"Brown Sugar" – D'Angelo
You'll Hear It
The Raw Story Behind 'Shit, Damn, Motherfucker'
Discussion of the song's blunt narrative, ominous build, and how studio and live versions differ.
D'Angelo's Brown Sugar sounded like nothing else in 1995. R&B was slick, polished, and built for clubs. D'Angelo later said the "deeper consciousness" had gone out of contemporary music. Questlove later wrote that contemporary R&B had become "trite" and "soulless" ... and then there was Brown Sugar, D'Angelo's debut album. It sounded more like the '70s than the '90s. More like church than the club.
On this episode of You'll Hear It, jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin go track by track through D'Angelo's debut, pulling apart the vocal stems, naming the jazz chords underneath the soul, and tracing every influence back to its root. They also bring in the archival recordings you might have missed: a live set from the Jazz Café London that gives the album a whole second life, and a J Dilla remix.
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Related You'll Hear It episodes:
Voodoo: https://youtu.be/AYqmFNF2s0U
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About You'll Hear It:
In this popular music series Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.
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00:00 - D'Angelo's Brown Sugar
01:11 - Let's Go Back to 1995
05:35 - "Brown Sugar"
08:30 - Engineer Bob Power's Influence
09:13 - "Brown Sugar" Felt Different From Anything Else in 1995
16:57 - D'Angelo on Why He Picked Bob Power
19:30 - "Alright"
28:57 - Isolated Vocal Stems on "Alright"
31:27 - "Jones in My Bones"
33:20 - The Little-Known D'Angelo Album
36:25 - "Me & Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine"
40:30 - The J Dilla Remix (1997)
44:18 - "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker"
46:30 - Live at the Jazz Cafe - "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker"
48:10 - "Smooth"
50:20 - D'Angelo Could Have Been a Jazz Pianist
53:04 - D'Angelo and Peter's Ellis Marsalis Connection
56:21 - "Cruisin'"
59:25 - Ad Break: Learn To Play Like D'Angelo
1:00:37 - "When We Get By"
1:04:44 - "We Were Just Mocking Dilla": Raphael Saadiq on How "Lady" Was Made
1:06:20 - "Lady"
1:11:02 - "Higher"
1:15:28 - "Brown Sugar" Hits Different 30 Years Later
1:17:00 - Our Favorite Moments
1:23:45 - Quibble Bits, Snob-O-Meter & Accoutrements
1:27:26 - Up Next + Listener Reviews
1:29:45 - Open Studio Plays "Lady"
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