I mean he won Grammy awards and his 3 albums are in the RS Top 500 of All Time... what kind of success would satisfy you?

StrangeButTrue said:

with the exception of Rihanna I consider those "household names" as former child stars that built momentum over time (and "grew up" with a generation of kid fans) and kept releasing (often subpar) material to see if it would stick. even timberlake's last album was a yuge flop.

.

imho D'Angelo is more of an "artist's artist" and theres nothing wrong with that.

I´d say that the term crossover does not really reflect the musical landscape of that time because at that point many successful RnB and Rap artists had already become part of the mainstream, and slowly but surely the mainstream was dominated by them. D´Angelo, Erykah Badu and Maxwell, but most of all Laryn Hill had a lot of crossover potential or even fulfilled that potential, especially Lauryn Hill, but in my opinion all of them had terrible timing and planning or in some cases private issues to deal with so that played a part, too.

D´Angelo is a major artist, an artist´s artist despite releasing an album once in a blue moon but he and the others I mentioned above could´ve become so much bigger than they did. Especially Maxwell and D´Angelo, and to some extent Erykah Badu.

They had their moment, and they kind of used it to their advantage, but all of them could´ve gone even a bit further than they did but now it´s a bit late to reach that status because the momentum is gone and the whole industry has changed anyway.

To me, D´Angelo is right up there with the legends, with his role models. And I really like all of his albums and he is a very passionate and talented live artist, have seen him twice so far and both shows were great and had a very diverse audience.

Wolfie87 said:

StrangeButTrue said:

I mean he won Grammy awards and his 3 albums are in the RS Top 500 of All Time... what kind of success would satisfy you?

Household name. Like Spears, Timberlake, Bieber, Beyonce, Rihanna etc etc. [Edited 7/28/21 10:28am]

The new D'Angelo?

.

Battlefield - YouTube

.

Be The Change - Jarrod La... - YouTube

.

Love Isn't Always Enough ... - YouTube

.

I'll Be Your Radio - YouTube

He hardly makes commercial music. There's not really anything in his catalogue that would have mass mainstream appeal.

MattyJam said:

He hardly makes commercial music. There's not really anything in his catalogue that would have mass mainstream appeal.

Apparently the OP has never listened to Top 40 radio. Then he or she would know why neo-soul in general didn't have much Top 40 pop success. I don't see D'Angelo being played next to Hootie And The Blowfish, Spin Doctors, & Ace Of Base. Even most older R&B acts did not crossover. There's a reason that Lionel Richie/Billy Ocean/Whitney Houston crossed over & Teddy Pendergrass/Maze/Betty Wright didn't. Their music was more pop & adult contemporary friendly. They had catchy hooks. New Jack Swing crossed over, probably because it's music people can dance to.

D crosses over easily if he didnt release 3 albums in 28 years.

I think he did with Voodoo unless you weren't listening to music AT ALL in the 2000s.

Alicia Keys kept hitting the public with albums after her introduction around the same time, with more pop hits, but no album (or art) as strong as Voodoo.

Even if he lost the body, I think way too much emphasis has been put on that being the reason. It's not like he was Britney Spears. He had real music to back up his image. He could have kept his sleevless shirt on and put more music out.

Cinny said:

I think he did with Voodoo unless you weren't listening to music AT ALL in the 2000s

These are his songs that hit the Hot 100 [pop singles chart]:
#27 Brown Sugar (1995)
#53 Cruisin' (1995)
#10 Lady (1996)
#74 Me And Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine (1996)
#98 Break Ups 2 Make Ups (with Method Man) (1999)
#70 Left & Right (with Method Man & Redman)
#25 Untitled (How Does It Feel) (2000)
#99 Be Here (with Raphael Saadiq) (2002)

Billboard 200 [pop album chart]:
#22 Brown Sugar (1996)
#1 Voodoo (2000)
#5 Black Messiah (2015)

It's not unusual for a black artist have a Top 10 album on the Billboard Top 200 with zero support from radio. I have never heard a D'Angelo song played outside of R&B radio. I remember the last album from Tyrese reach the #1 spot and everyone was wondering how that happened being his music has never seen much success outside of R&B circles. Tyrese was even baffled.

kitbradley said:

I remember the last album from Tyrese reach the #1 spot and everyone was wondering how that happened being his music has never seen much success outside of R&B circles. Tyrese was even baffled.

Maybe some people who watch Fast & Furious movies bought it.

MickyDolenz said:

Cinny said:

I think he did with Voodoo unless you weren't listening to music AT ALL in the 2000s

These are his songs that hit the Hot 100 [pop singles chart]:
#27 Brown Sugar (1995)
#53 Cruisin' (1995)
#10 Lady (1996)
#74 Me And Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine (1996)
#98 Break Ups 2 Make Ups (with Method Man) (1999)
#70 Left & Right (with Method Man & Redman)
#25 Untitled (How Does It Feel) (2000)
#99 Be Here (with Raphael Saadiq) (2002)

Billboard 200 [pop album chart]:
#22 Brown Sugar (1996)
#1 Voodoo (2000)
#5 Black Messiah (2015)

Wasn't "Devil's Pie" a single?

Crossing over is dangerous for some careers because it's hard to walk that line and cross back. For every Prince or Sam Cooke you have a Lionel Richie or MC Hammer. D'Angelo seems to be in that Curtis Mayfield mold where it's all about the music. Let the people come to you. Nothing wrong with that.... nothing at all.

Of course with the Voodoo promotion (not the music) D'Angelo did try the pop star- sex object route, probably pushed by the record company, but seems to have eschewed that route after that experience. He didn't seem to get lost in that fake world, and even if he did for awhile, his music never reflected a desire to continue along that path.

[Edited 8/1/21 19:36pm]

whodknee said:

The market was very competitive when he released that first album, he got outmuscled in the slow-ass boomer music stakes by the bigger names dropping more high-profile songs at the time. But he can always be content in the fact that he pioneered neo-soul alongside Soul 4 Real.

MarshallStacks said:

In part, because no one can understand what he’s singing/talking about!! Also the fact that he releases one new album per generation ain’t gonna help him none.

hashtag D'Mumblo

MarshallStacks said:

In part, because no one can understand what he’s singing/talking about!! Also the fact that he releases one new album per generation ain’t gonna help him none.

His first two albums and most of the non-album songs he´s released before and after Black Messiah are nothing like that.

I wonder why the Black Messiah album is like that.

Is it the mix/production?

I´ve also never heard him or Questlove explain this.

I think another reason neo-soul didn't have a lot of crossover is because some of the songs and/or artists tended to have an Afrocentric vibe to them. It doesn't really translate to a mainstream (aka white) audience, so was less likely to get Top 40 pop radio airplay. It's not like X-Clan got pop hits like Tone Loc & MC Hammer did.

MickyDolenz said:

I think another reason neo-soul didn't have a lot of crossover is because some of the songs and/or artists tended to have an Afrocentric vibe to them. It doesn't really translate to a mainstream (aka white) audience, so was less likely to get Top 40 pop radio airplay. It's not like X-Clan got pop hits like Tone Loc & MC Hammer did.

"Heed The Word of The Brother" is on my playlist this month!

he was too urban lookin....

[Edited 8/4/21 14:38pm]

funkman88 said:

he was too thuggish lookin....

Just wow