I think Prince and D´Angelo and all people involved actually have less of a problem with each other than we think.

Questlove has been hanging out with both, Jesse Johnson´s posts on FB have been nothing but complimentary lately, John Blackwell still plays with Prince sometimes, and now with D´Angelo, and probably with Prince again at some point, and he´s worked with Justin Timberlake who kind of dissed Prince years ago and then JB went back and worked with Prince. Questlove was there when Toure and Alan Leeds did the Q&A when Toure´s book came out, and later he was still down with Prince.

No big deal apparently.

It´s all good.

KoolEaze said:

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.

I have to agree with you on most points and i totally forgot I have the london jazz cafe album ....you are SO RIGHT about both albums tho, they melt together like warm honey and butter, and they never get old - i play them over and over and over...

But imo Prince's music after the 90's has a more dated sound ...except TRC that album is brilliant and I'm not a fan of god voice throughout but sonically pffft its impeccably done.


BUT even with princes less than genius efforts ...Princes genius efforts outweigh D's on every level....I get that fame can collapse someone but thats also just why D cant approach Prince's legend...Prince has SURVIVED his fame and even if we never got another record after Parade...D'angelo just isnt breathing Prince's air.

Have you ever heard Skin by Ephraim Lewis? http://en.wikipedia.org/w...raim_Lewis

another amazing amazing work of art that melts you over and over, sadly though he committed suicide.

We still have D'angelo and I'm so hoping we do get another album from D'angelo someday...

re: Ephraim Lewis:

The cops were called to his apartment for a noise complaint. He was reportedly high on something and got scared and leapt out of his window, naked, to his death.

terrig said:

Have you ever heard Skin by Ephraim Lewis? http://en.wikipedia.org/w...raim_Lewis

another amazing amazing work of art that melts you over and over, sadly though he committed suicide.

[Edited 11/16/14 17:09pm]

AGREED!

Hmmmm..? lets see... "Baby lets kiss" vs "Me & those dreaming eyes of mine"...

Decisions Decisions...

spitty said:

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...

I suppose if you can get to that file sharing website where people trade 500 or so D'Angelo outtakes, and the hours of live bootlegs and rehearsal collections for his last 10 or so tours, we can...well, we can't. Some guy with 2 albums to his name, and maybe whatever his "vault" has....can't compare to Prince for anything. From all accounts, he's tried more drugs than released albums. That is not a good sign. You could name 10 artists who are supposed to be a "threat" to Prince, and all 10 artists combined might not have as many good to great songs than Prince all by himself.

I'm the first to clown on Prince for bloated concerts with sub par bands, and ridiculous crowd flunky time wasting...and some sub par material being released over stronger vault material...but D'Angelo? Really? Please, just give it a rest. He's not a threat to any artist. George Michael can rest tonight, and he's only got 3 albums of new material since 1990...or 4 if you count the b-sides, one off singles, and extra songs on hits collections, and the charity album songs.

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".

This is TRULY one of the most delusional fanboy statements I have EVER heard! (I'm sure this will be deleted, considering your status.)

Clearly someone that digs Neo Soul..

daingermouz2020 said:

Prince is talented and still has a lot that Im sure he's capable of. But D'angelo is doing Prince better than Prince imo. Yes hes influenced by a lot of 70's artist But Prince he does well. Maybe too well. since D'angelo's debut Prince hasn't released and album that is as good as Brown Sugar or Voodoo. Yeah ,he hasnt done a lot and he had his drug issues but vocally from what Ive heard the vocal skills, regular voice and falsetto are still. deadly. I do believe Prince is fond of D. I recall an interview several years ago on CNN he aknowledge he liked Alicia Keys and he added Id like to see what D'angelo gonna come up with next. I for one hope they never work together but I do think Prince could benefit from working with D and Questlove ,even Bilal.

daingermouz2020 said:

Prince is talented and still has a lot that Im sure he's capable of. But D'angelo is doing Prince better than Prince imo. Yes hes influenced by a lot of 70's artist But Prince he does well. Maybe too well. since D'angelo's debut Prince hasn't released and album that is as good as Brown Sugar or Voodoo. Yeah ,he hasnt done a lot and he had his drug issues but vocally from what Ive heard the vocal skills, regular voice and falsetto are still. deadly. I do believe Prince is fond of D. I recall an interview several years ago on CNN he aknowledge he liked Alicia Keys and he added Id like to see what D'angelo gonna come up with next. I for one hope they never work together but I do think Prince could benefit from working with D and Questlove ,even Bilal.

bilial! i wish bilal would get more shine, i had forgotten about him...i know i have an album of his somewhere, i have to pull it out...

stillwaiting said:

I suppose if you can get to that file sharing website where people trade 500 or so D'Angelo outtakes, and the hours of live bootlegs and rehearsal collections for his last 10 or so tours, we can...well, we can't. Some guy with 2 albums to his name, and maybe whatever his "vault" has....can't compare to Prince for anything. From all accounts, he's tried more drugs than released albums. That is not a good sign. You could name 10 artists who are supposed to be a "threat" to Prince, and all 10 artists combined might not have as many good to great songs than Prince all by himself.

I'm the first to clown on Prince for bloated concerts with sub par bands, and ridiculous crowd flunky time wasting...and some sub par material being released over stronger vault material...but D'Angelo? Really? Please, just give it a rest. He's not a threat to any artist. George Michael can rest tonight, and he's only got 3 albums of new material since 1990...or 4 if you count the b-sides, one off singles, and extra songs on hits collections, and the charity album songs.

I don´t know. Why compare the two? And why do we think that they are somehow rivals? They´re clearly not. I´d even say D´Angelo is a hardcore Prince fan. If he wasn´t so internet shy I´d bet he´s an orger.

I´m not saying that his next release is going to be a threat to Prince in any way, nor will he ever be as prolific as Prince, or as creative but come on, the ridicule and dislike he´s getting around here is ridiculous, and regardless of how little he´s released due to whatever circumstances, I am pretty sure his next album is going to be pretty solid, and if it sells well, then you can bet on SOME kind of reaction from Prince.....whether it´s recognition or respect or sheer competitiveness or even bullying and snipe remarks (though I don´t expect it) remains to be seen.

If D´Angelo´s next album is a huge success, and I´m sure it will be because folks are hungry for real soul music, then there is definitely going to be some sort of reaction by Prince.

The fact that there are not many outtakes doesn´t mean much.

Besides, there´s enough circulating material that could fill a decent EP or even short album at this point.

terrig said:

KoolEaze said:

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.

I have to agree with you on most points and i totally forgot I have the london jazz cafe album ....you are SO RIGHT about both albums tho, they melt together like warm honey and butter, and they never get old - i play them over and over and over...

But imo Prince's music after the 90's has a more dated sound ...except TRC that album is brilliant and I'm not a fan of god voice throughout but sonically pffft its impeccably done.


BUT even with princes less than genius efforts ...Princes genius efforts outweigh D's on every level....I get that fame can collapse someone but thats also just why D cant approach Prince's legend...Prince has SURVIVED his fame and even if we never got another record after Parade...D'angelo just isnt breathing Prince's air.

Have you ever heard Skin by Ephraim Lewis? http://en.wikipedia.org/w...raim_Lewis

another amazing amazing work of art that melts you over and over, sadly though he committed suicide.

We still have D'angelo and I'm so hoping we do get another album from D'angelo someday...

Sounds interesting, thanks for the tip, will check him out.

And....I totally agree with what you wrote.

stillwaiting said:

Militant said:

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".

How is that any different from Prince using Larry Graham and Maceo? And btw, the Voodoo album is a classic!!!

[Edited 11/28/14 4:12am]

Militant said:

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

Is this a joke?

[Edited 11/28/14 4:26am]

D'Angelo is all of the above, the good and the bad. My beef was him is that he was supposed to give my 25,30 year old children the kind of excitement that Prince gave me in the 1980's. Reflection of his generation? not sure, but Prince is a product of previous generations that honed their craft and released an incredible amount of music. Watch the HBO James Brown documentary and you cant hepl but think of Prince-D'Angelo did not have that inherit that drive.

Now that D's fantastic new album "Black Messiah" is out and has received much critical acclaim I thought I could kick up this subject again.

Back in 2001 Prince's TRC album was generally perceived as Prince's reply to "Voodoo". All of a sudden the plastic production style from the 90's was dumped and traded in for a warm, organic, mature and very musical sound.

Is it possible that Prince will take some cues again from this new D'Angelo album? Can we expect a return to a more organic and musical sound on Prince's next album? Is Black Messiah the kick under the ass Prince needed to get back in competition mode to show the world who is the real modern master of of funk, soul, rock and RnB?

SoulAlive said:

D'Angelo is Jesse's younger cousin

really?? I never knew that

I'll bet $5.00 this isn't true.

what has Dangelo done that Prince HASNT?

luvsexy4all said:

what has Dangelo done that Prince HASNT?

14 years between projects.

Graycap23 said:

luvsexy4all said:

what has Dangelo done that Prince HASNT?

14 years between projects.

LOL ..and U like him...

luvsexy4all said:

Graycap23 said:

14 years between projects.

LOL ..and U like him...

Big fan of D............but he is no Prince.

Graycap23 said:

luvsexy4all said:

LOL ..and U like him...

Big fan of D............but he is no Prince.

He doesn't need to be Prince, he is doing just fine being D'Angelo!

funkaholic1972 said:

Graycap23 said:

Big fan of D............but he is no Prince.

He doesn't need to be Prince, he is doing just fine being D'Angelo!

I know that, he knows that and U know that, but it seems some of these folks don't know that.

These comparison I find boring as hell.

In all fairness, there seemed to have been a bigger D'Angelo influence on the NPGMC material than there was on TRC. I always thought Prince himself figured out that he was doing something that didn't really work production-wise and realized he really needed to change.

I never thought Voodoo sounded really that "organic". It might have used "real instruments", but they were used in a sparing manner. I know that the time-base on many of the rhythm tracks is deliberately a little "off" on that album, but it still sounds like it was written and arranged on a sequencer.

Graycap23 said:

funkaholic1972 said:

He doesn't need to be Prince, he is doing just fine being D'Angelo!

I know that, he knows that and U know that, but it seems some of these folks don't know that.

These comparison I find boring as hell.

Agreed, there is definately some Prince influences in D's music but he brings his own style. Just like Prince used elements of artists before him like Jimi, James, Sly and others and turned that into something of his own making/signature. Nothing wrong with that. The comparisons are boring indeed.