The artist pays the price/so you won’t have to pay/if only we would listen/to what they have to say

—”Life Is for Learning,” Marvin Gaye

There is a five-year gap between the albums Brown Sugar and Voodoo. D’Angelo experienced writer’s block, which could be due to the pressure—straight-up weight—of following up a genre-changing debut album with something not just better, but from deep within himself.

Brown Sugar, from 1995, had a little bit of everything for everyone. Moody joints like the title cut “Brown Sugar” and “Me and Those Dreamin’ Eyes of Mine” for the hip-hop set; real R&B joints like “Lady” and “Alright” that made women, predominantly Black women, feel single, real quick; and throwback songs from previous eras that showed his versatility.

He was so with it, he reworked a Smok

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