D’Angelo’s current whereabouts and troubles chronicled by Spin. Some interesting commentary from ?uestlove:
While most of these artists never viewed music as a path to fame and riches, Thompson maintains that it’s hard not to subconsciously internalize those commerical pressures. “I live with that,” he say. “When I create things, I almost have to dumb it down a little, because low record sales for me is seen like a failure…Black product is only celebrated when the artists’ image is overbloated, overanimated, and there’s sales to back it up.” This isn’t necessarily clear-cut racism, he says, but rather something the black community bears some responsibility for fostering. “The new minstrel movement in hip-hop doesn’t allow the audience to believe the artist is smart,” he continues. “I love Kid A, but I don’t think D’Angelo would be allowed to sing ‘Cut the kids in half’ over and over and be taken seriously. It’d be like, ‘What’s wrong with that boy?”
via Fake Shore Drive
