D'Angelo - Brown Sugar
A record that time had been waiting for. Came out in '95 when I was living in Seattle. A friend of mine played it for me and I hadn't heard anybody do fresh soul music that was rooted in the classic Marvin/Stevie/Al Green/Smokey Robinson vein. And this dude could do it all. Great keyboard player, great guitar player, great singer. I could've picked Voodoo too but Brown Sugar is just wall-to-wall greatness. His cover of 'Cruisin'' by Smokey Robinson is without peer. My mom was a big Motown girl so that's the kind of music I grew up listening to around the house. I have a deep affection for that style of music. And D'Angelo's such a great singer. I love whenever he's popped up on other things, like Raphael Saadiq records and that J Dilla song, 'So Far To Go'. So yeah, Brown Sugar, masterpiece.