 |  D' Angelo
"Untitled (How Does It Feel)"
RealVideo  
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | MTV News: First, I want to congratulate you on the success of the new album. It debuted at number one, of course. Does number one on the charts mean anything to you?D'Angelo: It does, it does, because for the longest time we've been working on this project, hoping that what we were doing was different than most of the R&B stuff that's coming out. So to see it received like that, it's great, man. It's a great vindication.MTV: Did you have any idea that it was going to come out that strong and hit that hard?D: No, I didn't know what to expect. It's funny, but the whole time that we were recording this album, we went through a lot -- a lot of drama, blood, sweat, and tears, and to see it flourishing like this is just a blessing. I really felt like it was a big test, constantly being attacked by doubts and demons and things like that. But when you hold fast to what you believe in and what you feel in your gut and then see it through, it's a great feeling.MTV: You took a lot of time working on this project, and I'm sure there were a lot of people who were like, "Is he ever gonna come out with it, or is he going to be the Ralph Ellison of music?" You know, one masterpiece, and that's it. What was going on in those five years since "Brown Sugar," when everyone was waiting for you to come back?D: Well, at the end of promoting "Brown Sugar" -- I guess it ended around '97 -- I chilled for a while and just wanted to get away from everything. I wanted to go back home and get sane. I started playing a lot, hooked up with Raphael Saadiq, went out to California and just started playing, started listening to a lot of old gospel things. You know, just building the foundation of what we were about to do for "Voodoo," and it took some time. I had a son in February of '98, and after his birth I started writing for the album, but it was important for me to live a little bit. I didn't spend five years, every day, in the studio. I took some time to chill with my family. The songs come from life's experiences, so it was important for me to live a little bit.MTV: In the album's liner notes, there's a lot of stuff about inspiration. It sounds to me like you had a lot of inspiration from your son.D: Yes, this album is dedicated to my son, to my children. I have another child, a daughter, so I dedicated the album to them, because they inspired me to not just write songs, but to be a better man, to grow up. That's what the album is about, and the music to me is about growth. I grew a lot in all senses of the word. I grew a lot during those five years, and the music reflects that. The man who wrote the beautiful liner notes, Saul Williams, is an extraordinary poet and visionary, and a fellow Aquarius.MTV: You're often compared to other musicians Curtis Mayfield, for example, and you're often compared to Prince and a lot of major figures in music. Even in the liner notes, Saul mentioned that maybe some people don't hear your voice or aren't really hearing what you have to say, because they're just sort of comparing you to all these other people. Is that an issue for you?D: Not really, no. I know that I'm still in the early stages of being a songwriter and being a producer. I have a lot more growing to do. This is my second album, and I draw inspiration from the masters. All of us do. All of the masters studied the masters that came before them. I've always talked about this, but through imitation comes innovation. Still, I believe that I'm not really trying to imitate anybody. I'm really trying to do my own thing, but their music is so much a part of me and so much a part of my psyche, I can't help for it to come out.Like with Curtis Mayfield. I never had a chance to really know him personally, but I got to meet his family and was honored that he knew who I was, and he knew about my music. I'm just glad to know that he knew how much I respected him.
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