The R'n'B singer asked his label RCA to rush-release the project, which was originally planned for 2015, in the wake of protests of white cops killing unarmed black men.
- Dec 17, 2014
AceShowbiz - Fans could've waited longer for D'Angelo's new album. According to a new article on The New York Times, the R&B singer's first album in 14 years called "Black Messiah" wasn't supposed to arrive this year. It was originally planned for early 2015, but he rush-released the effort in the wake of protests of white cops killing unarmed black men.
D'Angelo's co-manager Kevin Liles told NY Times that the singer called him on the night a grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown to death. "He said: 'Do you believe this? Do you believe it?' And then we just sat there in silence. That is when I knew he wanted to say something," he recalled.
D'Angelo then asked his label RCA to give him the green light to put out the album. "The one way I do speak out is through music," the musician reportedly said to Alan Leeds, his tour manager. "I want to speak out."
Afterwards, his team and RCA began working harder to complete "Black Messiah". D'Angelo's longtime studio engineer and mixer Russell Elevado told NY Times that he put the finishing touches on the album three weeks ago. "It's pretty much right out of the oven - it's still hot," he said.
Afropunk, the creative agency in charge of the album's art and marketing material, revealed they often worked until 4.00 A.M. on the record. "We were able to put six months' worth of work into two weeks," said Afropunk's co-founder and D'Angelo's music publisher Jocelyn Cooper.
"Black Messiah" eventually came out on Monday, December 15 at midnight and received generally positive reviews from critics. 12 songs on the LP were debuted at a listening party in NYC on Sunday.
