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Heaven must be like this: D’Angelo’s greatest songs – ranked!
As his debut album Brown Sugar turns 30 this week, we look back on the relatively slim but astoundingly rich catalogue of the architect of neosoul
From the opening torrent of dextrous jazz guitar to the bumping hip-hop beat (from Chubb Rock’s 1992 track The Big Man) via the meandering keyboard lines that suggest a band jamming live and the fine, but unshowy vocal, Smooth defines the new route for R&B laid out on D’Angelo’s debut. If Black Messiah is the 21st-century There’s a Riot Goin’ On, maybe Sugah Daddy is its goofy Spaced Cowboy moment, its Princely lubriciousness undercut by its quirky tap-dancing rhythm, sudden key changes and warped swing-era evoking horns and backing vocals. An ode to marijuana disguised as a love song, you could work out the real meaning just from its heady sound – like mid-70s Roy Ayers in a fog of smoke, plus snapping beats, ultra-cool organ, disorientating murmuring voices and a vocal with the rhythm of a rapper’s flow.
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