D'Angelo and The Vanguard // Black Messiah

D'Angelo and The Vanguard

Black Messiah

RCA

If the reaction to this long-awaited album is any indication, this could be a new beginning for the music industry. After years of pre-packaged monotone electric pop calling itself R&B, a musician who hasn't sold his soul is again making soul – and the crowd is going wild. D'Angelo took a 14-year hiatus to learn guitar and collaborate with the best artists in the business because he wanted his legacy to be about his music, not his sexiness. Not that Black Messiah isn't sexy: "Really Love" may be the best make-out song ever recorded. Songs like "Betray My Heart" and "Back to the Future" just drip with a Prince-like layered groove. D'Angelo's lyric "I just want to go back baby," may come true, because this forward-looking piece of musical mastery may bring pop back to the days when sincere musicianship and true soul mattered more than money and fame. 

5/5