D'Angelo's surprise return on the night of December 15, 2014, after a fourteen-year absence, is part of the wave of unexpected releases that sometimes catch labels and the public off guard. Yet this "Black Messiah" is not just another album and can be understood on several levels. Firstly, it is D'Angelo's third studio album and follows "Voodoo," which became one of the legendary albums of the 2000s. So much so that this record has become a true benchmark in the entire urban pop sphere, from rap to electro, encompassing all shades of soul. It's an understatement to say that after such a long absence, Black Messiah was no longer hoped for, even by the most optimistic. It is also a true rebirth—almost a resurrection, to stay within a messianic theme—for the man an American journalist nicknamed "R&B Jesus," a man who went through this long period blinded by addiction to alcohol and drugs. D'Angelo 2014 is a new man, a Black Messiah who has decided to speak out loudly. Black Messiah also derives directly from the many racial problems encountered by the United States in the fall of 2014, symbolized by the Ferguson riots. Although several songs were at least partly written before this period, D'Angelo is practically the only African-American artist to have addressed this theme, becoming, in addition to his already known affiliations, a worthy descendant of Gil Scott-Heron. Sometimes almost tribal, organic, and synthetic at the same time, Black Messiah alone is worth all of Prince's output since "Diamonds & Pearls." The proximity to the man from Minneapolis in a jazz-funk approach is, moreover, the only relative weakness of an album so exceptional in every way that it borders on perfection.
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