June is Black Music Month, Countdown of Shamontiel's Top 30 African-American Artists

June 25 Black Music Month Artist D'Angelo

Shamontiel, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jun 25, 2010 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

President George W. Bush had a lot of screw-ups during his eight-year term, but he did do a couple things right. One of them was proclaiming June as Black Music Month on May 31, 2002. June is here, and to celebrate Black Music Month, I'll be featuring one of my favorite artists each day, sharing my first or most personal memory of them, explain what their accomplishments are and why I felt they should make the Black Music Month Top 30 list. There will be some oldies, some newbies and some artists who are in between stages.

My June 25 selection is D'Angelo.

Black Music Month Heat Factor "Why's this artist hot?": D'Angelo was one of those guys who was naturally smooth, cool and sexy as hell without trying. Yes, we saw his abs and the marijuana-credited sleepy brown eyes, but even in a wintercoat and baggy jeans on, he just had that appeal MC Lyte and Da Brat rapped about. He was that sexy "ruffneck" we "were looking for" without trying to be. But what was enchanting about him was he had a rough-around-the-edges appeal but was still respectful in his music. He crooned "You're my lady," not "You're my bitch" or "You're my ho" or "My chick bad." She was a woman. Period. According to Billboard.com, D'Angelo was born on February 11, 1974, and "Lady" came out in 1995 when he was 21 years old. He was an old soul who modeled himself after old school greats, and he did it effectively as a neo-soul artist. There was a five-year gap between "Brown Sugar" and "Voodoo," but he reached number one on the charts and stayed relevant. I'd be surprised if he didn't reach number one status again if he ever decided to drop another album. I know I'm impatiently waiting on the next one.

First Memory, Most Personal Memory of the Artist: I never got confirmation about whether Angie Stone and D'Angelo actually did date, but I think the two of them probably had the most soulful, angry-as-hell songs I've ever heard. His was "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker" and hers was "Pissed Off." As a team, their work was remarkable. I still remember singing the song on the back of a school bus with a high school associate who told me "I used to think you were so nerdy, but you're cool. You like D'Angelo." For the record, I thought I was cool anyway and definitely didn't need her stamp of approval, but it did say a lot about the artist to somehow make people seem cooler for liking him. However, that wasn't the song that struck me the most. D'Angelo has never made a song I didn't enjoy, which is why I had to break the tie and choose him as my last new school R&B artist. But it was his remake of Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'" that did it for me. I've never heard anybody, outside of Michael Jackson, sing a Smokey song better than the hazel/green eyed man himself. I blasted that song nonstop during my teenage years.

Accomplishments from the Artist: D'Angelo's "Brown Sugar" album was overwhelmingly great for neo-soul, R&B and women everywhere. His single "Brown Sugar" from the album of the same name spent 20 weeks on the Billboard charts, as well as "Lady." "Cruisin'" spent 18 weeks on the charts, and "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine" stayed on the charts for six weeks. While "Untitled" from the "Voodoo" album did 17 weeks on the charts, you would've thought the song was there longer because clearly the video of him naked and reliving an orgasm in that music video left women wiping their bottom lips. Those of you who are old enough to remember when that 2000 music video came out know that stuff like Erykah Badu running naked in public was nothing compared to the acting D'Angelo re-enacted in that one very mesmerizing scene.

Additional Notes: Just so we're clear, I had a very hard time choosing my last new school R&B artist. There was a serious tie in my mind between Usher Raymond, Anthony Hamilton and D'Angelo. If I could do it all over again, I'd probably change my June 1 entry to make room for at least one of the other two, but all three artists are talented in their own right. But I had to choose D'Angelo for the reasons listed in my First Memory.

Other Black Music Month Selections:

June 1 Trey Songz

June 2 Marvin Gaye

June 3 Rakim Allah

June 4 Brandy Norwood

June 12 Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott

June 13 Ne-Yo

June 14 Michael Jackson

June 20 Musiq Soulchild

June 21 James Brown

June 22 Heather Headley

June 23 Whitney Houston

June 24 Queen Latifah

Published by Shamontiel

Shamontiel is the author of Round Trip and Change for a Twenty, and in mid-October became the Chicago Tribune s Digital News Editor. She works on National Travel, Health and occasionally Breaking News, and w... View profile