The other day, D’Angelo shocked the world with the sudden release of Black Messiah, his first studio release since Voodoo nearly fifteen years ago. According to the New York Times, the release was even a surprise to many at his own record label, RCA. Apparently, in the wake of recent events involving the unjust deaths of black men at the hands of police officers and subsequent nationwide protests, D’Angelo pressed for an early release to make a statement. According to the Times article, after the jury failed to indict the police officer who shot Mike Brown in Ferguson, D’Angelo called his co-manager Kevin Liles.
“He said: ‘Do you believe this? Do you believe it?’ ” Mr. Liles said. “And then we just sat there in silence. That is when I knew he wanted to say something.”
For the last month, D and his crew have been pulling all-nighters to rush the release of the album, barely finishing it by the time he dropped it at a listening party in Manhattan this past Sunday. It is so hot off the press, in fact, that many at his own label had not heard it prior to the party.
The rush job made it so that they were not able to complete the lyric booklet, which will be included in a future vinyl release. Album artwork was also sacrificed to get the job done in a timely fashion. He had wanted an original piece from the former minister of culture for the Black Panthers, Emory Douglas, but there wasn’t enough time. He instead went with a photo from Afropunk Fest in Brooklyn.
The album was originally intended to be released in early 2015, so, Happy Holidays from D’Angelo!
Read the full NY Times article here.