In reference to the PLAYA PLAYA song... the song was originally for the original Space Jam soundtrack.... but they asked him to change it because they wanted something more up tempo...that's when he sent them the "I FOUND MY SMILE AGAIN" track for it...that's why u hear the basketball references in the song
You pointed out D’Angelo harmonizing with himself, it’s one of the best things about his music imo. No one does harmonies like him and Pharrell. You can tell what artists truly love the studio.
Rick Rubin called this album perfect. It’s in my top 5 albums of all time hands down. It has timeless themes and is a cornucopia of unique and dynamic sounds. This was by far his magnum opus.
Been looking forward for this for so long. This in my opinion is not only the greatest Neo Soul* album of all time but can be debated as one of the best any genre period
Even though he has no production credits on this album, the production on here is HEAVILY influenced by Dilla. You may not hear it when comparing this to Donuts, but listen to Dilla’s earlier beats and you’ll hear the influence like crazy
Right, his contributions are sprawled about the album, with his most concentrated efforts apparently being in chicken grease, though I could be mistaken….
You should REALLY REALLY REALLY give his next album Black Messiah a shot. Fourteen years later and it’s just as good in my opinion. So interesting to hear his evolution
My favorite album of all time. It's just a whole mood. I probably listen to this joint at least once a month. I pour me a glass of whiskey and zone out.
Great album selection. Listening to these albums with you is the closest thing to being able to experience the feeling I had when I first heard them. Appreciate you!
Finally! Some more soulquarians!! Ok, now that İ've seen the entire video Really glad you enjoyed the album, this album is really special, I feel strongly about alot of albims but this is the only one I've heard where I feel pretty much every track is perfect. D'angelo is truly a phenomenal artist
Ok finished the reaction. Glad you liked the album! People loved the single Untitled when it came out (partially because of the video, which actually was super detrimental to D'angelo's mental health in the aftermath). Please open your mind to R&B. So much hip hop is influenced by it. The music is so good. Can't wait for your Erykah reaction.
I feel like old rnb is different for some ppl to get into if you didn’t grow up with it , the nostalgia of rnb is what draws me in , u know what I mean ? It’s universally groovy but to really feel it in your soul is like a nostalgia thing for me . Maybe it’s just me 😂
@@TuchNGoh I understand what you're saying. *For me* a lot of the 90s R&B I grew up with, for example, is very much tied to nostalgia. I love it and think it's amazing, but it might be harder for someone who isn't already into R&B because there's a certain level of camp and cheese that you have to accept if you want to enjoy it. I feel like we're probably in the minority on this one 😂 But that's okay!
FYI: The guitar on "The Root" breakdown is backwards...and the "Spanish Joint" is Gina Figueroa... Send it on was about his son - D'Angelo is my favorite ❤❤❤
Dude, when you said "Send It On" made you feel like you were at a concert chillin'... that was my wedding night. Back in 2000, a few weeks after the album dropped, I won tix to his VooDoo Tour, on a radio call-in. And with D'angelo being one of our favorite artists, and it was an outdoor venue, on the water (Pier 6 Concert Pavillion at the Baltimore Harbor), we decided to plan our wedding to be on the day of the concert. It capped the night off perfectly. "Send It On" is definitely a vibe, and it was a stand-out at the show. The music video also captures that vibe.
Cannot wait for your thoughts after a few days. Neo-Soul imo is much better after you sit on it for a few days and really take it in. Def excited for the Brown Sugar reaction aswell
Damn BoB ur making me luv these albums again... Things fall apart Voodoo Mama's Gun Like Water for Chocolate all produced at the same time same producers 👍🏾 good💩BoB
So glad you reacted to this masterpiece. This album is in my top 10 albums of all time any genre. To me D’Angelo is a musical genius and one of the greatest all time. Hope you react to Brown Sugar and Black Messiah.
Bumped into this video recently and I have to say that I love how genuine you are in your reactions... This truly was (& still is) a great album. Count me as in as a new fan.
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bWzzkD78ETA.html&pp=ygUYd2hvIGFyZSB0aGUgc291bHF1YXJpYW5z Digging the Crates - The Musical Movement We Don't Talk About Enough ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-E3UkN62x98k.html&pp=ygUYd2hvIGFyZSB0aGUgc291bHF1YXJpYW5z Pitchfork - The Soulquarians: The Collaboration Between Erykah Badu, Questlove, D’Angelo, and More
Bob - I fear you have some misconceptions about R&B. Real R&B is consistent in message. The new "R&B" singers are really just rappers in disguise. Continue to explore 90s classic R&B and Neo Soul. Musiq's entire discography is worth a listen as is Usher's, BOW II Men, Mary J Blidge, etc.
I'd say go back to the 70s and 80s if you want the best R&B. By the 90s, HipHop had pushed R&B to the side, and though there were still great singers and some great albums, it was nowhere near as stacked with incredible bands, groups, singers, songwriters, producers, albums and singles as the 70s and 80s era of Soul/R&B, and that's undeniable. There isn't one musical act from the 90s that is even a fraction of the greatness of Earth, Wind & Fire.
Artisan canabis growers do what they do so that their yields can be enjoyed alongside masterpieces such as this . Great React might listen One mo gin ( once again - gin , one more time ) .
@1:24...IT'S THE PREACHER'S KIDS EFFECT....most exceptional artists come out of the Black church...dig ito that and you'll see it oh, and Angie Stone is his former spouse
I think in general you would like Neo Soul more than R&B. I have similar criticisms of modern R&B and Neo Soul really solves the issue. Whenever you feel like going down that rabbit hole: Erykah Badu (which I see you covered), Jill Scott, Maxwell, Dwele. are good starts.
You should make recommendations for those annotations. I agree with your takes way more than a lot of these interpretations, they don't make much sense. Also I've noticed a lot of Genius lyrics in other songs are straight up miss hearing the words.
Huh BoB that R&B album U keep describing...does not exist 😮 Been buying music since '87 iDk WtF U get that from ..sounds like 2 diff songs 2diff artist from radio ..Luv the show tho 👍🏾👍🏾✌🏾
If you know love and have experienced the strongest magnetism with a partner, what D’Angelo is communicating here is understood frequency by frequency.
I remember the day I found out that Charlie Hunter--the guitarist on "The Root" and "Spanish Joint"--uses an 8-string guitar and was playing both the bass and guitar parts simultaneously on those songs 🤯
Bob you have to listen to Mama's Gun by Erykah Badu next. It's sort of like the female version of Voodoo, I know you'll love it as you loved this and you said you love Female Vocals. Badu worked with D'Angelo too throughout both of their respective careers, and in my opinion that album is better than this one. It feels like something out of the 70s yet it came out in 2000.
I disagree with Mama's Gun being the female version of Voodoo, they dont play out very similarly at all. But it also a phenomenal album, pretty much all the soulquarians era albums are
@@kidabear782 I know I don’t agree at all either, but people say that because they’re both Soulquarians and they released the same year. I think they’re very different stylistically.
Charlie Hunter wrote it on his guitar in a hotel room and laid it out for the whole track in like three takes. Apparently he didn't get any royalties even though he pretty much composed it.
@@who_is_disstop it, the demo was already done long before Charlie was invented to play on it. You can clearly listen to the demo and see the riff is on it. Just throwing this out here, D’Angelo is a musicians musician, no need to steal.
Very much inspired by Lewis Taylor's Damn, especially the abrupt ending. And Questlove has spoken of how much that first LT album influenced D'Angelo. I also think D' inspired the track Never Be Your Woman, on Lewis Taylor's second album. So game recognises game.
@@bolder2009 I remember hearing Lewis Taylor saying D'angelo invited him to meet him in a hotel in America but D'angelo never showed up. Would have been a great collaberation!!
@@ruddock7 Yeah they kept him waiting at a hotel. He didn't know what was going on. He checked himself out and got a flight back home. But D was playing LT on his radio show a few years ago and referred to him as a genius. Check out his latest joint, The Acoustic Album.
I was not expecting this reaction so fast lol, this is one of my favorite albums of all time but I'm aware it's not necessarily the most requested album for you to react so I'm surprised in a good way to see this. Still haven't watched the whole thing of course, but I just wanted to say that for further listening of this record I recommend doing it on the night time, during a walk or just in home with the lights out and your headphones of course. Another thing: D'Angelo's follow up album "Black Messiah" (released 14 years after) is a worthy successor of this record with more a experimental and diverse production while still maintaining the high fidelity sound of Voodoo
-The "neo soul/new funk" era.... one of my favorite times in soul music. -Devil's Pie.... signature Dj Premier beat -"One Mo Gin"... means "once again", not one morning again.... it's just one more gin... as in one more again -"Untitled" has the most listens because it was the single that was played on the radio.... and the women loooooove the video because of a butt naked D'Angelo throughout the whole video. The abrupt stop at the end is dope. At the end of the video, the abrupt stop ends with him staring at the camera... ha!!! Great album If your loving this type of sound, you would love the neo soul joints of the 90s and early 2000s, which is what this is.... artists like Jill Scott, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Maxwell, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, to name a few.
I agree. For me, BM is his best album. It doesn't have the features that were not needed, like Meth and Redman on Voodoo's Left & Right. That would have been better placed as a remix or bonus track, in my opinion. But its close. D is 3 for 3.
So stoked that you did this! Absolutely adore D’angelo and this record. I feel you would really dig his 2014 album, Black Messiah. Ain’t That Easy is one of my favorite album openers. The album is funky, psychedelic, and spiky.
The abrupt ending of How Does It Feel always felt to me like reaching a climax and then the awkward post-orgasm where its all over and you just kind of sit there... But then it goes into Africa with the baby chimes in the intro which is about his son, its a very clever transition. So its like he had sex which then lead to a baby.
The abrupt ending was due to running out of tape... It was being recorded on analog equipment or something... There is RU-vid that talks about the production of this and his earlier album Brown Sugar.
The Root is the greatest song ever written… I’ll stand by that. Lol… at least it’s my favorite song of all-time. Amazing album and definitely in my Top 5. Such a great vibe throughout.
Personally, I just like to watch and trust your selection of albums and so far you have not disappointed one bit. However, now that you've reacted to Voodoo I wouldn't want your journey into the soul genre to end there, for 2000's soul I urge you to listen to Mama's Gun by Erykah Badu. It's an incredible blend of soul, hip-hop, and an incredible demonstration of Erykah's writing ability. Much love, Mr. Poppop!
How does it Feel always makes me think of the Jamie Foxx Show episode when Jamie parodied D'angelo in the music video digging in his belly button and sniffing it 😂😂
The Root is the best song ever recorded/mixed on the best album ever made. The whole album feels so analog and warm and D just a genius with the musical and lyric choices. Also helps to bring the best studio musicians in the mix.
Quite literally the only cd I still own and never leaves my car stereo. One of the most beautiful albums I've ever heard. My mom played this album a lot growing up. A lot of soulquarian albums tbh. But she always told me dangelo is hiphop prince. Even tho he sings this album is pure hiphop and r&b. My grandma just passed and the root has made me cry every time since. Idk what it is about that song but it's got something magical.
Man you gotta dive into the Soulquarians. I know you did Common, but we need Baduizm and Mama's Gun reactions. Dimming the lights and a smokey atmosphere is absolutely on brand for Voodoo. "One long song" is perfect too. This album demands to be listened to in its entirety. I never listen to one song on Voodoo. I start at the beginning every time. Usually albums need some kind of story narrative to tie them together, but Voodoo relies completely on the order of tracks and the flow from one to the next.
Really is a blueprint for what r&b should be and what it is at its best. I feel like their are some lineage between this album and blonde in many aspects. Also, I think you actually do like r&b a lot and just don’t realize it because of some preconceptions you have based on what gets played on the radio (not unlike where you were with hip hop). I have found in the past couple years I had something similar with country and have found some amazing songwriters that channel the roots of country music still that has really opened my eyes.
