooh).” He wants to reassure Stone that when they are not sure that they should continue to be together, they have to remember that they have a son to raise who they want to be the best version of themselves for.
“Spanish Joint” is a tune with a funky beat, groovy horns, and guitar strumming with a Latin rhythm. D’Angelo recalls a difficult time, specifically his struggle to quit smoking, and he’s tired of being stuck in his vice of smoking joints. He sings “All you do is complain about your pain, yeah / And the cloud that follows you won’t cease to rain, yeah,” telling himself that he doesn’t need substances to see things in a positive light, all he needs is to let it go. A common element about each song is that it amplifies the rhythm as the song durates, adding more instruments and vocals to the mix or making the instruments louder, like the guitar interlude before the fourth verse of the song.
The penultimate song of the album, “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” stood out the most compared to the other songs. While the song’s structure may be minimalistic and slow, the way that the piano and guitar compliment each other in the song is what gives the tender and intimate feeling to it. The vocals in the song are very soulful, especially in the end when he layers the vocals and even sings raspy high notes.
Overall, “Voodoo” was the album that brought out the best of neo-soul along with his contemporaries like Erykah Badu, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and Common. Collaborators like QuestLove from the Roots, J Dilla, and Roy Hargrove helped with the instrumentation of the record and brought the neo-soul to life. It’s an album that brings the listener to a unique world full of mystery, pondering, and spiritual awakening for the soul to find what they are looking for.