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D'Angelo Featured in GQ Fashion Spread

The singer talks about the music industry and how "Untitled" hurt him.

By Dorkys Ramos

Posted: 05/22/2012 12:14 PM EDT

Filed Under Celebrity News, Style, Music News, D'Angelo, Fashion, Chris Rock

(Photo: Courtesy GQ Magazine)

It's been a long, bumpy road over the last dozen years in D'Angelo's life, but the neo-soul singer is finally prepping for a comeback and what better way to usher in a new phase than with a sizzling fashion photo shoot? After years of battling addiction, rehab stints, isolation, and even a near-fatal car crash in 2005, D'Angelo has recovered that body women drooled over and is set to release new music at last. In the June issue of GQ, he talks about the evil influences in music and how the music video "Untitled (How Does It Feel?)" made him leave the scene along with comments from his fellow artists and friends like Questlove and Chris Rock.

"There’s forces that are going on that I don’t think a lot of motherf--kers that make music today are aware of,” he says. “It’s deep. I’ve felt it. I’ve felt other forces pulling at me.… This is a very powerful medium that we are involved in. I learned at an early age that what we were doing in the choir was just as important as the preacher. It was a ministry in itself. We could stir the pot, you know? The stage is our pulpit, and you can use all of the energy and that music and the lights and the colors and the sound. But you know, you’ve got to be careful.”

So when he received unwanted attention when the video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel?)" (which director Paul Hunter says was about D'Angelo's grandmother's cooking and family) was released, it made D'Angelo want to leave it all behind.

"One time I got mad when a female threw money at me onstage, and that made me feel, like, f--ked up, and I threw the money back at her. I was like, ‘I’m not a stripper.’”

On the last day of the eight-month tour of the Voodoo album tour, Questlove says D’Angelo told him, "Yo, man, I cannot wait until this f--king tour is over. I’m going to go in the woods, drink some hooch, grow a beard, and get fat." "I was like, ‘You’re a funny guy.’ And then it started to happen. That’s how much he wanted to distance himself.”

It's been an uphill battle since, but things are beginning to look up. D'Angelo will headline this year's Essence Fest and will reportedly drop a new record in September.

Read the entire GQ article here and tell us, are you excited that D'Angelo's back?

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