[louder]

new D'Angelo interview: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/ar...l-protest.html

D’ANGELO Coming up, the music of my era was very conscious. I grew up on Public Enemy, and it was popular culture to be aware. People were wearing Malcolm X T-shirts and Malcolm X hats. It was a very cool thing to know who Malcolm X was. It was all in the lyrics. It was trendy to be conscious and aware. Now the trend ... it’s just [expletive]. But to tell you the truth, there are a lot of people who feel the same way that I feel and that are making great music, conscious music. But for some reason or another it seems like the gatekeepers are not allowing that stuff to filter through to the mainstream. Kendrick Lamar, he’s an example of someone who is young and actually trying to say something. Who else? You got Young Jeezy and Young Thug. You know what I’m saying? It’s stupid. It’s ridiculous.

With “Black Messiah,” you exhibited a political side not previously seen in your music.

D’ANGELO I’ve always kind of tried to do something that was a little different than just simple “I love you, baby”-type songs. Like “Brown Sugar,” it was a metaphor, or a double entendre, if you will. A lot of people thought I was talking about a girl when I was actually talking about something else. I was trying to tackle some issues on “Devil’s Pie.” But on this album in particular, before the songs were even written, I knew that the name of it was going to be “Black Messiah.” There are also songs that didn’t make the record but that I’m getting ready to release in the fall. I got a song called “Go and Tell Bro.”