\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotograph by DANNY CLINCH<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tCut to April 1, 1996. Our first real day talking, and one framed by Marvin in every way. The Roots were on tour with the Fugees and Goodie Mob, and I met up with D at the House of Blues in L.A. during Soul Train Awards weekend. One of the first things D told me was he\u2019d just recorded a version of \u201cYour Precious Love\u201d with a singer he just met named Erykah Badu, whom we also met that weekend (three generals in the same army all meeting at the same time \u2026 no big deal). Later on he confessed to me that the intro to \u201cI Heard It Through the Grapevine\u201d haunted him \u2014 it genuinely scared him. My version of that fear is the modulated coda in Curtis Mayfield\u2019s \u201cFreddie\u2019s Dead,\u201d which I first heard during a childhood injury.<\/p>\n \n\tOf course, I had to test him \u2014 one day not long after I popped the CD in just to see what would happen and turned the volume up.<\/p>\n \n\tD wasn\u2019t lying. It froze him. I might\u2019ve made it an ongoing prank, but after attempt two? I knew a third would mean hands thrown.<\/p>\n \n\tWe never discussed \u201cGrapevine\u201d again.<\/p>\n \n\tEver.<\/p>\n \n\tNow cut to a year later \u2014 April 1, 1997. After a rough split with management, D\u2019s career was in flux. D\u2019s former manager had a demo of a song called \u201cBitch.\u201d It wasn\u2019t ready, but it pointed toward what Voodoo<\/em> would become \u2014 beautifully nasty. An artist that the aforementioned manager had signed (let\u2019s call them \u201cRedacted\u201d) came across a tape of \u201cBitch\u201d and later released something \u2026 lightly derivative.<\/p>\n \n\tMan, that got under D\u2019s skin! To me? Pssshh!!! Yet ANOTHER chance to prank him (I don\u2019t learn).<\/p>\n \n\tThe Roots were mixing Illadelph Halflife <\/em>with Bob Power at Battery in Midtown Manhattan, and the Soulquarians (Common, Erykah, D, etc.) were working on various projects across town in the Village at Electric Lady. I called Rahzel, our human beatbox, and told him to impersonate (\u201cRedacted\u201d) and confront D over the phone: \u201cYou bit my style!!!!!\u201d I stayed close to D to hear it.<\/p>\n \n\tMost folks would\u2019ve gone fisticuffs ON SIGHT!!!! D did get heated \u2014 but in the nerdiest, most D\u2019Angelo way possible.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMan,\u201d he said, \u201cyou so phony! Chords suck. You don\u2019t know how to stack vocals!!!!! Your vibrato is ass! Lyrics whack! BRING IT! I will battle you ANY STAGE ANY TIME, n***a!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\u2026 Wait \u2014 wha?\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tNot the reaction I expected. D\u2019Angelo went \u2026 technical<\/em>? That\u2019s when I realized I was stuck with a quote-unquote \u201cartiste\u201d \u2014 someone who couldn\u2019t not think about music. I mean who else critiques chord structure mid-beef? Guess I was the one fooled.<\/p>\n \n\tThat was D at his most intense.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDuring the Voodoo<\/em> sessions he once called at 4 a.m. \u201cYo man, we gotta talk.\u201d Was this a confrontation? What kept him up? The idea that Common had a funkier track for his Like Water for Chocolate <\/em>LP (which D\u2019Angelo and I both were working on at the time) than D\u2019Angelo had for Voodoo<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThat\u2019s my funk!!!!!!!!!! He don\u2019t know what to do with that funk!!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tI called Common and suggested a swap. He was chill. \u201cChicken Grease\u201d went to Voodoo<\/em>; \u201cGeto Heaven Pt. 2\u201d (originally D & Lauryn Hill) went to Common.<\/p>\n \n\tThen came Voodoo<\/em>. Then came everything. That album remade Black music. There\u2019s a before and an after. Its tour was the greatest soul revue since prime Prince \u2014 we spent four years studying him; naturally, we wrote our love letter back.<\/p>\n \n\tBut D\u2019s core never changed. One day on tour \u2014 in a nondescript spot like Milwaukee \u2014 Halle Berry happened to be side-stage during soundcheck. I couldn\u2019t see her behind my cymbal, but D could. Suddenly soundcheck turns into full-throttle, balls-to-the-wall performance with no warning. Why are we doing a full-fledged, life-depends-on-it 18-minute version of \u201cDevil\u2019s Pie\u201d?! Dude, save it for the show! Mic tricks, dips, splits, slides, the whole thing. On one slide, a nail tore his faux-leather pants from thigh to ankle. Pants became skirt. And yeah \u2014 commando.<\/p>\n \n\tThat was D: all in, even at soundcheck.<\/p>\n