Voodoo (D'Angelo Album) - Conception

Conception

f I was a singer this would be the record I'd make. Hands down. But that doesn't mean this is for everybody. Music lovers come under 2 umbrellas those who use it for growth and spiritual fulfillment and those who use it for mere background music. The thing is, this record is too extreme to play the middle of the fence.

D'Angelo was dissatisfied with the direction of R&B and soul music when conceiving the album. In an interview for Jet, he said that "the term R&B doesn't mean what it used to mean. R&B is pop, that's the new word for R&B." He also found contemporary R&B to be "a joke", adding that "the funny thing about it is that the people making this shit are dead serious about the stuff they're making. It's sad—they've turned black music into a club thing." In the liner notes for Voodoo, Saul Williams examined the album's concept and echoes D'Angelo's dissatisfaction with the mainstream direction of contemporary R&B/soul and hip hop, noting a lack of artistic integrity in the two music genres. In an interview for Ebony, D'Angelo said of his role and influences for Voodoo, "I consider myself very respectful of the masters who came before. In some ways, I feel a responsibility to continue and take the cue from what they were doing musically and vibe on it. That's what I want to do. But I want to do it for this time and this generation". In the album's EPK, D'Angelo said that Voodoo is "like a funk album. The natural progression of soul, the next step to soul is funk".

Producer and drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson issued an essay in 1999 that discussed the album's creation and analyzed its songs. He described the project as a "vicarious fantasy", a "new direction of soul for 2000", and "the litmus test that will reveal the most for your personality". He addressed the inspiration behind Voodoo, saying "It was a love for the dead state of black music, a love to show our idols how much they taught us I hope you enjoy it. Just have an open mind to new shit. Just give us that." Questlove discussed his expectations of a reaction from music listeners to the concept, saying in an interview for Entertainment Weekly upon the album's release, "We knew this album would be a hard pill to swallow. People may want D to play into their R&B love-god fantasies—wearing Armani suits, singing something sweet in your ear—but he made a conscious effort to shake people up, to take a chance. It's not a middle-ground record—you're either going to love it or hate it."

In an interview for USA Today, D'Angelo said of the album's title and its meaning, "the myriad influences found on it can be traced through the blues and back deeper in history through songs sung–in religious ceremonies." In an interview for Jet magazine, he stated that his intentions for recording the album were to express the power of music and artistic respect for it. The theme is illustrated in Voodoo's liner photography by Thierry LesGoudes, which depicts D'Angelo participating in a voodoo ceremony. Voodoo's press release discussed D'Angelo's concept, stating "Lyrically, D'Angelo offers that much of Voodoo is personal reflection: touching on subjects like spirituality, sexuality, growth, and in particular, becoming a father. Musically, as he puts it, Voodoo is 'definitely groove-based'". D'Angelo also said that "My inspiration was just to go farther. To get to that next level. To push it even further. To work against the floss and the grain and to get even deeper into the sound that I'm hearing ... and the thing is, I'm just looking at Voodoo as just the beginning. I'm still developing and growing and still listening to that sound I hear inside my head ... So this is the first step".