Maybe D’Angelo made the first Verzuz solo – that is, who would want to fight him? – but he brought a very special guest musician to start the Apollo on Saturday night.
He is said to be Keyon Harrold, a 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 this went live at the Apollo Theater – the mecca for African-American artists. This was a moment – as the Month of Black History draws to a close – to remind you how far we have to go, with this distinguished musician, Harrold, presented with a “very, very dear friend of mine.” four-time Grammy Award winner on the most historic black music scene.
As he continued to introduce “my brother, a great musician,” it was very clear that this was a moment that the distant star was taking to re-introduce himself en masse by showing the humanity that exists in all of us – including the father of a 14-year-old boy who was allegedly assaulted by 22-year-old Miya Ponsetto, nicknamed “Soho Karen”, for not doing anything wrong.
Even before he played a note, D’Angelo had already made a statement.
Then they launched into what appeared to be an ongoing song, with D’Angelo declaring that “love is something that makes the world come back.” And as Harrold blew the horn with the neo-soul on the keys – Lena Waithe described it very accurately as MTV’s “Unplugged” vibrations in the comments – it was a moment that dissolved any “Greens” between people.
It seems that the battle ended before it really started in this latest version of the Verzuz series, which was one of the most popular virtual series that came out of the COVID era.
After DJ Scratch hosted the party – with stars such as Common, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg and Babyface in attendance – D’AngeIo took to the stage around 10 p.m.
But even though this Verzuz had been called “D’Angelo & Friends”, he didn’t really throw tracks against anyone. It was all about him.
And who could argue with that? Just seeing D’Angelo – swinging a tanned hat and wearing a suitable cloth to go with the black fur coat – was a good enough gift for fans who were waiting for the last release of the album “Black Messiah” in the final days since 2014.
And D managed to get some “Friends” out: Redman and Method Man appeared to give up rhyme on “Left and Right,” from D’Angelo’s 2000 masterpiece “Voodoo.” And HER, a two-time Grammy Award winner, starred as Lauryn Hill in “Nothing Eveners Matters,” from the 1998 classic “Lauryn Hill Miseducation.”
But in the end, this didn’t feel like a real Verzuz, with no one for whom D’Angelo really fought. The obvious choice would have been Maxwell. Just as Erykah Badu and Jill Scott went to the diva at the start of Verzuz last year, it would have been great to see D’Angelo put all his best into his top neo-soul-man competition. .
However, it’s hard to argue with something that lets you feel all the sweetness of “Brown Sugar” in a COVID evening.