By the mid-'90s, most urban R&B had become rather predictable, working on similar combinations of soul and hip-hop, or relying on vocal theatrics on slow, seductive numbers. With his debut album, Brown Sugar, the 21-year-old D'Angelo crashed down some of those barriers. D'Angelo concentrates on classic versions of soul and R&B, but unlike most of his contemporaries, he doesn't cut and paste older songs with hip-hop beats; instead, he attacks the forms with a hip-hop attitude, breathing new life into traditional forms. Not all of his music works -- there are several songs that sound incomplete, relying more on sound than structure. But when he does have a good song -- like the hit "Brown Sugar," Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'," or the bluesy "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker," among several others -- D'Angelo's wild talents are evident. Brown Sugar might not be consistently brilliant, but it is one of the most exciting debuts of 1995, giving a good sense of how deep D'Angelo's talents run. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
All Music Guide Review
Brown Sugar Track Listing
Credits of Brown Sugar
- Kedar Massenburg
- Executive Producer
- Ali Shaheed Muhammad
- Programming, Producer, Drum Programming
- Bob Power
- Guitar, Mixing, Multi Instruments, Engineer, Producer
- Herb Powers
- Mastering
- Sue Pray
- Viola
- Matthew Raimondi
- Violin
- Ralph Rolle
- Drums
- Marilyn Wright
- Violin
- Masako Yanagita
- Violin
- Eugene Bianco
- Orchestra Contractor, Copyist
- G-Spot
- Engineer, Assistant Engineer, Mixing
- Eufrosina Railenu
- Viola
- Laura Vivino
- Flute, Piccolo
- Raphael Saadiq
- Bass, Arranger, Producer, Guitar
- Henry Marquez
- Art Direction
- Julio Peralta
- Assistant Engineer
- Chaz Harper
- Assistant Engineer
- Alexander Simionescu
- Violin
- Rob Farrell
- Assistant Engineer
- Dunn Pearson, Jr.
- Arranger, Conductor
- Seymour Barab
- Cello
- Julien Barber
- Viola
- Bob Brockman
- Trumpet
- Tim Christian
- Piano
- D'Angelo
- Arranger, Vocal Arrangement, Vocals, Multi Instruments, Main Performer, Producer
- Russell Elevado
- Mixing
- Winterton Garvey
- Violin
- Gerald Tarack
- Violin
- Darrin Harris
- Engineer
- Regis Iandiorio
- Violin
- Butch Jones
- Engineer
- Olivia Koppell
- Viola
- Gene Lake
- Drums
- Tim Latham
- Engineer
- Will Lee
- Bass
- Jesse Levy
- Cello
- Mark Whitfield
- Guitar
















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