Photo by Paul Natkin. Photo illustration by Okayplayer.
We Love You, D'Angelo
The beloved neo-soul pioneer and R&B innovator is dead at 51 after a prolonged, personal cancer battle.
Our hearts are heavy and filled with grief as we mourn the passing of neo-soul originator and Grammy-winning musical genius Michael Eugene Archer, otherwise known as D’Angelo. This year has been especially painful with the staggering number of cultural giants we’ve lost, but this one truly feels like a sickening punch to the gut.
As innovative as he was soulful, D’Angelo is, and always will be, an integral thread in the tapestry of Okayplayer. He was one of the founding members of the Soulquarians crew, which included Questlove, James Poyser, and J Dilla, along with other influential artists like Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, Common, and Yasiin Bey. The multifaceted collective actually first formed in 1996 when Okayplayer’s co-founder, Questlove, collaborated with J Dilla on D’Angelo’s classic Voodoo album. D’Angelo’s sophomore masterpiece dropped in 2000, a year after Okayplayer was initially founded.
D’Angelo was always a major topic of conversation on the OKP boards — there are even stories of the boards crashing when he’d release new music directly to our nascent platform. As the site grew, we featured him in countless editorials, and several episodes of OKP TV. In 2016, he was even a headliner for The Roots Picnic. The bond between Okayplayer and D’Angelo is a personal one, and that’s why this tragic news is so piercing — he was undeniably one of ours.
His impactful legacy, embodied by soul-stirring tracks from his debut LP (“Brown Sugar,” “Lady,” “Me and Those Dreaming Eyes”) to timeless, sonic gems on his sophomore outing (“Devil’s Pie,” “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”) will forever be stitched into the fabric of not just soul music, but the rich continuum of Black music. He was a multi-instrumentalist, masterful vocalist, soul-baring performer, and one of those special talents who just oozed charisma and authenticity from every single pore on his body. In no uncertain terms, D’Angelo was a generational talent whose musical achievements will never be matched.
Even though we are saddened beyond words by his untimely passing, we’ll try to hold back our tears and instead celebrate his life with joy, awe, and reverence.
Rest well, our soulful prince, and may your melodic chords carry you peacefully on your ancestral journey.
With Enduring Love,
The Okayplayer Team
