walking upstream…
D'Angelo
photo: roquai · cc by-sa 3.0 ↗D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer, recording as D'Angelo, is widely regarded as the central architect of the neo-soul movement, fusing 1970s funk and soul with hip-hop's rhythmic looseness on his 1995 debut Brown Sugar and its towering 2000 follow-up Voodoo. He largely retreated from public life for fourteen years before returning with 2014's Black Messiah; he died in 2025, having been inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame the same year, widely ranked among the greatest R&B singers and producers of his era.
the sound in question
2000
Untitled (How Does It Feel)D'Angelo
walk the tributaries ↓
Prince1980s · Funk / Pop / R&B / Rock
D'Angelo has repeatedly named Prince as his most prolific influence, describing the realization that Prince wrote, produced, and performed everything himself as the moment he decided to work the same way — total creative control across writing, playing, and production.
listen: upstream & here
1986
KissPrince
2000
Untitled (How Does It Feel)D'Angelo
listen forThe falsetto, one-man-band arrangement, and unabashed sexuality of D'Angelo's 'Untitled (How Does It Feel)' sit squarely in the tradition Prince built his career on.
Marvin Gaye1970s · Soul / R&B
Critics and D'Angelo himself consistently place Marvin Gaye's sensual, layered vocal-stacking style — most famously on Let's Get It On — at the root of D'Angelo's own hazy, multi-tracked falsetto harmonies.
listen: upstream & here
1973
Let's Get It OnMarvin Gaye
2000
Send It OnD'Angelo
listen forThe murmured, overlapping backing vocals D'Angelo layers underneath his own lead on 'Send It On' directly echo the dense self-harmonizing Gaye pioneered a generation earlier.
Sly and the Family Stone1960s · Funk / Soul / Psychedelic rock
D'Angelo has cited early Sly and the Family Stone as part of his musical education, and the loose, behind-the-beat funk pocket that defines Voodoo — recorded live with a band rather than programmed — owes a clear debt to Sly Stone's rhythmic feel.
listen: upstream & here
1969
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)Sly and the Family Stone
2000
Chicken GreaseD'Angelo
listen forThe dragging, almost-late funk groove Sly and the Family Stone popularized is the same pocket D'Angelo and drummer Questlove chase on 'Chicken Grease,' widely singled out as Voodoo's deepest showcase of that behind-the-beat feel.