YES, THIS IS WHAT WE’RE DOING TODAY.

D’Angelo had several hits (including my personal favorite, “Brown Sugar”) that already endeared him to black listeners, but in 2000, “Untitled” premiered on MTV, too. And changed everything.

Pleading with his lover, laid figuratively and literally bare, he shattered the stereotype that black men couldn’t be sensitive and vulnerable.

When the only black men on television were still comedians or dramatic actors, mainstream audiences finally discovered those black men could be sex symbols too. And in no uncertain terms.

D’Angelo’s mental health suffered from the mounting pressure of his sudden elevation from eccentric neo-soul singer to “symbol of the modern black man,” and he didn’t release another album until 2014. That album, “Black Messiah,” was nominated for Grammy Record of the Year, and GQ Magazine wondered if D’Angelo could be “the next Marvin Gaye.”

In that same GQ article, D’Angelo reaffirmed his refusal to be stereotyped and pigeonholed by the music industry and social expectations: “Just because you’re black doesn’t mean you have to look or sound a certain way, or whatever the f*cking gatekeepers have us doing because they think that that’s the formula to make money.”

Here’s to D’Angelo for using his music to show the world our capacity to be more, and fighting for it even still.

𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘:
“I wish you’d open up ’cause
I wanna take the walls down with you”

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬 | 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗥 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬