D’Angelo sounds on ‘Soho Karen’ at the Verzuz Apollo event



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D’Angelo may have done Verzuz’s very first solo – I mean, who would want to fight him? – but he brought in a very special guest musician to kick off his performance at the Apollo on Saturday night.

It is said to be Keyon Harrold, the veteran trumpeter and member of D’Angelo’s band whose 14-year-old black son Keyon Harrold Jr. was falsely accused of stealing an iPhone from a white woman at the Arlo Hotel in Soho. last September.

No explanation was needed as it happened live at the Apollo Theater – the Mecca of African-American artists. It was a moment – as Black History Month draws to a close – to remind you how far we have yet to go, with this distinguished musician, Harrold, presented with a “very, very dear friend of mine” four times. Grammy winner on the most historic of black music scenes.

As he continued to introduce “my brother, a great musician” it was very clear that this was a moment the recluse star was taking to reintroduce himself to the masses by showing the humanity that exists in all of us – y This included the father of a 14-year-old kid who was allegedly assaulted by Miya Ponsetto, 22, nicknamed “Soho Karen”, for doing nothing wrong.

Before even singing a note, D’Angelo had already made a statement.

Then they got into what seemed like an ongoing song, with D’Angelo declaring that “love is something that makes the world go round.” And as Harrold vibrated on his horn with the neo-soul man on the keys – Lena Waithe very accurately described it as MTV ” Unplugged ‘vibes,’ ‘in the comments – it was a moment that dissolved everything. “Verzuz” between people.

The battle, it seems, was over before it even really began in this latest installment of the Verzuz series which has been one of the most popular virtual series to emerge from the COVID era.

After DJ Scratch organized the party – with stars including Common, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg and Babyface – D’AngeIo took to the stage around 10 p.m.

But while this Verzuz was billed as “D’Angelo & Friends,” he wasn’t really throwing leads against anyone else. It was all about him.

And who could argue with that? Just seeing D’Angelo – rocking a beige hat and matching rag to go with his black faux fur coat – was a gift sufficient for fans who have been waiting since he last released his album “Black.” Messiah ”in the final days of 2014.

And D managed to get some “friends” out: Redman and Method Man showed up to drop rhymes on “Left & Right”, from D’Angelo’s 2000 masterpiece “Voodoo.” And two-time Grammy winner HER came forward to be Lauryn Hill’s part of “Nothing Even Matters,” the 1998 classic “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”

But in the end, it didn’t look like a real Verzuz, with no one for D’Angelo to really fight. The obvious choice would have been Maxwell. Much like Erykah Badu and Jill Scott became diva to diva at the start of Verzuz last year, it would have been great to see D’Angelo do his best against his best neo-soul-man competition.

Still, it’s hard to argue with anything that lets you feel all the sweetness of “brown sugar” during a COVID on Saturday night.

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