Black Messiah

I remember when this record came out it was such a big deal because there has been nothing from D for 15 years except a single or feature here and there. You could just walk down the street and overhear people talking about it. I have a distinct memory of standing in Beatstreet Records the week Black Messiah came out and hearing a guy loudly giving his hot take on it to the unfortunate worker behind the counter saying “it’s just a Prince record.” As though that’s a bad thing? I guarantee D’Angelo would have taken that as a complement.