When D'angelo announced that he is embarking on a European Tour next February with John Blackwell on drums and Jesse Johnson on guitar http://www.okayplayer.com/news/dangelo-second-coming-european-tour.html, I couldn't help but think that D'angelo really is jockin' Prince too damn much. The same way that I felt when Prince had Larry Graham and Maceo Parker in his bands, it looked like a Sly Stone and James Brown tribute band with Prince on lead vocals, D having John Blackwell, Jesse Johnson, Eric Leeds in his band and Alan Leeds managing him it looks like D'angelo and The New Power Generation. At what point does imitation stops becoming flattery and straight up emulation. There's always been a weird dynamic between D'angelo and Prince. From Saul Williams writing the liner notes for Voodoo about Prince's late nighties music being sub-par to Prince's subsequent responses in song ("Daisy Chain" and "Undisputed" remix, interviews and website to Prince recording "The Rainbow Children", it seems like there's been mutual respect and mutual suspicion between both artists.

The same way that Prince answered the bell with The Rainbow Children by deviating from the plastic production style that relied on trends in contemporary urban music at the time and recorded an album for art sake, maybe if and when D'angelo released his third studio album, Prince will embrace the challenge of writing and recording material stripped of gimmicks and go hard on releasing the best music that is in his well of creativity at this stage in his career. D'angelo seems to be one of the few younger musicians that can challenge Prince artistically and motivate P to go all out in the studio and a weird circumstance where so many of P's former musical associates are working with D, you can bet money that Prince's ego will want to show that their is only one Prince, with his own legacy and it's time for D'angelo to begin his.

Let D first drop that damned new album of his before jumping into any conclusions...

If you ask me Prince has been bored with music since 1987. By then he'd acheived everything there was to acheive. He struggles to find motivation. If you look at what he's done particularly since The Gold Experience, the only time he shows any real signs of life is when he claps back against disgruntled fans, perceived haters, challengers, enemies, etc. So yeah, if D'Angelo puts out a great album, and I'm sure he will, with Jesse in the fold, Prince is bound to feel slighted at some point and respond. Only thing is the last time that happened, I didn't like most of what Prince came up with. "U Make My Sun Shine" with D's wife in particular.

D who? D'angelo is such an underachiever. So few albums under his belt. So few tours. I am sure Prince appreciatess his talent but I really doubt Prince considers him as a musical hero. Far from that.

I find it quite pathetic to go and get P's musicians and entourage like if it was going to give you a bit of genius at the same time.

When you look at what Prince had achieved on the music scene at the age of 40 compared to D'angelo, you wonder why this post exists in the first place.

We are sure D'angelo is obsessed with Prince. I don't think it works the other way around.

[Edited 11/15/14 6:26am]

bashraka said:

When D'angelo announced that he is embarking on a European Tour next February with John Blackwell on drums and Jesse Johnson on guitar http://www.okayplayer.com/news/dangelo-second-coming-european-tour.html, I couldn't help but think that D'angelo really is jockin' Prince too damn much. The same way that I felt when Prince had Larry Graham and Maceo Parker in his bands, it looked like a Sly Stone and James Brown tribute band with Prince on lead vocals, D having John Blackwell, Jesse Johnson, Eric Leeds in his band and Alan Leeds managing him it looks like D'angelo and The New Power Generation. At what point does imitation stops becoming flattery and straight up emulation. There's always been a weird dynamic between D'angelo and Prince. From Saul Williams writing the liner notes for Voodoo about Prince's late nighties music being sub-par to Prince's subsequent responses in song ("Daisy Chain" and "Undisputed" remix, interviews and website to Prince recording "The Rainbow Children", it seems like there's been mutual respect and mutual suspicion between both artists.

The same way that Prince answered the bell with The Rainbow Children by deviating from the plastic production style that relied on trends in contemporary urban music at the time and recorded an album for art sake, maybe if and when D'angelo released his third studio album, Prince will embrace the challenge of writing and recording material stripped of gimmicks and go hard on releasing the best music that is in his well of creativity at this stage in his career. D'angelo seems to be one of the few younger musicians that can challenge Prince artistically and motivate P to go all out in the studio and a weird circumstance where so many of P's former musical associates are working with D, you can bet money that Prince's ego will want to show that their is only one Prince, with his own legacy and it's time for D'angelo to begin his.

Very good observation and thread topic but I have to disagree with this because I have often had the same thoughts and look what´s happened so far. It´s not the first time that D´s and his camp are working with people who used to be in Prince´s camp, and besides recording TRC and that mild D´Angelo diss in Daisy Chain video and that Paisley Park incident with Questlove and D and Prince jamming, not much has happened.

What I like about D´Angelo is that he doesn´t hide the fact that he´s heavily inspired by Prince and still comes up with something uniquely his own. Even having so many people from Prince´s camp in his band hasn´t changed his style into a carbon copy of Prince, whereas Prince having Maceo and Larry in his band has not really added much to Prince´s sound or style.

-

I know that many people here have lost faith in D´Angelo or just see him as a Prince copycat, or compare him to Lauryn Hill but I think D´s next album is going to be the bomb. And even if he never releases an album again, he´s a very interesting musician and his live shows are superb.

But if I were him, I´d stop doing so many cover songs, especially Prince songs.

-

I understand that John Blackwell, Eric Leeds, Jesse Johnson, Michael Bland, Sonny T. are professional musicians who can choose who they work with to make a living, and I´m sure Prince understands that, too, but I still wonder how they all deal with these kind of issues...I mean, they´ve been on tour with Justin Timberlake, D´Angelo, etc. etc., and there´s always been this big elephant in the room that they all worked with Prince before AND after their gigs with those other musicians. I mean, how does Prince deal with this?How do they deal with this?

KoolEaze said:

bashraka said:

When D'angelo announced that he is embarking on a European Tour next February with John Blackwell on drums and Jesse Johnson on guitar http://www.okayplayer.com/news/dangelo-second-coming-european-tour.html, I couldn't help but think that D'angelo really is jockin' Prince too damn much. The same way that I felt when Prince had Larry Graham and Maceo Parker in his bands, it looked like a Sly Stone and James Brown tribute band with Prince on lead vocals, D having John Blackwell, Jesse Johnson, Eric Leeds in his band and Alan Leeds managing him it looks like D'angelo and The New Power Generation. At what point does imitation stops becoming flattery and straight up emulation. There's always been a weird dynamic between D'angelo and Prince. From Saul Williams writing the liner notes for Voodoo about Prince's late nighties music being sub-par to Prince's subsequent responses in song ("Daisy Chain" and "Undisputed" remix, interviews and website to Prince recording "The Rainbow Children", it seems like there's been mutual respect and mutual suspicion between both artists.

The same way that Prince answered the bell with The Rainbow Children by deviating from the plastic production style that relied on trends in contemporary urban music at the time and recorded an album for art sake, maybe if and when D'angelo released his third studio album, Prince will embrace the challenge of writing and recording material stripped of gimmicks and go hard on releasing the best music that is in his well of creativity at this stage in his career. D'angelo seems to be one of the few younger musicians that can challenge Prince artistically and motivate P to go all out in the studio and a weird circumstance where so many of P's former musical associates are working with D, you can bet money that Prince's ego will want to show that their is only one Prince, with his own legacy and it's time for D'angelo to begin his.

Very good observation and thread topic but I have to disagree with this because I have often had the same thoughts and look what´s happened so far. It´s not the first time that D´s and his camp are working with people who used to be in Prince´s camp, and besides recording TRC and that mild D´Angelo diss in Daisy Chain video and that Paisley Park incident with Questlove and D and Prince jamming, not much has happened.

What I like about D´Angelo is that he doesn´t hide the fact that he´s heavily inspired by Prince and still comes up with something uniquely his own. Even having so many people from Prince´s camp in his band hasn´t changed his style into a carbon copy of Prince, whereas Prince having Maceo and Larry in his band has not really added much to Prince´s sound or style.

-

I know that many people here have lost faith in D´Angelo or just see him as a Prince copycat, or compare him to Lauryn Hill but I think D´s next album is going to be the bomb. And even if he never releases an album again, he´s a very interesting musician and his live shows are superb.

But if I were him, I´d stop doing so many cover songs, especially Prince songs.

-

I understand that John Blackwell, Eric Leeds, Jesse Johnson, Michael Bland, Sonny T. are professional musicians who can choose who they work with to make a living, and I´m sure Prince understands that, too, but I still wonder how they all deal with these kind of issues...I mean, they´ve been on tour with Justin Timberlake, D´Angelo, etc. etc., and there´s always been this big elephant in the room that they all worked with Prince before AND after their gigs with those other musicians. I mean, how does Prince deal with this?How do they deal with this?

When Larry was in Prince's band, I thought he was jockin' larry to hard, to the point, Prince's shows in the late ninties became Prince And The Family Stone. For me it wasn't until TRC and ONA Tour where he actually sounded like a musician's musician making challenging music that was provocative again. But since then, Prince's albums have been a hodge podge of short lived band lineups and pediastrian songwriting. I'm a D'angelo fan, and P's former musicians can work whoever they want to work with, but D's band and camp reminds me of when George Clinton's P-Funk all-stars started a mutiny led by Jerome Brailey and Glen Goins to record together. In Prince's case, mostly former Prince associates who at some point or another had grievances with Prince and is now a semi-mustribute band disguised as an underachieving musician touring off a mythology that started 14 years ago.

KingSausage said:

That's what she said.

.

Always gotta be a smartass. Stop trying to be me!

scorp84 said:

D's a bad dude..

But-

He's no Prince.. to be honest at this point..

*** In the general publics mind...he's no ?uestlove!

Prince living his life and sharing his experiences is the the key to his next solo album.

huh ..what??

D'Angelo's first album came out in 1996 and in the 18 years since then he has released one other album.

By comparison, Prince's first album For You came out in 1978 and in the 18 years that followed that we got:

Prince
Dirty Mind

Controversy
1999
Purple Rain (the album)

Purple Rain (the film)
Around The World In A Day

Parade

Under The Cherry Moon (the film)

Sign O The Times

Sign O The Times (the concert movie)
Lovesexy

The Black Album

Batman

Graffiti Bridge (the album)
Graffiti Bridge (the film)
Diamonds & Pearls
The Love Symbol
Come

The Gold Experience

Emancipation
Chaos & Disorder
Exodus

That's 23 discs of material. If you include The Time, Sheila E, The Family, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, you've got pretty much another 10 discs of material that Prince was almost completely responsible for as well.

That's 33 discs of released material in 18 years.

D'Angelo has 2. In the same time frame.

And people think this dude is gonna light a fire under P's ass? You kidding, right?

Wake me up when he.....you know.....actually releases something.

Prince has released the same amount of albums THIS year than D'Angelo has in his entire career. And frankly, Art Official Age is better than both of D's albums.

Just a little perspective.

And yeah, his recruiting of former P associates is cheap and shameless. Jesse Johnson is too good of a songwriter and artist himself to be playing sideman to D'Angelo. I can't think of a single D'Angelo song that's better than "Can You Help Me", "Baby Let's Kiss", "Free World".

Oh lawd...Militant bout to set it off up in here. Imma need a drank...

D'angelo has a lot of potential that has been unfulfilled since 2000 and it can't be denied that D'angelo did motivate to ditch the production style that plagued Emancipation, New Power Soul and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic and recruit high caliber musicians for "Rainbow Children" that produced a rich musicality and songs that are topical on many fronts. "Rainbow Children" is like the answer to "Voodoo" in terms of production style and engineering.I'm just saying if D releases a new studio album as good as "Brown Sugar" and "Voodoo" and he will get the acclaim, Prince will try to "answer" with a record in the manner Prince did with "Rainbow Children" a year after "Voodoo".

Militant said:

D'Angelo's first album came out in 1996 and in the 18 years since then he has released one other album.

By comparison, Prince's first album For You came out in 1978 and in the 18 years that followed that we got:

Prince
Dirty Mind

Controversy
1999
Purple Rain (the album)

Purple Rain (the film)
Around The World In A Day

Parade

Under The Cherry Moon (the film)

Sign O The Times

Sign O The Times (the concert movie)
Lovesexy

The Black Album

Batman

Graffiti Bridge (the album)
Graffiti Bridge (the film)
Diamonds & Pearls
The Love Symbol
Come

The Gold Experience

Emancipation
Chaos & Disorder
Exodus

That's 23 discs of material. If you include The Time, Sheila E, The Family, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, you've got pretty much another 10 discs of material that Prince was almost completely responsible for as well.

That's 33 discs of released material in 18 years.

D'Angelo has 2. In the same time frame.

And people think this dude is gonna light a fire under P's ass? You kidding, right?

Wake me up when he.....you know.....actually releases something.

Prince has released the same amount of albums THIS year than D'Angelo has in his entire career. And frankly, Art Official Age is better than both of D's albums.

Just a little perspective.

And yeah, his recruiting of former P associates is cheap and shameless. Jesse Johnson is too good of a songwriter and artist himself to be playing sideman to D'Angelo. I can't think of a single D'Angelo song that's better than "Can You Help Me", "Baby Let's Kiss", "Free World".

D'Angelo is Jesse's younger cousin so... I liken the situation between them to El Debarge and his younger brother Chico. Clearly the elder member of the family is the most talented, but the younger has a more recent resume and active fanbase.

Prince's album count is impressive, but it doesn't mean much, when the majority of those albums were considered duds, flops, misfires, etc. Some Prince fans love them, but the casual Prince fan, not so much.

Prince literally, needs inspiration. Drama fuels him. I think he seeks it out. I think he craves it. I think he's completely lost without it. The last time D'Angelo dropped an album, Prince made what, a dozen, songs inspired by the "fued"?? He had a website up at the time where he took potshots at D'Angelo, there was the implication that he was sleeping with D'Angelo's wife. Prince tried, in vain, to produce his own hit records closer to what D'Angelo was doing at that time.

Oh yeah, if D'Angelo brings it like he has in the past, Prince is going to have to step his game up to match.

"Art Official Age is better than both of D's albums"??? I'm not really into D'Angelo's music, but still, that's blasphemy. That's a slur, lol. AOA is a Joshua Whelton album that barely features Prince.

[Edited 11/15/14 17:01pm]

funksterr said:

funksterr said:

Militant said:

D'Angelo's first album came out in 1996 and in the 18 years since then he has released one other album.

By comparison, Prince's first album For You came out in 1978 and in the 18 years that followed that we got:

Prince
Dirty Mind

Controversy
1999
Purple Rain (the album)

Purple Rain (the film)
Around The World In A Day

Parade

Under The Cherry Moon (the film)

Sign O The Times

Sign O The Times (the concert movie)
Lovesexy

The Black Album

Batman

Graffiti Bridge (the album)
Graffiti Bridge (the film)
Diamonds & Pearls
The Love Symbol
Come

The Gold Experience

Emancipation
Chaos & Disorder
Exodus

That's 23 discs of material. If you include The Time, Sheila E, The Family, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, you've got pretty much another 10 discs of material that Prince was almost completely responsible for as well.

That's 33 discs of released material in 18 years.

D'Angelo has 2. In the same time frame.

And people think this dude is gonna light a fire under P's ass? You kidding, right?

Wake me up when he.....you know.....actually releases something.

Prince has released the same amount of albums THIS year than D'Angelo has in his entire career. And frankly, Art Official Age is better than both of D's albums.

Just a little perspective.

And yeah, his recruiting of former P associates is cheap and shameless. Jesse Johnson is too good of a songwriter and artist himself to be playing sideman to D'Angelo. I can't think of a single D'Angelo song that's better than "Can You Help Me", "Baby Let's Kiss", "Free World".

D'Angelo is Jesse's younger cousin so... I liken the situation between them to El Debarge and his younger brother Chico. Clearly the elder member of the family is the most talented, but the younger has a more recent resume and active fanbase.

Prince's album count is impressive, but it doesn't mean much, when the majority of those albums were considered duds, flops, misfires, etc. Some Prince fans love them, but the casual Prince fan, not so much.

Prince literally, needs inspiration. Drama fuels him. I think he seeks it out. I think he craves it. I think he's completely lost without it. The last time D'Angelo dropped an album, Prince made what, a dozen, songs inspired by the "fued"?? He had a website up at the time where he took potshots at D'Angelo, there was the implication that he was sleeping with D'Angelo's wife. Prince tried, in vain, to produce his own hit records closer to what D'Angelo was doing at that time.

Oh yeah, if D'Angelo brings it like he has in the past, Prince is going to have to step his game up to match.

"Art Official Age is better than both of D's albums"??? I'm not really into D'Angelo's music, but still, that's blasphemy. That's a slur, lol. AOA is a Joshua Whelton album that barely features Prince.

[Edited 11/15/14 17:01pm]

That "Revelations" joint from the Yahoo Live Stream from Paisley Park would go on Prince's next album automatically.

bashraka said:

When D'angelo announced that he is embarking on a European Tour next February with John Blackwell on drums and Jesse Johnson on guitar http://www.okayplayer.com/news/dangelo-second-coming-european-tour.html, I couldn't help but think that D'angelo really is jockin' Prince too damn much. The same way that I felt when Prince had Larry Graham and Maceo Parker in his bands, it looked like a Sly Stone and James Brown tribute band with Prince on lead vocals, D having John Blackwell, Jesse Johnson, Eric Leeds in his band and Alan Leeds managing him it looks like D'angelo and The New Power Generation. At what point does imitation stops becoming flattery and straight up emulation. There's always been a weird dynamic between D'angelo and Prince. From Saul Williams writing the liner notes for Voodoo about Prince's late nighties music being sub-par to Prince's subsequent responses in song ("Daisy Chain" and "Undisputed" remix, interviews and website to Prince recording "The Rainbow Children", it seems like there's been mutual respect and mutual suspicion between both artists.

The same way that Prince answered the bell with The Rainbow Children by deviating from the plastic production style that relied on trends in contemporary urban music at the time and recorded an album for art sake, maybe if and when D'angelo released his third studio album, Prince will embrace the challenge of writing and recording material stripped of gimmicks and go hard on releasing the best music that is in his well of creativity at this stage in his career. D'angelo seems to be one of the few younger musicians that can challenge Prince artistically and motivate P to go all out in the studio and a weird circumstance where so many of P's former musical associates are working with D, you can bet money that Prince's ego will want to show that their is only one Prince, with his own legacy and it's time for D'angelo to begin his.

Game recognize game...

How is somebody who hasn't released an album in years ever going to a challence to anybody, let alone Prince?

And why do these artists (same goes Laryn Hill) keep comming back to the org....let it go.

And frankly, Art Official Age is better than both of D's albums.

Just a little perspective.

And yeah, his recruiting of former P associates is cheap and shameless. Jesse Johnson is too good of a songwriter and artist himself to be playing sideman to D'Angelo. I can't think of a single D'Angelo song that's better than "Can You Help Me", "Baby Let's Kiss", "Free World".

you are right in a lot of things you write BUT these statements are just... hmm... semi smart. especially for a guy that works in the biz...

D'Angelo is neither threat nor inspiration to Prince because D hasn't been able to ever get his shit together.

Had he been working and releasing even semi-steadily, maybe he'd have a body of work worth discussing outside the two albums that exist (which are iconic) but D'angelo (whom I love!) is all potential with nothing to show for it after 14 years ...its a shame really, and I even had tickets to see D in Brooklyn last year but (surprise) show was cancelled.

D'Angelo had potential to approach Prince's level, but that will never ever happen now, although I, like everyone else cant wait for a new album to drop but dude is just not able to overcome himself.

I'm really starting to think that D'Angelo is a charlatan. I used to be a huge fan of his, but nah, dude can't be all that talented taking this long to release a 3rd album . I highly doubt Prince even cares about D'Angelo anymore.

nice signature..

Game recognize game...

[Edited 11/16/14 16:52pm]

really?? I never knew that

terrig said:

D'Angelo is neither threat nor inspiration to Prince because D hasn't been able to ever get his shit together.

Had he been working and releasing even semi-steadily, maybe he'd have a body of work worth discussing outside the two albums that exist (which are iconic) but D'angelo (whom I love!) is all potential with nothing to show for it after 14 years ...its a shame really, and I even had tickets to see D in Brooklyn last year but (surprise) show was cancelled.

D'Angelo had potential to approach Prince's level, but that will never ever happen now, although I, like everyone else cant wait for a new album to drop but dude is just not able to overcome himself.

He actually released three official albums if you count the London Jazz Café live album, which was a legit release and not a bootleg (and I love it....I think Shelby was one of his background singers back then). And don´t forget all those songs he contributed to (for Common, etc. and the odd soundtrack song he did ).

-

-

14 years is a hell of a long time to keep the fans waiting but...he´s been on tour in some Skandinavian countries last year, right after the GQ interview and photoshoot (where he looked in top shape physically and came across like he finally got his shit together mentally).

Some like to compare him to Lauryn Hill but I think hasn´t been just as much under the radar as she has been.

-

I think it´s just a combination of bad luck (defunct record company, legal issues, that horrific car accident), drug abuse and several addictions, and probably depression but one thing´s for sure...the albums that he did release are filler-free, you can play them continously without having to skip a single song, you can push the replay button time after time after time and you still won´t get bored and the music still sounds unique and fresh.

I´m afraid I can´t really say the same about Prince´s sketchy albums of the past two decades.

You can drive from Chicago to Minneapolis and listen to the Brown Sugar album two, three or even four times and it still sounds amazing.

Can´t say the same about Rave, TRC, Planet Earth, MPLSound, 20Ten etc.

But of course Prince is a gazillion times more disciplined and prolific, and one could take his or her favorite songs off of Prince´s dozens of albums he´s released in the past two decades and you´d have at least four or five CDs of great music.

D´Angelo is definitely not a prolific artist but I still believe in him.