GQ Interviews D’Angelo
“I felt like I was going to be next. I ain’t bullshitting. I was scared then. I was so fucked-up, I couldn’t go.” — D’Angelo on how the death of J Dilla and the mortality other great black artists consumed him.
“There’s forces that are going on that I don’t think a lot of motherfuckers that make music today are aware of,” he says. “It’s deep. I’ve felt it. I’ve felt other forces pulling at me. This is a very powerful medium that we are involved in. I learned at an early age that what we were doing in the choir was just as important as the preacher. It was a ministry in itself. We could stir the pot, you know? The stage is our pulpit, and you can use all of that energy and that music and the lights and the colors and the sound. But you know, you’ve got to be careful.”
