The D'Angelo Song That's 100% REAL 

Black Messiah is probably the most underappreciated record in existence. Especially for an artist like D'Angelo.

I was a kid and a fan when D'Angelo dropped brown sugar. I never thought I would one day be involved with his recording sessions. I was fortunate enough to have been in the studio during the latter stages of this project. He is a great artist, It's a great album and this is one of its best tracks.

I did mushrooms by myself at the river one night and the following morning I was playing this album watching a pair of beavers swim up and down the river. When this song came on the lady beaver stopped on a rock and vibed out to it with me and she looked so visibly at peace and impressed that I was in awe😂 enjoying nature by onesself is really the greatest environment to play this album. 5 years later and I still think about that beaver's reaction to this song all the time

This is one of the most beautiful songs of all time. More people need to hear it

Spanish Joint definitely gotta have its own video. The groove on that song is incredible!!

Pino Palladino is my favorite bass player of all time. His basslines are amazing on this album, betray my heart is another great one, along with that horn section 🔥

Such a beautiful song. D'Angelo we need another comeback!

One thing about Digging the Grates he’s going to give D’Angelo his flowers. One of my favorite artists who should be appreciated more. Thank you for that 🥹🖤🖤🔥🔥

D'Angelo's voice is the ultimate layer, he makes it make sense

This album itself is heavily underrated. I’m glad you covered this track. This and “Another Life” made the album for me . Great video

I love what RR said about this record: That there’s so much tension because it feels like it could fall apart at any given time(timing-wise), but it never does

D'Angelo is the most significant Soul artist to have emerged in the past 3 decades. He is the man.

D Angelo is the definition of an album artist…he can take as much time off between projects as he wants 😭

I'm just glad there's a RU-vidr that shares my love for D'Angelo's music

Such an amazing album! I remember listening to the album for a solid year when it came out. Still listen to it to this day. I couldn’t believe he took the time off between each album just to get good at guitar so he could play it. As musician you got to appreciate the dedication.

Only a really incredible mix of musicians combine on D'Angelo's work... the results are flawless like this song. Great insight. Thank you my friend 😎👍🏼

I've been with you since 10k subscribers and you literally just keep one-upping yourself, this is one of my favorite songs and my new favorite video of yours. FAN FOR LIFE.

The Strings OMG! Goosebumps every time. First time I heard it I immediately assumed it was Claire Fischer. (Whom I've followed for decades and who's probably most famous for the long emotional string outro on the extended version of Purple Rain.) Surprised / not surprised to hear it's his son. Will def have to check him out! Maybe do a whole episode on the two of them? 🙏

Black Messiah the greatest album of the last decade, hands down!!

Man, i love your work in your yt channel, every time you put out a new video it's like opening a book, lot of knowlegde there. Your dive deep in the background and technique behind the songs in an amazing way, aaand also got the taste for the best and most classic themes. Love and respect brother. You keep doing your vids i'll keep watching them.

One of my all-time favorite D'Angelo songs. I truly appreciate this video and the enthusiasm with which it is presented. Being a music lover is like being a member of a unique community. We all speak the same language and are all connected through melody, harmony, and rhythm. Salute to all my music lovers!

I love D'ANGELO...one of my favorite artists...and is locked in on my playlist...❤

I appreciate you so much. You speak on my favorite music, artists and songs like this one with so much passion. It means so much to have someone to share this music with! Really needed this ❤

Yes! One little extra thing is D'Angelo's rhodes doing the chords & bassline, which the bass was probably performed after. The bassline doesn't just wiggle, but has a wiggle-within-the-wiggle of the bass/rhodes stack, and the bass/rhodes tine sound mixed with the acoustic guitar really codifies the unique genre combo. D'angelo's Rhodes doing the riff also demonstrates that the bassline isn't just about the root notes, but is a full countermelody, almost like a Bach tune. Thanks for the Gina story information - Black Messiah is such a melancholic record, and knowing the story really integrates Really Love into the storyline and mood of the rest of the record. The musical complexities of the song echo the complexities of their relationship, and that sort of moodboard text-painting is something D'Angelo does so well.

Bro, I just discovered this channel and I was thinking to myself "damn it would be great if he did some D'Angelo stuff!" and here it is! Prayers answered! GREAT JOB man! Love this channel! Would love to see you do "THE ROOT" too! Keep it going bro!

Love this channel, love the work. I had honestly never heard of this song, or album. But now I 100% have to check it out. Good stuff

this was an awesome breakdown of this song, looking forward to the future videos

Thanks for all your bass love in your storytelling - giving it its deserved place in the mix.

You're killing it with these analogies! Another great video

Favorite artists ever. Another video from you about his music, especially on this song, much needed!!

Wow, you have spoke to every audiophile, musician, artist, and lover of great music. Great episode.

This is one of the best things ive seen on yiutube by far! Such a great job!

This channel is the best I discover in the last few years! Amazing job!!! Love it!

I love this song so much, thank you for making a video about it!

D'Angelo is my favorite R&B artist of all time, and Black Messiah is by far my favorite album of his. This song is phenomenal, thank you for the detailed breakdown of it. It's just one of those songs that you gotta put on and pay full attention to. It almost sounds simple, but upon analysis is so jazz-infused (in terms of the harmony) and actually quite complex (the ascending series of chords during the bridge of the song always give me goosebumps). By the way, the nylon-string/Spanish guitar used in this would typically be called a classical guitar. Not a common thing to hear in modern R&B and popular music. How he managed to make it sound and feel so natural here is just another testament to D'Angelo's brilliance. I really, really suggest that anyone who likes this breakdown listen to the entirety of the album. If you love tracks that have an amazing feeling between the bass and drums, you might enjoy Betray My Heart even more than this song (Pino in top form, and the crescendo towards the end of that songs is still likely my favorite D'Angelo moment on any album). Thanks again for all the work you do DTG!

You're a king. Enjoy every piece of your digging. Keep it up. We need more of your insights. So educative. 🔥👏

I’m glade I stumbled upon this channel, it feel like I walked into a class I’m not assigned to out of curiosity but really needed✨💚

Such a smooth ballad. A beautiful piece.

I absolutely love your work!! This album was dope and this was one of my favorite songs on the album.

This was so enlightening. Would love for you to breakdown every track. Thanks DTG!

Man, definitely made me tear up at end justtt a little thinking about their relationship and how beautiful of a song this is. Great video as always, love the D’Angelo stuff.

Really love was the first D'Angelo song I ever heard, and this was 6 years ago now I think. It has always stuck with me and it has never changed as my favourite song. It's ridiculous the hold the song has on me. Every time I meet someone new and we show each other music, I always show them "really love"

Wow. Thank you for this. This is my first time watching your channel and I will be looking out for more! I loved the breakdown AnD the history lesson.

The breakdown I did not know I needed to one of my favorite songs by D. I have a new found appreciation for it now thanks to your amazing work!

This is great work. Thank u for providing this level of insight 🙏🏿

Just wow. This breakdown is AMAZING. In my humble opinion, your best yet.

This song has haunted me ever since the day I heard it. No other feeling like this ☺️

more d'angelo!! this is gonna be so good.

I honestly just discovered this song by accident 2 days ago and to see it covered by you and get the whole back story was the highlight of my day. You are a true gentleman and a scholar!

The way you articulate the details and musicality, man... superb work! It's such an amazing record, can't believe it's turning 10 next year!

Awww men this is what i love about de channel. I got into RU-vid and i have a new D video out of the sudden. Thank u!!

What a beautiful and cerebral depiction of this song! I’ve always loved this song and couldn’t really explain why. Separating each component and putting a face and name to the people playing each instrument not only gives the song more life, but it also makes me want to study each musicians work. I can appreciate your appreciation for the bass player’s movements in the song. “Spanish Joint” is also a dope record! Thank you for this! I’ll be browsing through more of your videos! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Just amazing, I love your work. You feel the music, the emotion & influence. All hail to the king!

This was an amazing mini doc of this song! I learned so much! Thank you!

This is one of the best videos/breakdowns I’ve seen AND about one of my favorite songs of all time - Salute to you sir…excellent.

Somehow the algo-Rhythm JUST sent your content my way. The daughter of a songwriter and a lover of music I can’t tell you how MUCH I appreciate your channel. The way you discuss all of the nuance and technical aspects of arrangement is like college for me. TY, TY, Thank YOU! (I am bingeing a bunch of videos!!!)

The bass line gives an upright bass feel the way he approaches the bass line. D'Angelo is just in class all by himself!!!

Incredible breakdown of one of my favorite songs of all time. Love how much of the history you know and all your theory knowledge. Great video man

Always get goosebumps listening to this Song, thanks for another amazing vid Brandon!!

beautiful breakdown of one of my favorite tunes. thank you much!

Wow. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and you articulated why in a way that I ✨felt✨ but didn’t know how to pinpoint musically. Thank you!

Yoooooo, that was awesome man. Loved this track before, love it even more now. ❤

these breakdowns of great tunes is fantastic.Great work

Thanks for covering this joint!! The whole album Incredible. I love playing it when my wife and I make a road trip. Respect.

D'Angelo is my all time favorite musician and I always felt like I knew his story from beginning to now but I never knew about this story and the complexities around my favorite song on Black Messiah. I remember the first thing I said when I heard "Really Love" for the first time: This feels like classic Voodoo-era D'Angelo! Lo and behold, the origins of the song date back to that time. Incredible work here, my man! Keep on putting out great content. As a personal request, give us more D'Angelo breakdowns! The GOAT.

Love the passion in your videos man, super dope!

One of your best analyses yet! Well done!

Thank you for giving D’Angelo his flowers! He definitely brought a different feeling to music!

As the video started I was anticipating which song he’d be dissecting! You picked the right song, I love this album, but this song above all

Digging The Greats IS my brother from another mother. How is it we seem to have all the same favorite songs? Props to you for this channel. You do an excellent job. As a former "Real" recording studio assistant audio engineer, I appreciate your breakdown of music theory why great music feels the way it does. Please continue the amazing topic, research and work that you do. Definitely my favorite channel!

Im so happy to hear someone feel the same way about this specific song!

My guy, you have done it again! That's my favorite song on that album. It reminds me so much of a J Dilla beat. I was so happy when he dropped this album because he came back and did not disappoint. And you bro. The analogies, the story, the payoff at the end, the foreshadowing. This is a masterful video. 🔥

Man I love d'angelo but this message is for you , for your dedication to craft a so fine and passionate breakdown of the song,with so many details and much time to build this peace of musical knowledge for us. U are real too. Ciao from napoli.

Brother, that was an absolutely phenomenal, meaningful and well organized narrative breakdown. Impressive!!!! And, for the true heads out here, it is a real service. Thank you.

at 3:03, you explained the bass and beats not being aligned with the actual metronomic beats. This reminds me so much of J Dilla and his works!

Well done video. I listen to D’Angelo and the Vanguard at the North Sea Jazz Festival set about 6 times a year, and I love when they play Really Love!

This might be one of your best episodes yet 🔥 (I feel like I say that every time a new vid drops lmao)

I can't get enough of your breakdowns on D'angelo's music. Please do more lol

Absolutely love this video. I am completely obsessed with that track so huge respect for your passion and knowledge of the song. Massive respect 🫡

Thanks for posting this. Now I understand why I love it 😻

Always get so emotional listening to this song. What a masterpiece

That's really amazing piece of music. I never dreamt somebody to tell a story about this track. Thanks so much!❤

Beautiful video thanks men keep on doing the beautiful work you do ❤️

15:28 that reveal floored me. I never looked it up, but the way you express it makes me love the song so much more.

SUBSCRIBED "just because of this and I know surely you have so much more to bring to us." 💯💯💯💯💯 -Kwaufi Nino

Bro’, thank you! I felt all these things but would have never been able to explain it physically.

Outstanding breakdown as always!!

Favorite song from the album. Play it all the time. Seeing posts like this confirm me.

Thank you for doing this! It’s my favorite song and album. And you’re right when it comes on I got to stop what I’m doing. I’m gonna fall down a rabbit hole for the rest of the night. And it’ll be well worth it. 😢❤

❤❤❤❤ It's so so good 😭

Brother DTG. This was masterful music history and my favorite episode of yours yet. Great story telling and such a revelation that touched my heart. The reason I have a connection to this is because I had a similar love story. 25 years ago I had one of the best loves of my life. Last year I wrote an article on Medium about our break up called Frozen in a place I hide. An Alice in chains lyric from the Brother (SAP EP) It was an article that felt like a poem/ song. Long story short my ex from many years ago read and commented on that article and gave my story validity and became a living part of the story and helped me to close that chapter. So this video reminds me of that. Thank you. P.o.p.

INSANE!! NEED more D'Angelo videos!

one of my favorite d'angelo songs

Yooooo this whole breakdown 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 I think one of my favs!!!!

thank you for the d’angelo content glad to see people appreciate his artistry like i do

Aloha from the island of Hawai'i to you Brother Brandon 🤙🏽 This breakdown of a beautiful song helped me realize I haven't listened to the Black Messiah album in a couple years, thank you for reminding me about it. From my heart and Soul I thank you for your videos! Music is up there with air and water for my survival, music is the most moving and touching thing to my soul next to my children and wife. Every video I've watched of yours has been an amazingly educational and fun experience. A lot of the knowledge and information you share in your videos I'm already aware of but the way you introduce the times, settings, scenarios and players in the stories is done so well that I feel like I'm hearing it all for the first time. Then you drop a whole bunch of knowledge and information that I wasn't aware of and I love learning more! Then to top it all off you break things down musically from theory, notes, structure and more and then show us visually and play for us audibly what is happening. Your use of turntables, samplers and the BASS to help us understand what's going on rounds the whole video out and makes it the total package. FOR REAL THOUGH... THANK YOU! Much love and respect for the time and energy you put into these videos! Aloha 🤙🏽✌🏽️

Thank you for the Dangelo videos more people need to talk about him!!

Oh wow. I used to wear this song and cd out. Had no idea this song had such a striking story behind it. Thank you for this video

Such a cool way to explain walking a bass line. I’ve never heard that metaphor before

The more you teach me about D'Angelo the more I love him. That man is a genius❤