10 Years of D’Angelo’s Voodoo: He Done Worked A Root
Published WorkPublished January 25, 2010 at 1:19 AM No Comments
It’s been exactly 10 years since Voodoo, D’Angelo’s sophomore album, hit the top of the US Billboard 200 in the day of its release (25 January 2000). In some ways, Voodoo is the reason Soul Culture exists.
It opened a conversation. Voodoo’s often ambiguous lyrics – when they can be heard at all – and jam session vibes (rather than disciplined melodies) rendered the album less accessible than D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar debut – but for me [and many others] the verbal incoherency is part of the puzzle, the in-the-moment vibes are incentive to work it out. [For those who like it on a platter, the lyrics are there in the album booklet. Quit moaning already.]
A decade on, the conversation continues – only last week I found myself arguing with a producer over the album’s timeless merits. For me, that’s what it is. Timeless. Far less tied to a particular era than his debut. More adventurous. More meaningful.
The album’s liner notes, written by Saul Williams, touched on the issues D’Angelo already faced with regard to artistry and innovation. “We seem to be more preoccupied with cultivating or bank accounts than cultivating our crafts. Nowadays, I find my peers more inspired by an artist’s business tactics than their artistry. In fact, we do not seem to mind an artist that suffers in the face of seemingly good business. More artists seem to yearn to own their own labels, etc., than they seem to yearn to master their crafts.”
