It’s been an emotional week since the passing of D’Angelo, the man often called the father of neo-soul.
Tributes from music legends have flooded social media, and I can’t help but drift back to the mid-’90s, those early high school days when Brown Sugar first hit the airwaves.
If you were an ’80s kid like me, you’ll remember that moment. The sound was fresh, smooth, rich, and grown.
Our elders nodded in approval, but we knew this was ours. Soul and hip-hop had never collided like that before. And then there was him, cornrows, calm confidence, and that slow smile that made the girls blush and the guys rethink their wardrobes.
He introduced us to neo-soul, and to us, he was the blueprint, the man who made vulnerability cool and groove intellectual.
HOW D’ANGELO SHAPED NEO-SOUL
D’Angelo didn’t just sing, he sculpted neo-soul. Brown Sugar brought that laid-back, mid-’90s vibe, blending rhythm and blues with crisp hip-hop beats, jazz, and funk, a sound that felt fresh compared to the pop-skewing R&B of the time.
Then came Voodoo in 2000, something entirely new, neo-soul, funk, and jazz wrapped in a loose, groove-based style with touches of psychedelic soul and hip-hop.
What I loved most was that D’Angelo was never stagnant. His sound evolved, but it always felt authentic.
Tracks like Untitled (How Does It Feel) hit differently, every note deliberate, every pause magnetic.
Even when he teamed up with Method Man on Left & Right, he stayed true to his artistry, bridging soul and hip-hop effortlessly.
He collaborated with artists like Angie Stone (his child’s mother), Lauryn Hill, Q-Tip and Raphael Saadiq, and was part of the Soulquarians, a rotating collective of experimental Black music artists.
After Voodoo, D’Angelo went silent for 14 years. Yet, even in that hiatus, his music never left our ears or our households. When he returned in 2014 with Black Messiah, it wasn’t just a third album, it was a raw, political, and brilliant resurrection.
That comeback reminded us why his music is timeless, continuing to move, inspire, and define neo-soul.
His daughter, singer Imani Archer, shared a deeply moving tribute, writing: “You were my biggest musical inspiration, the kindest and most selfless man, and the best father anyone could’ve ever had.”
HIS MUSIC REACHED US, EVEN WHEN HE DIDN’T
Most of us dreamed of seeing him live, but it never happened.
Instead, we soaked in his genius through YouTube clips, music videos, and TV performances, letting every groove, every note, every smile wash over us from afar.
Three albums across decades, yet his influence runs deep and still resonates through time.
