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D’Angelo is cut from a heavier cloth than the majority of his New Jack brethren: He’s a singer/songwriter with a mellifluous, sturdy voice that can coo and growl with equal conviction. He’s no trailblazer — Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and Prince have all walked down the same musical paths where D’Angelo meanders. Yet he manages to build on the examples of the masters. No matter how delicate or dusty sounding a track may be, D’Angelo flips the script with B-boy savoir-faire: He makes the nasty rhythms bubbling underneath his multilayered love songs seem old and new at the same time. Call him an ndegéocello (Swahili for “free as a bird”), a rebel soul. The title track, “Brown Sugar,” oozes into the ears with dark, gooey, molasses-like texture. Bolstered by the smoky sounds of a tricky old stage organ, D’Angelo sets the mood here for the rest of his album; his highly agile falsetto vocals merge with the gutbucket rhythm mélange. Like lotion applied to dry skin, this sonic … [Read more...] about Brown Sugar

Soulja Boy ‘s voice is breaking up. He apologizes, the culprit is his house — it’s in the hills and possesses less than optimal reception — rapper problems. He’s already let his 5 million-plus followers on Twitter know that we’re going to talk: “Whoa I got rolling stone and Forbes requesting a interview oh shit.” A couple of hours later he’ll let the same followers know he finished said interview with Rolling Stone ; he didn’t tweet about his Forbes interview, so I don’t think I’ll get scooped on this story. It’s the kind of hyper-documentation DeAndre Cortez Way has been practicing for over a decade, in part because he pioneered it. Soulja wants more. His latest plan to get more is called SouljaGames, and it’s arrived in time for the holidays. On his website , the 28-year-old entrepreneur is selling a plethora of electronics including the SouljaWatch, SouljaPods, SouljaPhone and SouljaHeadphones. None of that is too out of the ordinary; off-brand electronics are available … [Read more...] about Soulja Boy Wants to Take Over the Gaming Industry One Console at a Time

When D’Angelo last visited Oakland in the spring of 2000, he was steaming from the deafening acclaim given to Voodoo , and the impact of his glistening naked torso in the “Untitled (How Does It Feel).” Backed by a troupe that featured drummer Questlove and producer James Poyser, he thrilled a sold-out crowd at the Paramount Theater, but his burgeoning sex symbol status nearly overshadowed a masterful performance. A little over 15 years later, D’Angelo returned to downtown Oakland’s Fox Theater for the first night of his U.S. tour in support of his lionized comeback album, Black Messiah . (Much of the audience arrived late after watching their hometown favorite Golden State Warriors lose a heartbreaker in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and so they missed an opening set by promising Australian singer-songwriter Meg Mac.) This time, he didn’t strip off his shirt, instead opting for a series of modestly effective costume changes to complement his black T-shirt, pants and boots, like … [Read more...] about D’Angelo Electrifies at Triumphant Second Coming Tour Opener