Released in January of 2000, a few weeks after the world did NOT end on Y2K, “Voodoo” was a breath of fresh air. During the majority of the previous three+ years, Michael “D’Angelo” Archer was holed up in Electric Lady Studios in the East Village with the Soulquarians. This collective of curious, hyper-talented artists that included Questlove, Q-Tip, Badu and J Dilla were pushing the sound of soul music forward by immersing themselves in its history, surrounded by the vintage gear and in the same spaces where Stevie and Jimi and many others crafted their now-classic masterpieces.

The early reviews for “Voodoo” were tepid, but the album sold a million copies in five weeks and landed at number one on the Billboard charts shortly after its release. The music video for “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”, however, shot D into the stratosphere and, ultimately, also lead to his meteoric, well-publicized demise. But the music on “Voodoo”, much of it co-written and co-produced by Questlove, Angie Stone and others in the Soulquarians orbit, remains vital. Tracks like “Devils Pie”, “Chicken Grease” and “Spanish Joint” offer up a rhythmically dense, musically hyper-literate, genre-defying blend of funk and soul that transcend the “Neo-Soul” label often attached to the album.

It would be almost exactly fifteen years until we got another album. His substance struggles. His body image insecurities. The near-death car crash. And then, Dilla died. That was the turning point, and D’Angelo started on his path toward resurrection. Some snippets of new tunes in ‘07 and 2010. Then in 2012, a new tour solidified that he was “back”.

The result, “Black Messiah”, is another masterpiece. It’s deep funk, it’s chaotic punk, it’s blistering, politically charged takedowns of systemic injustice like “1000 Deaths” and “The Charade” speak to its defiant grandeur.