D’Angelo

Nelson George

Hello. How are you? My name is Nelson George. I’m an author, filmmaker and writer. It is my honor to be here tonight for the Red Bull Music Academy, about to speak to one of the most influential, sometimes controversial and definitely profound artists of our era. Please welcome D’Angelo. [applause as D’Angelo walks out onstage]

Let’s start talking about guitar playing. Here you go. [gestures to mic] One of the...

D’Angelo

What’s up, Brooklyn? How y’all doing? Peace and love.

Nelson George

One of the big changes from the D’Angelo people were familiar with from before to where you are now musically is you’ve added guitar to your music. You became a guitar player. Why don’t you talk about how that happened and how that’s affected what you do?

D’Angelo

Well, I played guitar before. I was playing a little bit on Voodoo, a couple of songs. “Left & Right” and some songs, but I think during the Voodoo recording, recording the album, I... We’re at Electric Lady, so Jimi Hendrix was a big influence and just a big spirit in the place, in the building. I’ve always wanted to... I feel like my style on piano — because piano is my main instrument — I feel like on piano I was always emulating the guitar and bass. I play bass, but I didn’t play much guitar. I played a lot of keyboards, but I really wanted to produce the sound that was in my head. I was trying to emulate on the keys. I wanted to do it for real. It makes me look at the keys in a different way. So it’s like I’m looking at the guitar and bass more like meat and potatoes and keys like coloring over the top of it, you know? I mean, I guess that’s where I’m at right now with it.

Nelson George

Jesse Johnson played a role in this, didn’t he?

D’Angelo

Yes he does. Mm-hmm, yes.

Nelson George

Those who know Jesse Johnson, guitar player with the Time, solo artist in his own right. Oh, I’m sorry. OK. Before we go further, please no photography. Thank you! No phone pictures. Some big, ugly man may come and look for you if you have them, so just be aware that’s prohibited. As we were saying, Jesse Johnson.

D’Angelo

Yes, Jesse. Shortly after Voodoo I got in touch with Jesse through John McClain, and actually through Alan, Alan Leeds. Just the instant kinship, you know. When I first talked to him on the telephone, and we talked for years on the telephone before we actually met, I was just struck. I even had to say it to him, I was like, “Man, you sound just like my brother.” His voice and his vernacular, he sounds just like my oldest brother, Luther. I just really felt, like, a kinship with him. We finally met at Raphael’s studio in Cali, in Blakeslee. He came through and the first thing he did was gave me a couple of guitars. Gave me a Minarik, the black Minarik that I play now and he gave me one of his guitars.

Nelson George

You have a pink one, right?

D’Angelo

Yes. That was one of his. He’s actually holding it on the Shockadelica album, the pink Fender Invader.

Nelson George

How did that, working with him, how did that begin to evolve your playing? How did that affect how you...

D’Angelo

I mean, obviously I’m sitting with him shedding and, like, we went out and did a couple of shows in Europe. And you know before then, you know, just sitting with him and he’s showing me things, I’m asking him questions, asking him about, you know, just everything. Prince.

Nelson George

Yeah. Prince questions, I’m sure.

D’Angelo

Right. I mean, you know, it gets a little hairy because the Time and the Prince, that feud was very real. But you know there’s no love lost. He still speaks with a high love and respect for Prince. I’m just like a sponge, you know, just trying to soak everything in.

Nelson George

I saw the tapes of you touring Europe and I’ve seen you play here in the States, and it does seem like what you’re doing now and where you’re going musically for the future, the guitar and the idea of that, it’s much more prominent. Like I feel more rock and more funk in what you’re doing now.

D’Angelo

Yes. Yes. I mean, it’s a natural progression for me, but honestly, I just feel like that’s where it’s going. The thing with me about that, about rock and all that, I don’t know. Years and years of crate-digging, listening to old music, you kind of start to connect the dots. I was seeing the thread that was connecting everything together, which is pretty much the blues. Everything soul or funk kind of starts with that; that’s kind of like the nucleus of everything, the thread that holds everything together. It’s kind of just a natural progression.

Nelson George

You know, it’s interesting, I remember I’ve seen you open for Mary J. Blige, maybe it was a year ago, a year and a half ago?

D’Angelo

Mm-hmm, yeah.

Nelson George

It was an interesting dichotomy in the audience that there was the music you played in piano that was familiar and that was, like the Mary J. Blige crowd particularly, because that’s the adult black crowd, was into. Then there was where you’re going now. You’re going in a much, I would say funk rock direction maybe, or something like that.

D’Angelo

Mm-hmm, funk rock.

Nelson George

I think one of the things that’s going to be interesting as we go forward with your music is there’s a transition that’s happened in you creatively that the audience is going to have to be prepared for.

D’Angelo

Yeah, I would say so. Yeah, I think so. A couple of shows that we did, we opened up for Mary and we did Essence Festival, we did...

Nelson George

BET Awards.

D’Angelo

I did the BET Awards, right. But we did a Sinbad thing in Aruba.

Nelson George

Oh, you did the boat ride.

D’Angelo

Yeah, well something like that. I don’t know.

Nelson George

...or the tour.

D’Angelo

It’s a lot of, like, R&B, soul thing going on, which is great. But definitely we’re looking to the future here. I don’t know if people were really expecting what they got from us because we did a lot of new material and, you know, I think there was a lot of, kind of confusion. Kind of confused look on certain people’s faces. Then, in other people’s faces they were really receiving what we were doing. But I love that. I love... If it’s confusing at first, that’s a good thing for me, that’s a good sign.

Nelson George

From what I got, you wouldn’t necessarily want to — where you’re going now is where you are. And you are not necessarily having to, you don’t want to be a nostalgia act I guess in a sense is what I’m saying, that you’re looking forward. I remember when you played Bonnaroo with the Roots...

D’Angelo

Yes.

Nelson George

You were doing “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” You were doing some Beatles covers.

D’Angelo

Yes.

Nelson George

I think that that was pretty radical. People weren’t expecting that. Is that, I mean, the Beatles, as we look forward is that we’re going to be hearing more of, that kind of approach?

D’Angelo

They’re a huge influence. I don’t know who is not influenced by them. The thing about them, they were the masters of, were — and I say Prince too; I love how Prince would do it — all these interesting, different, eccentric ideas. But they were able to fit it in, you know, a simple pop format. That could be considered formulaic or whatever, but to be able to fit all of that, you know, your vision and whatever into this simple format — whether it be a pop song or it’s a 12-bar blues or whatever — I think that’s the challenge and they were the best at it. The best.

Nelson George

One of the things interesting, you had, everyone remembers Soulquarian. Was that how we pronounce it?

D’Angelo

Soulquarians.

Nelson George

Your band now, you call them the Vanguard.

D’Angelo

Yes.

Nelson George

What is a vanguard and tell me about what that represents for your music.

D’Angelo

Vanguard is definitely evolution. My last band being the Soultronics and the Soulquarians was, I guess, the collective of all of us. Yeah, the Vanguard is just the progression of all of that. We’re not the Soultronics, it’s a different band. I think it’s a louder band. It’s a harder band. It’s more guitars, definitely, so it’s definitely more rock, you know.

Nelson George

When you played with Mary, you had a lot of literature. I remember asking you, like, where’d you find these musicians, you said you found them in a church. A lot of the younger guys were...

D’Angelo

Yeah, the younger guys, yeah. Definitely.

Nelson George

That still is a mother lode where you find the great black musicians.

D’Angelo

Absolutely. I mean, the thing about the church is, what I learned early... They used to say this when I was going to church. They used to say, you know, don’t go up there for no form or fashion. I guess what that means is, listen, we’re up here singing for the Lord, so don’t be up here trying to be cute, you know? Because we don’t care about all that. We just want to feel what you, you know, what the spirit is moving through you. And that’s the best place to learn that. You know, so you shut yourself down and you let whatever’s coming come through you. The guys that were singing with me, the Lumzys, the Lumzy brothers —

Nelson George

The Lumzy brothers, right.

D’Angelo

One of them I met in Richmond. I put a little quartet group together, quartet gospel group together, and he was playing drums. I brought him along and he brought his cousins who sing, came up in the quartet tradition, and...

Nelson George

It’s interesting because the quartet tradition, it’s like a dying art form.

D’Angelo

Yeah. It is.

Nelson George

I don’t know the last time there was a significant, young black harmony group. It’s been a long time.

D’Angelo

Yeah.

Nelson George

So you found most of these guys in Richmond? A lot of the younger guys.

D’Angelo

The younger guys, yes.

Nelson George

Let’s talk about Richmond, Virginia. You know, not a place. Uh oh. [applause]

D’Angelo

Ah. Richmond in the house! What’s up?

Nelson George

Richmond, Virginia, is not seen as a musical hotbed, however...

D’Angelo

Yeah, however...

Nelson George

Come on, explain it. Explain it. Tell me about it.

D’Angelo

It’s not because I don’t know how many, there are not really a lot of cats from there that made it really big. I mean, y’all know of Major Harris.

Nelson George

“Love Won’t Let Me Wait,” anybody?

D’Angelo

“Love Won’t Let Me Wait.”

Nelson George

Soul music fans in the house?

D’Angelo

He sang with the Delfonics. He’s definitely from Richmond. I mean, you know, it’s a couple of motherfuckers, but not really. You know what? Wasn’t nothing down there and the funny thing about it is that it was all this talent. It’s like mad talent down there. When I was coming up, when I was little, my whole thing was I wanted to just be big enough to be in a band, because they used to have battle of the bands all the time down there and it was a big deal. It was a whole bunch of local talent, but nobody never really crossed that threshold.

Nelson George

Also, you were telling me there’s a rock tradition there that people don’t know about, don’t think about. What bands you talking about?

D’Angelo

Wow. Yeah, it was a big punk scene in Richmond, always has been. DC area and Richmond big time. A lot of heavy metal heads in Richmond. Where I had to move when I started going to high school, I moved from Richmond to, there’s a county outside of Richmond called Chesterfield. But that’s where Lamb of God — that’s where they’re from. Slipknot, they’re from Chesterfield. Big rock scene down there, big time.

Nelson George

In the past you’ve talked a lot about your church background, but I wanted to jump to another aspect of your development, which is a lot of people don’t know that you were in a hip-hop band, hip-hop group. The group is pictured here. [laugher] The group was called IDU, Intelligent, Deadly But Unique.

D’Angelo

That’s right.

Nelson George

Talk about what you were doing at that particular point in your development.

D’Angelo

I just moved from Richmond to Chesterfield, and that’s when I was MCing back then. I was a MC, I was pretty fucking good too.

Nelson George

Listen. You don’t say that if you’re not going to bust a rhyme.

D’Angelo

No, no. Hell no. [laughter and applause]

Nelson George

OK.

D’Angelo

It was a long time ago.

Nelson George

There are apparently some tracks floating around the internet of IDU somewhere.

D’Angelo

IDU’s shit was for real man. We weren’t no joke. It was IDU production, so we was a production crew. It’s a lot.

Nelson George

Were you the hook singer?

D’Angelo

At first. But I was really like co-producer. I was the whole thing. When I moved from Richmond to Chesterfield the first brothers I really hooked up with was the leader of the group, Brian Trent. I was a freshman coming to high school, he was a senior. The other producer for the group we called him Baby Fro, his name was Ron Flowers. He was the DJ. His father DJ’d for years, and years, and years, so his house was like a record store. Those records were kept in pristine condition.

We’d be over there all day. That’s where I really went to school. That was like hip-hop and music 101 for me. It was the first time I learned about the Meters and Band of Gypsys and all that shit. Then when you listen to records strictly to find samples, looking for break beats, and then I stopped listening to records for break beats and instead of just skimming through it looking for a break beat, I’m listening to the whole record. That’s when I started.

Nelson George

Obviously you had church training, but this was one of your key musical educations in terms of sweeper music.

D’Angelo

Yes. Up until that point I rhymed, but my main musical love was Prince. That was it. That’s when I started to learn about Marley Marl and all those cats. It just opened my whole world up really.

Nelson George

It’s an interesting story because this band, IDU, they ended up coming to New York trying to get a deal.

D’Angelo

That’s right.

Nelson George

The story goes that people would go, “Eh, it’s all right. Who produced the track?” That people were already seeing in these tracks that you made early on with this band that there was something there. Jocelyn Cooper, who ended up...

D’Angelo

Hi Jocelyn. [greets her in audience]

Nelson George

Jocelyn Cooper, who now helps run the Afropunk Festival, but then worked in a music publishing company. Warner Chapel, right?

Jocelyn Cooper

Midnight Songs is my company.

Nelson George

OK.

D’Angelo

Midnight Music.

Nelson George

Midnight Music, excuse me. That you came up to... She tells a story about you coming in and you played...

D’Angelo

I walked in with a suit. I had like a two-piece. We were walking in Manhattan, and we just came from Norfolk, and I just knew that this was the shot. This was my shot. And I was hell-bent on getting a suit. I wanted to walk in there with a suit. Bought brand new church shoes and shit. Never walked the streets of Manhattan before. Got to the office, and I met Jocelyn Cooper who was just like most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.

Nelson George

Awwww.

D’Angelo

It was whoop-de-whoop-de-whoop and all that. I asked her, “Where’s your bathroom? Can I go to the bathroom for a second please?” I know they kept wondering why I kept going to the bathroom, because I had to take those shoes off man, my feet were fucking killing me. But that’s where it started. I sat there, I played. I was just like a jukebox. And they would name out a song and I’d play it and sing it.

Nelson George

She says you played a... Jocelyn, if I’m wrong correct me. You played a Jodeci song, you played a gospel song and you played a Miles Davis song.

D’Angelo

That’s right.

Nelson George

What I go back to, how old are you at this point?

D’Angelo

I was 17.

Nelson George

The range of music that you had some access to was, for a 17 year old from Richmond, Virginia, is pretty impressive. Is that the DJ thing that you were able to expand your horizon through that?

D’Angelo

Not really. I’ve been playing piano since I was three. I had always wanted to just get some more jazz chops. I studied for two years, when I was like 12 or 13, classical music. The classical teacher that I was with, she kind of got hip to me because she would play the song once and I’d come back the next week and play it perfect, but I still wasn’t really reading. When she got hip to the fact that my ear was that good she was like, I’m going to send you to this guy named Russell somebody, who worked at VCU. He taught music theory.

I went to the guy Russell and took a music theory class. And he was like, “I can’t do nothing with you, you don’t need theory. You already know theory. You already know it, so I’m going to pass you to this guy,” in Virginia, who still taught at VCU. It was Ellis Marsalis, Wynton’s father.

Nelson George

Wow.

D’Angelo

Who’s still teaching at VCU. I went and auditioned for Ellis Marsalis — and James Moody, matter of fact. James Moody was up there, and I was like 13, 14. Got on the piano and I played an Anita Baker song, because it was the jazziest song I could think of. I played Anita Baker, and they were impressed. They were like, “That’s good, young blood.” Wow, I was like, “Are you going to teach me?” “Nah, I’m getting ready to leave.” He was getting ready to leave that year and go teach back in New Orleans, so I never got a chance to really get any jazz training, or what have you like that. But I always felt like that was a good thing that I didn’t.

Nelson George

Why?

D’Angelo

It would’ve changed my whole style. It would’ve changed my whole style of playing. Just wasn’t meant to be I guess.

Nelson George

There’s another band that you were involved in that I wanted to get at, because in researching for this interview I learned bunch I hadn’t really been aware of. After Intelligent, Deadly, but Unique ...

D’Angelo

IDU.

Nelson George

Yeah. You had another band, which was Michael Archer and Precise.

D’Angelo

That’s right.

Nelson George

This is after?

D’Angelo

It’s before.

Nelson George

Before, OK.

D’Angelo

It’s before IDU actually.

Nelson George

What I didn’t know was that you actually won Apollo Amateur Night a couple of times.

D’Angelo

Yes I did. We use to do a lot of gigs, a lot of shows. Not gigs, but shows. Talent shows, whatever, in Richmond. It was this big, big talent show they use to have every year. It was huge for the high school kids and shit. There was a school that was on the north side. I’m from south side, so then there’s north side. Anybody know anything about Virginia, north side and south side do not get along. There’s always been beef, right? Even if it’s playful. Anyway. All the great kids, and all the great talent went to this one school, Kennedy High School.

They had a great musical director there, and they would have this big, big talent show that they would have every year, and they would have it at the Moss. The Moss in Richmond. Everyone performed at the Moss. It was a huge deal, and they’d sell tickets and everything. Place would be fucking packed. I did the talent show I guess two years before, but this one year I got everything together. We got the Precise together, we went there and we tore the roof off. Really. I was, what? I was 16 and we tore the roof off, and from there I got a chance to go to Apollo.

Nelson George

What was Precise? How many pieces? What kind of group was it?

D’Angelo

It was me and my cousin Marlon, who played drums, my other cousin Regina who was on keyboards, had my other cousin singing background.

Nelson George

It was a family band, in other words.

D’Angelo

Almost. Then I had two other background singers. They were both named Nicky. Nicky T., Nicky C.

Nelson George

Was that your first trip to New York? The Apollo gig?

D’Angelo

That was my first trip, yeah.

Nelson George

Tell me about that experience of going up? You were 16 and Amateur Night at the Apollo from Virginia. How was that?

D’Angelo

It was surreal, it was amazing. The first time I went it was sponsored by this whole thing called Kemet Productions. We would get in a bus from Richmond and get on the highway, and there would be a whole bunch of talent on the bus. The people that were in charge, they were trying to tell everybody what to do. “You should sing this song. You should sing a Luther Vandross song. You have a Luther Vandross type of tone. Don’t sing a gospel song, they’ll boo you.” Shit like that. I had my mind set on singing Peabo Bryson. I was like, “I'm singing Peabo Bryson.” They were like, “Don’t sing that song. Please, don’t sing that song. They’re going to boo you off the stage.” They had me at the last minute I was trying to switch the song up. Anyway, long story short, I rubbed the log or whatever, and the girl that goes out right before me sings a gospel song. Right? A gospel song, and they booed the shit out of her, man. No sympathy. It was so cold-blooded. She walked off the stage crying.

“Alright, young bud. You’re next!” Rubbed the log. The emcee comes out and is like, “We’ve got this kid. He’s from way down, deep down South.” “Boo!” I didn’t even walk out on the stage. Long story short, I won them over, and I placed. I got the opportunity to come back. When I came back I did my own background music. I did my own background vocals. I said, “I’m not doing no Luther Vandross or nothing, I’m going to do some up-tempo shit.” Whatever. I won first place.

Nelson George

You did a song of yours?

D’Angelo

No, I did “Rub You the Right Way” by Johnny Gill. [applause]

Nelson George

One of the interesting things about your career is you are really great at interpreting classic material, soul music. And part of the reason I think you attracted so many people to you is that you have a connection to that past. You’ve had many interesting collaborators. One of the ones that people probably don’t know about and actually a person who mentored to me as well, the great Mtume.

D’Angelo

Yes, sir.

Nelson George

Mtume’s pedigree is pretty long. Let’s break it down. He played with Miles during his electric period. He went on to become one of the top singer-songwriters, wrote all of Stephanie Mill’s hits, Roberta Flack hits. Then it had ...

D’Angelo

Solo success, “Juicy Fruit”...

Nelson George

One of the most sampled records in hip-hop history.

D’Angelo

Right.

Nelson George

Also a super political person, was on Kiss radio for years doing morning shows. A very diverse and powerful man. He helped you produce this track, didn’t he?

D’Angelo

Well, yeah. He did. He produced a song for Get On the Bus soundtrack. He was doing a lot of those dope covers at that time. He just did...

Nelson George

Oh, New York Undercover. He was the song guy from New York Undercover. He did all those covers on the show.

D’Angelo

He had just did the cover of Bobby Womack’s “If You Think You're Lonely Now,” right. For K-Ci.

Nelson George

K-Ci, right. We’re name checking Jocelyn a lot, but she gets name checked again. You told me a story about he was doing music or song writing seminars?

D’Angelo

Yeah. He was involved with Midnight Songs, definitely. Jocelyn would have these workshops, so all of the writers on her roster would come to the workshop. James Mtume would really be holding court. We would literally have a chalkboard or something, really be going through it, talking about songwriting and song structure, theory, whatever.

Nelson George

You weren’t the best student, I hear.

D’Angelo

Jocelyn, she used to always be mad at me, because I never will come to the music shops. “You ought to come, blah, blah, blah.”

Nelson George

You finally did show up one time?

D’Angelo

I did come. I wanted to jam with Rob Bacon, who is a guitar player from Detroit. But Mtume was awesome. He’s one of those cats in the early days that really, really gave me a lot of confidence and let me know that I could do it. I remember at the end of recording Brown Sugar, I had like a mental block where I couldn’t finish. I couldn’t nail this line on “Lady.” There was this line on “Cruisin’” that I couldn’t nail. Mtume was at the studio when I did those vocals and kind of coached me through it. He’s just a great guy, man. He’s great.

Nelson George

Speaking of collaborators and mentors and that combination, one of the people you’re most associated with is Questlove from the Roots. I don’t think I introduced him: Questlove. I saw the show at Brooklyn Bowl you did maybe a year ago. It was just the two of you on stage, and to me it was a beautiful experience musically. And the chemistry you guys had together, talk about how you guys met and the musical bond you guys share.

D’Angelo

I call him Ahmir. He’s always going to be Ahmir to me. He’s Questlove, but that’s Ahmir. That’s my brother. I met him shortly after Brown Sugar came out. I think I just stopped touring for a second, and they were doing a show at the House of Blues. They were open for the Fugees. So it was Goodie Mob, the Roots and the Fugees. CeeLo was there killing, and then here come the Roots. This was the first time I’d seen them live.

I had just got off the road and I was pretty bummed out, because the drummer that I wanted, who was the house drummer at the Apollo, Ralph Rolle — he was my drummer for the first couple of shows and then he didn’t want to tour. I was bummed out for the rest of the show. I felt like I did not have the drummer that I wanted, and I was in search for a drummer. I went through a whole bunch of drummers during that time. Abe Fogle was one of my drummers. Omar Hakim, who was with Weather Report. He was one of my drummers at the time. I just couldn’t find it.

Anyway, at the show, seeing Ahmir. He knew I was there, I don’t know how.

Questlove

[from audience] I do.

D’Angelo

Where are you at, man? He always tells this story. You should tell the story, because you tell it better than I do. [applause / Questlove comes onstage]

Questlove

At the risk of overexposure, because I know people are tired of hearing me talking, I promise to keep this under two minutes. You had first walked in when the Roots were mixing our Do You Want More?!!!??! record at Battery Studios. Engineer, Bob Power, who was working on the Brown Sugar record said, “Yo, you got to meet this kid. He’s the next...“ He named everyone. “He’s the next Sam Cooke. He’s the next Donny Hathaway... “ I had such a Nazi attitude towards R&B at that time. I just thought, “Whatever.” He walked in and I was dismissive. I was like, “Yeah, whatever,” and Bob is like, “No, there’s a song called ‘Shit, Damn, Motherfucker.’ You gotta play on it.”

I was so dismissive. He came in. I’m like, “It’s an R&B dude. I’m cool.” I had gotten the Brown Sugar sampler when I left the second Source Awards. That one where Suge Knight was like, “All in the video, all in the —” I always consider that day to be hip-hop’s funeral, and the only saving grace was... So, at the time when Snoop is on stage yelling, “Y’all don’t love us.” I grab my date. I’m like, “We out,” because I knew there was going to be like a war going on. I ran in the lobby, and as I was running some guy just ran up to me and says, “Here!” I looked, and it’s D’Angelo, Brown Sugar, put it in my pocket and I ran out like... [laughter and applause]

I don’t know what made me do it, but I listened to it, and I thought, “I done fucked up now.” I did. I thought, “Yo, this is our savior.” I basically spent... That was May of ‘95. I spent the entire year trying to figure out how to strategically get within his sight so that I can atone for my sins of being dismissive that day. That moment came April 1st, 1996. It was April Fools day, Marvin Gaye Day. You had just met Erykah that day, right? You knew of her. Right. Y’all recorded the duet, “Heaven Must Have Sent You.” Y’all recorded that earlier at Marvin studio. That night both of y’all came to the House of Blues. I met both of y’all the same night. I knew he was in the audience, and I thought, “OK, I could either sabotage our show right now. Either I can audition for him, or I can make it smooth running.”

I’m not saying there’s a band rivalry going on between the three, but it was like we were all trying to kill each other, in that Kendrick Lamar rivalry way. By this point we’re in LA, Soul Train Awards, everybody’s in the house. You see TLC up there. You see all these notable celebrities. And the Roots could have either stuck to the script or... In such a moment I thought, “I got to audition for them.” In the auditioning for D’Angelo, I decided to play in a style that the Roots were not accustomed to.

The preview of that drunken Dilla style that we perfected for Voodoo, I thought, “OK, this is what I’m going to do.” Everyone is looking at me like, “What are you doing? Why are you playing so... “ There was this moment where I was like, “I don’t have them yet,” and I decided to do... There’s a side Prince project called Mad House. [applause] There’s an introductory song called “Four.” [sings beat] I was like, “All right, I’m going to see what language he speaks.” It was some African communication drum thing, and I did it. And he instantly is like, “Yeah!” That’s how I met him.

D’Angelo

True story.

Nelson George

Move ahead, I was going to do this later, but let’s talk about Voodoo. [applause] Since he’s in the house ... One of the things people think is that Questlove produced Voodoo.

Questlove

[from audience] No!

Nelson George

OK. I know. This is what we’re doing here. But a lot of people do think that, by the way.

Nelson George

A lot of people do think that, by the way. I guess the question I have for you, I want to talk a little bit about the creative genesis of that album. When we were talking about earlier, Roy Hargrove played a key role. Tell me about the genesis of that album.

D’Angelo

Well, wow. Me and Ahmir met. After that night, you all were doing Illadelph Halflife and, uh... [Questlove says something from audience] Yes, yes.

Nelson George

For those who didn’t hear and the people who are listening online, what Ahmir just said is the last cut on the Illadelph album is —

D’Angelo

Went into the first cut of Voodoo.

Nelson George

And what does that mean?

D’Angelo

What does it mean?

Nelson George

Yeah, what does it mean musically?

D’Angelo

I don’t know! I think what it means is that, it’s like musical kin. It’s kind of like being separated at birth and then ya’ll meet when you’re 22. You’re like, “Damn! You my brother!” Basically what it was like. I was doing Space Jam soundtrack. The concept of the song was the real NBA players against the, you know, the monster.

Nelson George

Right, right, right.

D’Angelo

Hence the basketball references in “Playa Playa.” That was the first song we did. When we got together, we were at the Hit Factory and we just were nutting off, like two little kids in a toy store.

Nelson George

A landmark album. The mood of it is really significantly different from your first album. Talk about the evolution from the first one to the second one.

D’Angelo

OK. Just about the entirety of the first album Brown Sugar, I wrote it, the majority of that record, in my bedroom in Richmond. All of the demos for it were done on a 4-track in my bedroom. I think EMI was a little leery of me being in the studio, producing it on my own, which is what I was fighting for. It was important for them that I go in with someone, an engineer. Everyone was trying to pick, like, “You should get Prince’s engineer or somebody else.” I picked Bob Power because of my love for Tribe and what they were doing. It was the best thing to do. He was so awesome, he taught me a lot. All of the demos that I had, basically, before we even set foot in the studio, we were at Bob Power’s house for like three months. Going over every detail, tweaking every high-hat, every cymbal, you name it.

When we went into the studio to record, it was really like a... In my opinion, I felt like after it was done, I loved it. But there were certain songs that I felt it lost something between the demo version and all the production that went into it. I felt like it lost, like it got a little homogenized in my opinion, for me at the time.

Nelson George

You mean sonically it was too clean?

D’Angelo

Not clean, but, what’s the word? Buttery, I think is the best.

Nelson George

You wanted to eliminate the margarine and the butter.

D’Angelo

There you go. I’m like straight from the cow to the glass. That’s what Voodoo was. It really was that. We were in the studio and I wanted everything to feel like the demo. I wanted everything to feel like the demo, so that was the first thing. Then it was, too, more working with musicians. We were doing a lot of — me and Ahmir would be in there just really, like I said, nutting off like kids, for hours. We would just keep the tape rolling and we’d be in that live room with absolutely, really no intent of writing or recording anything. We would just be playing, playing, playing for hours. Whole time the tape is rolling.

Then something will come up. We would doodle and Ahmir would go, “Whoa! What’s that?” “Yo, Russ! Rewind the tape.” Russ Elevado would rewind it and listen to it again and boom, there’s a new song. Then, a lot of it was take. We would go in there. That was a different thing from Brown Sugar, I was doing everything myself at first.

Nelson George

Right.

D’Angelo

For me, I think it was two major elements or three major elements. Ahmir being there. I think after me and Ahmir did “Player,” I did a duet with B.B. King.

Nelson George

Right.

D’Angelo

I brought Ahmir with me to the session because it was my intention of doing a cover of... Yeah, Johnny Guitar Watson had just died.

Nelson George

Right.

D’Angelo

He just died, right before the B.B. King session and it was my intention to do a cover of “Superman Lover.”

Nelson George

Right, right.

D’Angelo

I brought Ahmir with me. We get there and we can’t do a Johnny Guitar Watson because they have to be B.B. King songs. I was in search, I was desperately seeking a James Jamerson aficionado or a James Jamerson... I even sought out his son, James Jamerson, Jr. I was looking for someone who could really give me that and boom! I found him at the B. B. King session, Pino Palladino. That and, from the Brown Sugar days, I had always been dying... We had a mutual friend who kind of turned me on to his music and I used to listen to it a lot. I just loved his tone and I had been dying to work with Roy Hargrove. We reached out, so I think those elements right there. That was it, man. That was the recipe.

Nelson George

Yeah, Pino Palladino, he’s been with you ever since. He’s still...

D’Angelo

Yes, he is.

Nelson George

It’s interesting. I mean, obviously Ahmir and you guys have this bond. How do you, because you play so many instruments, I’m really curious how you weave in other musicians and how do you... Because you set a certain way you want to play it. Do you have that play exactly what you play? How much are they able to put themselves in?

D’Angelo

They follow.. Yeah, I set the structure or what have you, how you want to call it. They follow that to a certain degree, but I do give them license to interpret it. Once you, when you’re working with musicians of that caliber, I mean, you can trust them to interpret it any way. Like Roy, I would just play it for Roy and let him just do what he does. He would make the arrangements, do the horn arrangements, I mean, all right there. He’s incredible. He’s fucking incredible, man. Pino pretty much would follow what I wrote for the structure of the song and add his own interpretations.

Nelson George

Speaking of the blues, it seems to me that one of the tracks that really is powerful for that era is “Devil’s Pie.” We talked about that, it’s a blues song to you, isn’t it?

D’Angelo

Yeah, it’s kind of like a blues song. Well, I would say the spirit of the vocals is more like a chain gang. Or like a feel of slaves in the field, picking whatever the fuck master had us picking. That’s what we’d be singing while we’re picking in the hot fucking sun. I mean, that’s kind of where I was going with it.

Nelson George

We had a Twitter #AskDAngelo and here’s a question from Sheer Kanpur? OK. “Just learned you wrote Black Men United’s anthem ‘You Will Know.’ What’s your story on that?” Just as a couple of fun little things, there’s a picture we’re going to drop in later. This is the R. Kelly, D’Angelo and Brian McKnight. A very unlikely trio. And the sheet music from “You Will Know,” which was written by you and your brother Luther.

D’Angelo

That’s right.

Nelson George

Let’s talk about that track.

D’Angelo

Again, in the crib. That song really is what got me my deal. That was on my first demo, when Jocelyn signed me to Midnight Music, I think that was the one. That was the song that sealed the deal.

Nelson George

How did it end up being a... It ended up being a soundtrack for Jason’s Lyric as opposed to being a solo track for you. How did that happen?

D’Angelo

It was early and, like I said, it was my original demo. It takes time to get signed and all the process and all that stuff. By the time I had gotten signed to EMI, the direction I was going was just different. It was a perfect fit. Jocelyn being the great publisher that she was, she placed it for the movie. It was like, “Wow!” It was like, I’m coming out of nowhere because the only thing that I had done up to that point was a song called “Overjoyed” for the Harlem Boys Choir. So here I am, with all my heroes, man. It was deep.

Nelson George

Talk about the talent that was on that track.

D’Angelo

Man, so Brian McKnight, R. Kelly, Gerald Levert, Al B. Sure!, Boyz II Men, H-Town —

Nelson George

H-Town! Knocking them boots!

D’Angelo

Knocking the boots. It was everybody! It was —

Nelson George

Usher, I think.

D’Angelo

Usher. Young, little Usher was there. I was like, “This little kid is going to do something, man.” Shit. Aaron Hall. Did I say Aaron Hall?

Nelson George

No. Aaron Hall, it’s important.

D’Angelo

Aaron Hall, who was like God to me. I fucking loved Aaron Hall. And everybody. Christopher Williams. It’s the whole era right there.

Nelson George

Right. It was crazy. You’re in the studio. You basically have all these vets and you’re the kid. How were those sessions?

D’Angelo

They were fun. They were really, really fun and everyone. It was Black Men United, so everybody kind of left their egos, well some, left their egos at the door. I mean, for the most part. It was surreal. I got a chance to not just work with a lot of my heroes, but, you know, grew relationships. Especially with Aaron Hall. Those brothers put me up under their wing, kind of like, come here young blood. Watch out for this. Him and Gerald Levert were the biggest ones. Gerald was just fuckin’ awesome. Rest in peace brother. I love that man.

Nelson George

It’s interesting listening to that track now, and talk about longevity and mystique. There are people on that record who — Christopher Williams, who had a moment. He was a movie star and a singer. He was in New Jack City. Al B., who’s moved on and does radio. Having longevity and having mystique. You’re one of the few people who has mystique, you know that? In the age of TMZ and all of that stuff, there’s an aura still about your career. It’s very unusual today, for anybody to have any mystery left.

D’Angelo

I agree.

Nelson George

Let’s just take a couple more questions. This came in tonight from Twitter. This is from @divynthought: “Are you a fan of how technology has changed the music industry?” I guess you could take it a number of ways. Technology in the studio, or technology in how people consume music. How do you feel about the changes and how does that affect how you go forward with your music?

D’Angelo

The consumption of it, I can’t even touch that. That’s different. As far as the technology, I don’t have a problem with technology, as long as it’s not — there’s got to be a balance. You can use technology, but still. If you’re using technology to get the same point across that you would get, say, doing analog shit, then it’s cool. I don’t have a problem with it at all.

Nelson George

You have any Auto-Tune in the tracks you’re working on?

D’Angelo

No. Although, it’s funny, I met Sly recently. He was working on... [applause] Yeah, Sly Stone. I hear the rumor mill that he’s always constantly working on music.

Nelson George

That’s what he says when you ask him.

D’Angelo

It’s the truth. He’s got mad shit, man, that he’s been working on.

Nelson George

Oh, he played you some stuff?

D’Angelo

Yeah.

Nelson George

Oh!

D’Angelo

It’s not Family Stone shit. It’s progressive, it’s new, and he’s fuckin’ with the Auto-Tune shit. I had a conversation with him, because I heard it and I was like, “No. Damn. No. Don’t do that. Why you using Auto-Tune?” He was explaining. The way he did it, he’s doing it like no one else. Of course, it’s Sly. But like I said, I don’t have a problem with technology, as long as you’re doing something with it that’s new. Putting some kind of twist with it. He’s incredible.

Nelson George

All right. When’s the Sly, D’Angelo duet?

D’Angelo

It’s coming. Sly, you promised.

Nelson George

We’re going to talk a little bit more about... We’re just talking about your future. Obviously there’s all kinds of anticipation. What are your thoughts about dealing with that? It’s a tremendous amount of social media pressure that didn’t exist before.

D’Angelo

Right.

Nelson George

Does that affect your process at all, the fact that people are getting at you all the time? Are you able to stay...

D’Angelo

Definite. To a fault, I think that I’ve kinda put myself in a bubble so that I’m not affected by any of that. Although, it’s hard not to be, because it’s the world that we live in now. I mean, I completely block all that shit out. I have to, because when I’m thinking about music, when I’m being creative, I can’t even put my mind there.

Nelson George

I’ve visited the studio you work in, and you have a cave. You literally sing in a cave.

D’Angelo

Yes, I do. My little tepee.

Nelson George

It’s a black tarp and then you have a humidifier, a keyboard, a mic. And an ash tray.

D’Angelo

And an ash tray.

Nelson George

Even in the studio, which is itself an enclosed environment, you have even another enclosed environment. Talk about that.

D’Angelo

I don’t know. I’m just trying to go deep, deep in the onion. I get tired of kicking everybody out the room. Because when it’s time for me to do vocals, I’ll kick the engineer out, the assistant, everybody. I’m like, “Get out.” I’ll set the board myself and I’ll have the mic there. So what we’ve been doing now, Russ would be in the control room mixing, and I’ll be in the live room when we set up the cave, in the live room. Out here, that’s how Sly used to do it. There’s one thing that Mtume taught me, too, about Sly. Mtume was talking about how Sly would use this thing called the dead zone. Sly wouldn’t even use headphones. He would sit at the board with the mic, and he would position the mic a certain way in between the speakers, and there’s a dead zone. He wouldn’t even put on headphones. That’s why when you listen to some of that stuff, there’s a lot going on. You hear a lot of hiss and a lot of stuff in there. That’s what that is. I kinda just borrowed that from him.

Nelson George

Your vocals are part of your trademark, and your falsetto, harmonies ... Tell us the process of recording. It seems like a very sacred process. You’re not someone who has a bunch of people in the studio. It’s not a party when you record. What is your thoughts about that? Why do you go in that direction? Is it just, you said, the onion? You’re trying to get in deeper?

D’Angelo

It’s the onion. You’re putting your voice down on tape, because I still use tape. It’s about capturing the spirit, it’s about capturing the vibe. We all learned a lot working on Voodoo. That was such a great time. I’m kind of a first take dude. The first time, cut that mic on, and the spirit is there, and what comes on the mic... Even if I’m mumbling, I like to keep a lot of that initial thing that comes out. Because that’s the spirit.

Nelson George

I’ve heard some vocalists, some vocalists go in, and they don’t have — they have a melody, they don’t have the lyrics. The famous, I think Paul McCartney, I think, “Yesterday” was originally “Scrambled Eggs” or whatever until he figured out what the words would be.

D’Angelo

Wow.

Nelson George

Do you go in with the words or with the emotion? Which goes first?

D’Angelo

Yeah, emotions, and freestyle. We freestyle and mumble shit. Later, just fill in the blanks and make sense out of the mumbles.

Nelson George

We’re coming to the end of our evening, and I want to just talk a little bit about the future. From what I’ve seen of the shows you’ve been doing over the last couple of years, obviously, you’ve evolved. It’s not the same D’Angelo that people might have seen before. Where do you see yourself going musically? Is it going to be like... One thing that was interesting about the shows, at the Brooklyn Bowl for example. It was a completely different audience that I’d seen you with before. It was a younger audience. Way younger. It was a whiter audience than I think people would expect. Do you feel like your future recordings will have a different kind of audience base than even, perhaps, what you’ve had before, because you’re in a different place?

D’Angelo

I feel like it’s expanding. The music itself is expanding, so yeah. I think that this is a different generation — call it the iPod nation or what have you. I think there’s less segregation, if you will, of genres. More people are welcome to — they don’t give a fuck if it’s called this or that. If it’s good, it’s good.

Nelson George

Are we through?

D’Angelo

I don’t know, man.

Nelson George

OK, listen. A couple more questions from the audience. This is a good one. If you were not a musician — this is from R. Barnes @1tem6 — if you were not a musician, what would you be?

D’Angelo

God, damn. [long pause] I’m scared to say it, but you know what? Everybody back home always thinks that this is what I’m going to do. That I’m going to take the Al Green route. I don’t see it, but I don’t know. I think that —

Nelson George

Are you going to join the family business?

D’Angelo

I don’t know. I don’t think so.

Nelson George

There’s not going to be a church of D’Angelo outside of Richmond?

D’Angelo

I’ve always looked at, when I’m onstage, that the stage is my pool pit. When we’re playing and we’re getting the energy back, and feeding it to the crowd, and that exchange is happening, that that’s my ministry. I’ve always looked at it like that.

Nelson George

You grew up in a very — I mean, your father was a Pentecostal preacher.

D’Angelo

Yes.

Nelson George

You grew up in a very church environment. Is there ever a temptation? You said, not at church, but do you ever have temptation to go back and do, you know, Christian music?

D’Angelo

I definitely want to do a quartet album.

Nelson George

A gospel quartet?

D’Angelo

Yeah.

Nelson George

Oh, nice.

D’Angelo

I love quartet and those guys are still — I’m still fascinated with that whole world. Before the first European tour, that’s what I did in Richmond. Me, my cousin Marlon, this dude that’s in the Vanguard now, Arel, my other cousin, we put together a quartet group. I did a little... Surprise little thing at this church way up in the woods. It was great. It was funny, because we was doing some real deal quartet gospel. We did a couple songs by the Pilgrim Jubilees.

Nelson George

Right. Wow. That’s seriously going back.

D’Angelo

Oh, yeah. Then we ended it with this interpretation, so it went into this Fishbone thing. I told Angelo; I called Angelo Moore, I told him about it. He’s like, “You did what? What songs?” It’s on Give a Monkey a Brain. It’s on that album.

Nelson George

Fishbone fans.

D’Angelo

The folk song. It’s the... “Propaganda.” The “Propaganda” joint. At the end when they go [sings melody]. We was doing that. The church, at first, was really up and shaking. Then we went to that, everybody sat down. [laughter]

Nelson George

How much more time do we have folks? Hey Questlove, come back up here man.

D’Angelo

Quest.

Nelson George

I want to end this with a little — because you said something interesting when I interviewed him before about your process and I’d like to get that. I think that would be a good way to end the evening.

When I interviewed you for Finding the Funk, you talked about the ways in which playing with him affected and how he affected your drumming. I’d love for you to talk about that now.

Questlove

Absolutely. If you listen to “Dreaming Eyes of Mine” on Brown Sugar, at the time, it’s funny because the only person I’ve ever heard describe this was the time we brought Lenny Kravitz in to play, and he said the same thing that I thought in the beginning. I was like, “Man, there’s a discrepancy on the kick pattern. Like it’s really messed up.” But I was kind of obsessed with just how sloppy the kick pattern sounded. And I hit up Bob Power. I was like, “Yo, why did y’all leave it like that? Like, it’s so [makes drum sound], like no one cared, someone drunk was playing it.” And he said, “No, that’s exactly how he wants it.” I was like, “Really?”

Which leads to — what I was explaining was when D’Angelo, when he came down to Philadelphia to record on the Illadelph Halflife album, we had him there for 2 days. Because normally like a song should take that long, but we literally knocked out the song on the Roots album in seven hours. Like he’s, his vocal process is — I’ve never seen anyone just so instantaneous. It’s like watching someone shoot 10 half-court shots, not even looking at the ball, that’s how effortless it is.

So we were done and you know we had him down for two days, so he stayed in Philadelphia. And it was like, well, all right, let’s mess around. That’s when I think we were testing each other to see each other’s knowledge. But there was a song that he had initially planned for Brown Sugar called “Bitch” that — I know, right? You remember? Which was the most drunkest, past J. Dilla drumming I ever heard programming. So, if the pulse is this [taps rhythmically on leg] the drum pattern was [sings much slower, woozy rhythm]. It was drunk, but it was perfect. You have to understand, being in a hip-hop band in 1996, there was a lot of resistance.

Nelson George

Sure.

Questlove

It was still the era of The Chronic. Ready to Die by Biggie was happening. So, you know, real hip-hop was like, “Yo, if you ain’t sampling, you ain’t doing nothing.” So the Roots, I had spent four years by that point with a chip on my shoulder like, “I am as meticulous and as quantized and as straight as 12 o’clock. I am a time machine.” And he just basically came in and deprogrammed me. Like I had a lot of pride in the fact that Premier, Q-Tip would come up and be like, “Yo, you’re like a drum machine. You’re so straight,” right? So, I was playing like a metronome for him and he was like, “Nah, nah. Like lay back a little bit.”

Nelson George

Tell us about that. What is that philosophy of drumming come from? ’Cause you were trying to mess up my man.

D’Angelo

See that’s the thing. I’m basically trying to emulate the great hip-hop producers. So if you looking for a break, you look for a sample — and this was before you had I guess the technology to speed up or slow down a sample without fucking with the tempo of it, right? So you had a beat going and you would put a sample over top of that beat.

It wouldn’t align perfectly unless you kind of would put it behind. You had to kind of play it a little bit before the beat started so that by the time you got to the end of the four bars, it would align. And in that way, everything was the drunk thing, like you’re saying. I mean, that’s just me kind of trying to emulate Premier and Marley Marl, my favorite hip-hop producers.

Questlove

I got to object. You were past that. I mean, I don’t mean like you were past that level. When people program drums, I mean you can either have the quantize option on. I’m assuming that some of you aren’t musicians, so when you have a quantized on, you can take 12 shots of Patron, program something and it fixes it for you. Whereas the only two human beings I know that never had the quantize option on was D’Angelo and Dilla. So, both of them single-handedly made me drop it.

And you got to understand the way black musicianship was going, you had to be precise. It was about gospel chops, it was about how many drums you can hit per hour. [mimcs playing tons of fills really fast] And I’m in my prime. Like finally getting a little light with the group and then suddenly they want me to just strip down to gutter bucket levels. On the whole Voodoo record, like, I’m playing rim shot. I played snare on one song, “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” To me, it was like being told to use the force in Star Wars terms. Like, “Just trust me. Keep it in the pocket. Be sloppy as hell and it’s going to work.” It took me like a month to adjust to it.

Nelson George

I have both of you here. Let’s talk about Soulquarians and what that was. From both of your points of view, what did collective mean to you and how you think it’s affected music going forward in any way shape or form.

Want to jump on it? Either one.

Questlove

I mean —

Nelson George

Don’t let him talk all the time.

Questlove

You right, this is your thing man.

Nelson George

Exactly, you start.

D’Angelo

All right. To me, Soulquarians was definitely just a collective of like-minded individuals. I remember us being at Electric Lady. I’d be downstairs, Ahmir would be in the room and it was just like a hot bed, everyone would stop by. Everyone knew we was there. So Erykah would stop by or she would be upstairs. Common would be down the hall.

Questlove

Yeah, he had studio A, Common had studio B, and then up in C would be —

D’Angelo

Mos Def.

Questlove

Yeah, either Mos or Kweli or sometimes Bilal. So at any given moment, between 1997 and 2001 or 2002, we literally just took over Electric Lady Studios. At one point in ‘98 it was just like sleepovers. We would just sit, watch Soul Train all night and figure out something, like see a trick that Al Greene was doing and then... Mostly it was practicing for the show. It was like what album can we make, that we can do live for people and then they’ll be like, “Ah! That was amazing!”

D’Angelo

The main premise was, it’s not going to just be one group. It’s not going to be one album that does this, it’s going to be a movement. It’s going to be all of us.

Questlove

Yeah. I guess I have personally figured out — at least from the Roots’ standpoint — that any success that’s ever happened in music, happened as a movement. You think you like Stevie Wonder, but no, you like the Motown movement. And then who’s he associated with? Everything that’s had a success is associated with something.

Nelson George

Before we close, can we grapple with neo-soul and whether that’s a valid phrase or was just some PR bullshit? Anybody?

D’Angelo

I plead the fifth, really. [applause]

Questlove

No, you know —

D’Angelo

I’m not touching it.

Questlove

I’ll say this much. ‘Cause I hate documentaries in which, they’ll coin a term and then you see a bunch of people that are part of that movement kind of like disassociate themselves with it. I mean none of us — who came up? Was it Kedar?

D’Angelo

Kedar. Are you here Kedar?

Questlove

Yo, this is like This Is Your Life! Everybody’s in here!

D’Angelo

Where are you Kedar? Can you please stand up? Ke!

Questlove

That’s amazing. Everybody’s here.

D’Angelo

So he coined the phrase.

Questlove

I think Kedar coined the phrase. But I don’t think —

Nelson George

Was this a valid phrase or was this something that was bogus? What do you feel about it?

Questlove

I never want to go on record disassociating myself from something or think I was above it. Because usually when people do that, they’re really passive-aggressively trying to say, “Well, I’m better than that person that you associated me with.” I think at the end of the day, it’s like, the individual collective made their mark and their stamp in history and more importantly, what I want him to understand... Because the problem with the bubble thing, is that sometimes you’re unaware of the effects of it. Like he’s totally amazed at the fact, when I bring him news of, the fact that Voodoo is still rippling. Like the effects of it are rippling and spreading and people are, now, there’s a whole other audience that’s into it.

When we did the Bonnaroo thing together, a year and a half ago, and saw the audience, it was like there’s a new generation of people that are on it. We weren’t necessarily card-carrying members with a flag on it, but I do think that it was definitely something in the air between ‘97 to like 2003. And I don’t think it’s anything to scoff or yawn or disassociate yourself from.

D’Angelo

Yeah, and I agree with you. I don’t think I want to disassociate or anything, and respect it for what it is and all that. But I will say this — any time you put a name on something that you kind of, you just put it in a box.

Questlove

It’s the end.

D’Angelo

You put it in a box. Right. So, I think the main thing about the whole neo-soul thing, not to put it down or it was a bad thing or anything, but you don’t... You want to be in a position where you can grow as an artist. You never want to be told, “Hey, well, you don’t do, you’re not doing what you did on Brown Sugar,” you know? Because like right now, we’re going some place else.

Like, “Damn, you a neo-soul artist. Why don’t you do neo-soul?” And I never claimed that. I never claimed I do neo-soul, you know. I used to say, when I first came out, I used to always say, “I do black music. I make black music.”

Questlove

And you also have to understand that when Voodoo came out, that was, at one point in history, a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow. It’s weird now because it’s in our DNA, but when it came out, there were a lot of people that were like, “Whoa! This sounds like an acid trip or something. What are you guys doing?” Now it sounds normal especially compared to... unmentionable, unspoken third record.

And I think I just killed the interview. I’m sorry, thank you!

Nelson George

So how are we doing guys, on time?

Audience Members

Good! Great!

Nelson George

All right, we’ve had a quorum and we’ve decided we’re finished. So, Ahmir Thompson and...

D’Angelo

Before we end, I just want to thank all of y’all for coming and for showing your love and support, really. It means so much. Thank you.

From the heart.