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Collaborations
D’ Angelo has always seen collaboration as a communion- an exchange of souls rather than a simple sharing of microphones. Throughout his career, he has forged links with artists who, like him, sought to transcend formats to reach the essence. Here’ s a chapter dedicated to his most memorable collaborations, and how he lived them.
Flashmag! Issue 166November 2025
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At the turn of the 2000s, D’ Angelo joined the Soulquarians collective, alongside Questlove, J Dilla, Erykah Badu, Common, Mos Def and Bilal. Together, they recorded in the legendary Electric Lady studio in New York, in an almost monastic atmosphere. It was here that Voodoo was born. It was like a church. We didn’ t just come to record, we came to look for something bigger.”- D’ Angelo These were not featurings, but rituals. Every jam session was a quest, every silence an offering.
Questlove, drummer with The Roots, is one of D’ Angelo’ s closest collaborators. He co-produced * Voodoo * and * Black Messiah *, and accompanies D’ Angelo on stage. Their bond goes beyond music. With Quest, I don’ t need to talk. He knows where I want to go before I do.- D’ Angelo D’ Angelo has also lent his voice to Lauryn Hill on“ Nothing Even Matters”, Raphael Saadiq on“ Be Here”, and Erykah Badu on“ Your Precious Love”. These duets are intimate dialogues, vocal caresses.“ When I sing with Lauryn or Erykah, it’ s as if our voices have known each other forever.”- D’ Angelo D’ Angelo has collaborated with rap figures such as Common, A Tribe Called Quest, Slum Village, and Method Man. He didn’ t see himself as a guest, but as a bridge-builder between soul and hip-hop.“ Hip-hop taught me to be raw. Not to polish too much. To leave the scars in the sound.”- D’ Angelo. For D’ Angelo, collaboration was never a business strategy. It was a meeting of energies, an alchemy.