25 years of D'Angelo's 'Voodoo'
An insightful chat with Faith A. Pennick, author of the album's 33 1/3 book.
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It’s true. 25 years ago, D’Angelo released Voodoo, a timeless soul project. At only 25 years old, the singer carried the African-American blues tradition of truth-telling into the new millennium.
Together, each track represents wide-ranging emotions that everyday people like you and me have the burden of figuring out. “Devil’s Pie” is the tussle between desiring justice and navigating the sweet and tempting distractions of capitalism. We’re a fly-on-the-wall, witnessing D’angelo process heartbreak on “The Root,” the type that has you down bad for an eternity. We feel the resilience of our ancestors in his lyrics on “Greatdayndamornin'/Booty.” In his church-reared vocals, the push to keep going, no matter what yesterday looks like, emanates, just like on early Negro spirituals.
With Voodoo, D’angelo was of a new generation of artists whose gospel roots informed their studio and stage performances, following legends like Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.
“Church was a big part of D'Angelo, a huge part of his childhood,” shared Faith A. Pennick, author of the 33 ⅓ book about Voodoo. “That's what makes R&B soul music so special; it comes from a place of sanctuary, spiritual connection, and yearning.”
To celebrate Voodoo's 25th anniversary, I spoke with filmmaker and author Pennick about her experience writing the book as a Black woman author and devoted fan. For those unfamiliar with 33 ⅓, it’s a series that explores albums loved by music enthusiasts.
Pennick’s text traces D’angelo’s journey from Richmond roots to global soul star. It highlights his collaboration with top musicians, such as Questlove, Russell Elevado, and Angie Stone to bring new experimentation to R&B with the blending of Black American root sounds like gospel, jazz, blues, and funk. Like many of his Gen X peers in soul music, he incorporated hip-hop into his work, with a huge influence coming from Detroit hip-hop producer J Dilla. Overall, D’angelo’s vulnerability in music-making, lyricism, and image set him apart from his peers, especially against the backdrop of harsher mainstream portrayals of Black men in hip-hop at the time.
As a generational talent, D’angelo is guided by intuition instead of charts and data, crafting music that resonates deeply with listeners like his idol Prince. It’s something I see in a few artists I enjoy today, which I detailed in this companion piece here.
I’m excited to share my chat with Pennick and encourage you to check out her 33 1/3 book to learn more about the making of D’angelo’s work.
This interview was edited and condensed.
Natelegé Whaley: What led you to write about Voodoo?
Faith A. Pennick: My sister, who is a huge 33 1/3 fan, is the one who turned me on to the book series. I read a couple of the books and was like, oh, this is cool.
I believe it was 2016 in Mexico. It was a family vacation and we were chilling at the pool having drinks. She's like, you need to pitch a book about Voodoo because when the album came out in 2000, that's pretty much all I talked about for most of the year to anybody that knew me.
N.W.: How was it pitching the book?
F.P.: I pitched the book and expected nothing because I figured I didn't have the resume to. The majority of people who write for 33 1/3 are either acclaimed music journalists or academics.
I haven't written for Rolling Stone. I haven't written for Pitchfork. I don't teach at Harvard. So I figured they were gonna be like, who is she? The following spring, I got an email from Gayle Wald, who teaches at George Washington University, and she was on the editorial board for 33 1/3, and it said, “Love your proposal. Let's go.”
From there, I had two years to write it.
N.W.: How does the business side of that work?
F.P.: You get an advance, and then once your book is selling, they take a percentage of that towards paying the advance back. Once that's paid back, you start getting royalties.
It was a decent amount. You don't write 33 1/3 books to make money. You're writing it because you want to; you're passionate about this album.
N.W.: Did you feel that having a 33 1/3 deal gave you greater access to sources?
F.P.: When I wrote my proposal, I told 33 1/3 that unless I was super lucky, I would likely not get an interview with D'Angelo, because he doesn't do interviews, unless it was with specific publications and writers. I tried through his record label. I tried through people who know him directly.
In some cases, people write these books without interviewing the artist, and maybe it may not even have been their intent to interview the artist in the first place. The good thing about 33 1/3 is that they do give you leeway in how you're going to write the book.
N:W: Now let’s chat about your approach to writing about Voodoo. The album speaks to being a Black man in America, often from this dual experience of wanting right in the world, but also facing vices. On “Devil's Pie,” D’angelo sings, “Who am I to justify all the evil in our eye / when I myself feel the high from all that I despise?”
How did you accomplish describing to the reader D'Angelo's humanity, given the complexity of his story?
F.P.: As a reminder, he was in his early 20s, when he made Voodoo. He was so young, and I think, he was working things out in real time.
One thing with D'Angelo is, and I don't really understand this, is a lot of music critics, and I'll just say it, particularly the male ones, focus almost exclusively on the music. It's just like the production value, the arrangement, the beats, you know, particularly with this song. Because you had these samples that were mixed and co-produced by DJ Premier, so a lot of people were focused on the aural, and the lyrics were sort of secondary. And D'Angelo is such an amazing lyricist, and that's part of what drew me into Voodoo, was that he was putting it out there, as far as his dreams, his hopes, his passions, his fears. I think “Devil's Pie” is the best example of that because he's also calling himself out.
Basically, the lyrics you read back to me, that is him going in on the music industry. There are some dark elements to it and he was exposed to it. This is a preacher's kid. He came from a religious family. On top of being a Black man succeeding maybe there was a certain level of survivor's guilt. He made it out, and now he's this big success. Also, him trying to figure out who he was as an artist and as a new father.
My job was to connect the dots between D'Angelo, the human being, with D'Angelo, the Black man who grew up in the South, and D'Angelo, this extremely preternaturally talented singer-songwriter, and D'Angelo, the successful artist who's making bank. Because I didn't interview D'Angelo, a lot of that came from research, and interviews I did with other people.
N.W.: Speaking of his songwriting, I also pulled my favorite lyrics from “The Root”: “My blood is cold and I can't feel my legs/ I need someone to hold me, bring me back to life before I'm dead.”
At the time when the album was released, did Black men you know, see themselves in that vulnerability?
F.P.: I can’t speak for all Black men, then and now. But I think, as far as the other types of music that was being released at the time, and particularly with, hip-hop coming into its own that that kind of vulnerability was not expressed a lot by particularly Black male artists, which is why, Voodoo resonated so much with me.
But I think for Black men, part of what made Voodoo special is that D'Angelo was revealing himself. I do think that may have been why male critics, sort of blew off the lyrics, because they didn't want to deal with that vulnerability and that bearing of his soul.
N.W.: Anything else you want to add about the lyrics being that it’s one of your favorite songs?
F.P.: Also, I think with “The Root,” it wasn't as clear if he wanted to be saved [from his heartbreak]. Because this woman is almost like in his DNA. It made it harder for him to break free. Maybe he was conflicted. He's sort of falling down this rabbit hole.
Even the way it's arranged with the different vocal tracks. They got Charlie Hunter's guitar solo played backwards. It’s like a hall of mirrors with a fog machine. You didn't hear that a lot in music, particularly at the time in R&B.
R&B was very straightforward — very A, B, C, D. Whereas he was trying to be experimental, almost like Coltrane level, like musical obfuscation and whatnot, which I find intriguing and alluring. And it made it more interesting to write about.
N.W.: Speaking of experimentalism, D'Angelo rejected plenty of norms as you laid out in the book: He recorded his album on tape, which was rare in the '90s; he directed his musicians to play behind the beat with “intentional sloppiness”; and his identity opposed the media’s portrayal of Black masculinity.
What can young Black cultural workers take away from D'Angelo putting his authenticity first in creating Voodoo?
F.P.: Surround yourself with kindred spirits, the way D'Angelo did with Questlove, J Dilla and the other Soulquarians. Work with and be nurtured by others who will challenge you and help you grow, folks who get your vision...who get you.And take bold risks, understanding that risks don't always pay off, at least at first.
When Voodoo came out 25 years ago, it went over a lot of people's heads, even his own fans. They wanted Brown Sugar: Part 2. His label (Virgin Records) probably wanted that as well; songs that were more straightforward and radio-friendly. Today, Voodoo is revered as a masterwork. When you're a groundbreaking artist, sometimes you have to wait for people to catch up to you.
Finally, be true to who you are.
N.W.: If you could interview D’angelo, what would you ask him?
F.P.: If there is one non-D'Angelo song that you wish you had written yourself, what is it and why?
If I can sneak in a second question: WHEN IS YOUR NEXT ALBUM COMING OUT?!!
N.W.: Finally, what is your favorite song on Voodoo?
F.P.: "Spanish Joint (RIP Roy Hargrove)." "The Root" is a very close second.
There are sooo many insights I couldn’t include in this piece due to space, so I encourage you to purchase Faith Pennick’s 33 ⅓ about D’angelo’s Voodoo to dive deeper into the makings of the project. If you plan to purchase, I highly encourage you to do so on Bookshop.org, as a way to support local indie booksellers. It is also available on Amazon.
Thanks for checking out my music writing. If you read this entire piece, love it and want to support my future work with a one-time tip/monetary gift, I’ve set up a Buy Me a Tea link here.
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