The D’Angelo buzz is building up.  He is back and ready to serve up some dope music and bring back some of that soul that R&B music has been missing.  Amy Wallace, who penned the GQ interview, described parts of D’Angelo’s upcoming album saying, “It is dark, dense and mysterious and makes the most of D’s newfound prowess on the guitar.”

And as for why he left:

“He was confused, he says, by his sudden notoriety, even as he, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and others were credited with launching the ‘neo-soul’ movement (a label he hates). ‘It counteracts the very fucking idea of what it was in the first place,’ he says. ‘It’s black music thinking — it’s black music manifested outside of the box. And when you label it neo soul, you’re putting it right back in the box. How about you just call me soul music?’”

D’Angelo on battling his substance abuse during his hiatus: “I didn’t really think I had a problem like that,” he says, taking a hit off a Newport. “I felt like, you know, all I got to do is clean up and I’ll be fine. Just get in the studio and I’ll be fucking fine.”

…on his arrest for soliciting sex from an undercover officer: “It was just me making a stupid decision, a wrong turn, on the wrong night. I’m not the role-model motherfucker. Look at all the shit that I’ve been in.”

…on Madonna:
When Madonna turned 39, she asked him to sing “Happy Birthday” at her party. One press report had her sitting on his lap and French-kissing him. In fact, two sources say that ultimately D rebuffed her advances at another gathering not long after. At that event, the sources say, Madonna walked over and told a woman sitting next to D, “I think you’re in my seat.” The woman got up. Madonna sat down and told him, “I’d like to know what you’re thinking.” To which D replied, “I’m thinking you’re rude.”

Chris Rock on black celebrities: “Black stardom is rough, dude,” Chris Rock tells me when I reach him to talk about D. “I always say Tom Hanks is an amazing actor and Denzel Washington is a god to his people. If you’re a black ballerina, you represent the race, and you have responsibilities that go beyond your art. How dare you just be excellent?”

Questlove, D’Angelo’s former bandleader, on calling him after Amy Winehouse’s death: “’D’s the first person I called,’ Questlove recalls. And I was just honest, like, ‘Look, man, I’m sorry. I know you’re thinking I’m avoiding you like the plague.’ I just said plain and simple, ‘Man, there was a period in which it seemed like you were hell-bent on following the footsteps of our idols, and the one thing you have yet to follow them in was death.’”