SOULTIGHT: D'Angelo

03 September 2014

Reminiscing

I never heard these songs before today, but their styles took me waaaaaay back, to 15 years ago.

Silver Spring Maryland, where I lived.
Washington Dc, where I worked 10 miles away.
Chocolate city.
Steve Harvey on the radio or TD Jakes on BET as I got dressed for work. D'angelo, Jill Scott, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, The Roots, Mos Def, Musiq Soulchild, Nas, Jay-Z, Destiny's Child, The Clipse, etc on the radio 24/7, 365.
Chocolate city.
My friend Henry. My friend Amanda. My friend Roland. My friend Diego. My friend Onyx. My friend Jeffrey. My friend Daniel. My friend Kirby.
Shakara and her fights when I would take her to predominately black clubs (there were many in Dc because it was Chcocolate City) and all of a sudden black women would find me attractive when I was with her.
Chocolate city.
Lots of times I wish Washington Dc was still 10 miles away to the east,
Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine 10 miles away to the west,
Southern California 10 miles away to the north

(and Paris to the south)

05 August 2011

Searching for James River

THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN WASTED TALENT.

Searching for D ' Angelo

Spoken word artist Charlie Peters explores this theme by blending his own work with an old and incredibly prescient interview of D'Angelo, poster child of squandered gifts, on a demo for the song "Searching For James River." The title of the piece is named for the James River, a historic body of water that flows through Richmond, the hometown of the Voodoo artist and the long-rumored title of his phantom third album. Peters yearns for the soul music of the '90s over jazzy instrumentals, which makes it easy to mistake this piece as shallow. The poem ambles slowly until it reaches the rapids of D'Angelo's remarks, where he describes the need for musicians to protect what is "pure" in themselves and their music lest it be destroyed by the industry. Knowing his struggle in recent years with substance abuse and legal woes, it seems that the search for D'Angelo -- and his legacy -- will continue.

--courtesy soulbounce.com