Brown Sugar

This album was definitely a cornerstone for the genre, pulls in a lot of great ideas, and D’Angelo is a competent singer. But man, I just did not enjoy this. He may be a good singer, but he is also a boring one. No excitement, the same energy the whole way through. And the melodies don’t help either. What’s the opposite of an ear worm? They seemed to slide off the folds of my brain and out my ears before the songs even ended. If they ever would end; the songs all go on for two or three minutes doing nothing new or interesting. I see why people like this, but it has so many of my pet peeves baked into it.

Very soulful and chill sounding. Great instrumentals create a true R&B experience. The lyrics weren't my speed, they were overly sexual without the nuance. It was very to the point where as other R&B achieves the same sensuality but in a more poetic way. His voice is great and I think for a debut this one was ok. It's like "getting in the mood music but for high-schoolers"(Which I might have rated higher 20 years ago)

Sure, it's peak 90s R&B but is that really saying much? For what it is, it's good. It's just that what it is isn't much, you know? It's an entire album of shallow sexism wrapped in a thin veneer of so-called romance. Nah. Pass.

This album fucks

dear lord am i glad that's over.

Lol this was wank

8/10 smooth, buttery smooth, smooth, I feel made love to by D'Angelo's pure, primal, non-toxic, sexual, raw smoothness

“Uhhh kissing you, kissing me, squeezing yo butt cheeks, Putin’ my bologna pony in yo minestrone, talking’ ‘bout sex whooo whooo” every song basically

This album was fire during my University years. People lost their damned minds when D’Angelo came to town to perform. A re-listen rekindles. This was the start of neo-soul.

My goodness, I love neo-soul. D'Angelo's voice is nothing short of heavenly. That voice combined with groovy, soulful instrumentals makes Brown Sugar an R&B classic. Some standout tracks include Alright, When We Get By, and Brown Sugar.

FIVE STARS!!!!! FIVE STARS!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!

He’s got a nice voice but I honestly hate this kind of music

An outstanding debut from a singular voice. Muhammad, Saadiq and Powers are a heck of production team. It’s layered into some kind of futuristic version of Sly’s late 70’s sound. It’s also very of its moment and as such transcends space and time. It’s also glorious booty call music.

WHAT A VIBE

Delicious R&B. Chill and rythm.

Mellow, lovely sound

Better than Maxwell's Hang Suite, would get away with it on a first date.

The best bit was the wiki. I found this tediously dull

The Soulquarian era of music in the late 90s and early 2000s is simply the most beautiful thing to me. I’ve never seen such an amazing selection of people come together like that. Beyond the original members that started the collective, you had insane talents like Erykah Badu, Bilal, Q-Tip, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Common. These people created some of the greatest R&B and hip-hop albums of all time. D'Angelo happens to be one of those original members. And this man is a mystical figure. I didn’t really get why the episode of Atlanta that was all about the main character trying to meet D'Angelo was so funny until I learned of his reputation. For how good his music is, this man has released a tragically low number of records. Brown Sugar is the first of those three. His output is so consistent, and so even if this is seen as a good album, it’s still probably regarded as the worst of the three. But I still went in excited. Nothing was going to sway me. I was ready to love this. And love it I did. It’s pretty obvious to me that this man has a deeper connection to the soul. Write it into history, because it’s a fucking fact. Reading some of the less than positive reviews of this blew my mind. I couldn’t believe how many people really didn’t enjoy this. Music is subjective obviously, but in my mind, this comes off as an under appreciated classic based on those reviews. Even for a mid 90s album, this clearly defined so much of the neo-soul and R&B movement of that time period. Anybody with knowledge in either of those genres can see that. I guess I can sort of understand why people aren’t interested in this. This is very slowly, and has no desire to speed things up. It’s methodical, and spends more time with subtleties. For how many vocal tracks they have running at the same time, this actually never feels too in your face. The vocals are the focus and the instrumentals, while amazing all around, are not what you should be expecting to be blown away by. I don’t even think this is too overly rooted in “hyper sexuality” as people claim it is. This is one of the most sensual and intimate albums I’ve ever heard, but I’m totally into it. This was so awesome, I put on Voodoo on my way home from work. Unfortunately that album is not on this list, so I won’t ever get the chance to talk about it. Rating: 9/10

Saw the cover and thought this is gonna be awful. By half way through the first song that was confirmed. Somehow, it then continued to get worse. It manages to offend and bore me at the same time.

p769. 1995. 1 star. The background music they use in stores selling Gwyneth Paltrow's "This Smells Like My Vagina" candles. Wannabe Marvin Gaye for the 90s, only without the talent or the voice. This was a key influence on Craig David - so! We finally have someone to blame! Can't be doing with high pitched male voices, especially when they are used on such bland material. This is soulless and instantly forgettable.

No. 207/1001 Brown Sugar 4/5 Alright 4/5 Jonz in my Bonz 3/5 Me And Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine 4/5 Shit, Damn, Motherfucker 3/5 Smooth 3/5 Cruisin 4/5 When We Get By 3/5 Lady 4/5 Higher 3/5 Average: 3,5 Really cool, soulful album.

Rubbish. Boring, whiny RnB, like there's good RnB but this was terrible. Who even is D'Angelo? Literally never heard of him. Too many of the songs were drawn out and way too much of that "woo woo yah yah" crooning that kinda gives me the ick. Best: Brown Sugar Worst: When We Get By

Awful. Repetitive. I had to keep skipping to the next song because the repetition was getting on my nerves.

Ma che noia… musica da salone di bellezza Non mi capacito sia inserito tra i 1001

Not really my usual type of music, but enjoyable all the same. Particularly the smooth bass lines and production throughout. It's impressive how many instruments D'Angelo played himself on here! On the negative side, I did find it a bit repetitive, and the lyrics are often so to-the-point horny that they are borderline creepy. Title track is great though, as well as a few others. I prefer his later album, Black Messiah, as it has more political lyrics and is a bit more varied and jazzy. This one is mainly just about boning, which is fine too I guess. 7/10

This was very enjoyable, smooth as fuck.

Funky, jazz-infused R&B with a strong mid 90’s vibe, so your mileage may vary, if you’re looking for something that doesn’t feel tied down to an era.

Not really the kind of music that I choose to listen to but, this is a very nice album. I like his version of Crusin' but it isn't unique enough from the original Smokey Robinson version to make it stand out. It is nice that he is able to bring the song to a new generation of fans. 2/5

It's rhythmic, not unnecessarily profane, and kind of works as an ode for his beloved... but there's just way too much cliche going on here. Way too much... not sure if his version of "cruisin" is better than Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow's version...

Flunk. Not enough Funk.

Dated, but a couple of cracking shagging songs. 3/10

Very not my thing

1/2 really not my jam. the music itself is pleasant enough, the singing is a lot of moany noises.

Not my music but nice when played in the background

1995: Brown Sugar, Lady

Neo soul? Neo thanks.

Shocked at how boring and not good this was. I'm amazed this is always so critically acclaimed, other than the first track it put me to sleep.

Urghgghhhhhhhhhhh A mix of cringe and boring. Just not an enjoyable record at all. Would not listen again. Best track: Lady Worst track: Alright, Jonz in my Bonz, Higher, Brown Sugar, Cruising

eu ouvi a primeira musica, tem um som legal mas n é muito meu tipo de musica. prefiro o dos stones

This Neo soul is really not my jam. Couldn't get thru this one and for the record, the Stones did Brown Sugar better.

imagine my disappointment when i found out this isn't about heroin.

How come you taste so shit?

This music makes me very nervous, overproduced, all character removed, like swimming in a pool instead of a sea full of waves.

Did not enjoy

Not for me at all, dull even by r and b standards.

He's got a good voice but R&B does nothing for me. Lyrically uninteresting. Would not listen again

No more please, make it stoooop

Not my vibe

No.

Is there a sexy word for ‘boring’?

Is mid-90s neo-soul the hardest genre to listen to now? Beware of any artist who has his/her top off in their photos as a USP. One star for the first track, but boy this is inconsequential.

Doesn't even scrape a 2. It's really dull musically, and the lyrics are both cliches and throwbacks to the creepy lyrics you'd get in 50s/60s music but without the innocence that gave the oldies a bit of an excuse. Would've got a 2 had I only been half listening to it, but the lyrics drop it down to a 1 as it made it actively unpleasant to listen to.

I mean, it's not literally the worst thing I've ever heard... but... it's not great. His falsetto sucks and the whole thing felt bland and boring after the first song. That being said, 'Shit, Damn, Motherfucker' is clearly the pinnacle of songwriting and no one should attempt to surpass it. I like how he said the three words over and over and over and over. Quality stuff. This album did help me find religion, though. I didn't think at the beginning that I would be praying for it to be over, but here I am.

Schmoov futhermucker. Never been my thang.

Not my bag. The two albums I had before this were absolute bangers so only fair I get this to even things out.

This was exactly the kind of nothing R&B bilge that used to get me really animated in the 90s. Not now though, I’m chill. 😎

not my thing

As the name implies.

Es un álbum que te puede mejor el rato,la escucha o hasta el día entero con una atmósfera que genera una paz y unas fuertes ganas de bailar

If Lady was the only song on here it would still be a perfect score. Thankfully the album is full of R&B gold, D'Angelo is so talented and the whole listening experience is just top notch.

Do you think D’Angelo would have sex with a mid 30s hetero white guy? Asking for a friend

One of the best neo-soul albums ever, a beautiful and consistent vibe throughout.

Really excellent. Like Prince’s mellow but sexy side.

I’m not an impartial judge of this album. But that’s kinda the point. I love this album, I love D’Angelo, and I love neosoul. This album has an improvisational life to it while still feeling incredibly tight. This synthesizes so many of my favorite aspects of Prince, Herbie Hancock, and Wes Montgomery. It’s so good.

9/10 loved the production here, and he has a wonderful voice

Smooth as butter on a hot piece of toast!

Brown sugar and soul. This album is perfect.

I think it’s been a long time coming for me to become a D’Angelo fan but particularly recently he has kept popping up, like even at the Jordan Rakei concert last week Jordan talked about how much D’Angelo has shaped his music and I was like ‘I really have to get on that’ and then today it was delivered right into my hands and yep, I’m in love! So smooth, soulful, sweet, sexy. Like drifting through a sunset sky on a really nicely scented cloud. Favourite tracks were Alright, Me and Those Dreamin Eyes, and When We Get By, but I think that would change each listen.

Big 5 stars for me. One of my all time favorites, and his follow up album “Voodoo” is even better. Glad this one made it on the list.

Absolutely phenomenal voice and amazing jazz/rnb music to complement the vocals. This is like 90s Daniel Caesar

warm and inviting r&b. need to dive into dangelo’s catalog more

Very nice

I must admit to buying this album on release and have probably listened to it upwards of 100 times. I absolutely love it. When it came out there were a lot of R&B artists that, although not exactly copy\paste of each other, had a lot of very strong similarities in their sound (and I think a lot of that was die to the same small pool of producers etc). D'Angelo's album was so far removed from those sounds that it stood out like a beacon. I could easily put this album on loop and not get bored for hours, or even days.

I love d’angelo and this album is so good- hard to believe that it came out in 95. He’s almost a style all of his own- and amalgam of so many that came before him but still very much his own

Everyone say thank you to D’angelo for inventing sex

5/5. This feels like a monumental album that stands the test of time. It's jazz but the vocal layering is the best you'll find in any black gospel church. The jams and extended choruses are smooth and hypnotizing, just impressed with every part of the song. You can feel the influences yet they are mixed so well, it feels so original. Excited to throw this on repeat, no notes. Best Song: Brown Sugar, Me And Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine, Lady

ngl, really good. dunno about the history stuff but this feels like the progenitor of black music's shift from being primarily blues to soul. you can feel the blend as the album progresses. 9/10

Wow I usually don't care for R&B from this era but liked this one a lot, especially compared to Maxwells album but it’s been a couple years since hearing that one. Definitely gonna have to listen to more of his stuff. It’s not excessively long like other R&B either. Rating: 4.8

This is top-tier panty-dropper R&B/Soul. The vocals are amazing, the grooves are filthy and the bass playing elicited a number of stank-face reactions throughout the album. 5 stars.

the heavy jazz influences from the chords to the melodies are in perfect harmony with the drums (both live and sampled) and the R&B crooning that just is so tasteful and glorious. Incredible album.

Brown Sugar is D'Angelo's debut album, and may be the album that started the neo-soul wave of the late 90's and the aughts. D'Angelo makes soulful R&B, that has incorporated the timing of hip-hop of the 90s. The songs are centered around D'Angelo's incredible voice, at time utilizing falsetto in his expressive vocals. The bass-heavy orchestrations sound like traditional R&B; D'Angelo adds break-beats and the lyrical timing of hip-hop in his rendition of R&B.

Every D'Angelo album should be on here. Superb 5/5

I bought this album way back when it first came out. It's one of the best R&B albums of the 90s. I highly recommend anyone who loves R&B or is curious about the genre to listen to this album.

One of my favorite albums of the mid to late 90's

I've heard of D'Angelo as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who helped pioneer the subgenre of neo-soul. This album as his debut will be my first listen to his work. What I will say is that most of this album is filled to the brim with smooth-sounding sex jams and ballads, with a dash of religious imagery from his Pentecostal background. The one exception is the opening title track which is a pretty clever metaphor for smoking marijuana. All these songs are well-delivered from D'Angelo's buttery vocals and paired with his excellent production chops alongside a few co-producers. He can sell the vibes akin to Prince and Smokey Robinson, even going as far as bending the latter's song "Cruisin'" in his favor. While there isn't a bad song on here, Brown Sugar can get a bit repetitive with its themes, lyrical content, and slow-tempo song structures, save for again the opening title track. Though I'm sure this album will grow on me in due time, as it's genuinely impressive for a then young and hungry D'Angelo. Give it a taste. Update 2/10/2025: I came back to Brown Sugar after listening to over 200 albums on this journey, and can confirm this debut grew on me. Even if a lot of these are love songs, I've noticed more variance in the angles of a relationship that D'Angelo approaches. At the very least, I'm surprised I didn't originally mention "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker", which is a tale of finding his girl in bed with another guy, and straight-up murdering the two. That one's become a favorite of mine. Also, even if there's a generally slower pace with the notion of these being "slow-jams", I'm finding more details in the instrumentation that I hadn't noticed before such as the drum loop of "Smooth" or the horn motif on "When We Get By". After hearing both Sign O' the Times and 1999 in Prince, I've come to appreciate the sound and production quality D'Angelo cultivated from what was popular with 90s hip-hop at the time and bringing those vibes into soul music, thus the birth of neo-soul here alongside other emerging acts like Erykah Badu. It was a smart move on his part to bring in personnel from A Tribe Called Quest on this album. D'Angelo proved to be a player from day one here, and yeah I'm glad to have dipped into that Brown Sugar again.

Fuck yeah

Going into this album, I thought I was stepping into a hip-hop album, but instead I got something way cooler and more chill. This is really enjoyable—Neo Soul, I guess they call it. It brings back memories of the late ’90s, listening to underground DJ mixes, especially those chill acid jazz mixes. It’s something you’d expect to hear on Mark Farina’s Mushroom Jazz series. This is definitely an album I’ll save to my list of future listens.

The sound of being slowly caressed under silk bedsheets; crafted with the intricacy of a Swiss watch, where you find a new detail every time you look at it; and a voice that could impregnate me, despite the fact that I don’t have a uterus. This is one of my favorite albums of all time. I love Neo-soul in general, but D’Angelo is on a whole other level. And even though I subjectively love this record, objectively speaking, Brown Sugar is probably the least essential album in his discography. All three of his albums should be on this list, and that is not up for debate.

‘Brown Sugar’ is not even my favourite D’Angelo album (that would be ‘Voodoo’), but this one is still fire. It’s low key and languid, jazzy, and funky, and D’Angelo’s vocals are just pure honey. The O.G neo-soul album and still an excellent listen. No doubt the soundtrack to many a successful baby-making session.

D'Angelo is really beyond compare when it comes to interesting and catchy R&B. His more recent album Black Messiah won me over and is an easy 5/5 for me. Brown Sugar may be a bit more traditional, but the songs are catchy, and break the mold of what you'd typically think is an R&B song. I have few complaints about this album, other than it wasn't as experimental as Black Messiah (but BM came out almost 20 years later!) 4.5/5 -> 5/5.

Yummy album

nice

Something special was brewing within the soul music genre in the mid 1990s. After a couple of years seeking to look forwards, the only way it could continue to do so is if it would start to look backwards. That's when the admittedly dreadfully named neo-soul genre started to emerge, with D'Angelo's Brown Sugar sowing the seeds. With its warm, inviting yet slightly enigmatic aura, Brown Sugar not only sweetens the pot but also keeps it spicy when applicable (but never overtly). D'Angelo perfectly got, with his first record, the essence of what soul music was about and it would be that perfection that he would obtain once more before losing his way and coming back again. But this was a hell of a first shot and it's a good thing that we kept coming for more.

One of those rare trifectas of amazing vocals, savant musicians hip, and generally being cool as hell

Absolutely amazing.

This is the peak. Mastery of form. It doesn’t get much better than this. One of my favorites that I’ve listened to at least 100 times. So good.

I love D'angelo, his music draws form so many places but is uniquely his. Though Voodoo will always be better for me this album is still pretty fantastic. And for a debut album it's even more impressive. The songs sound both classic and modern and the fact that he wrote and plays most of the instruments on here is wild too (although shout out to Will Lee who plays bass on the final track). The whole album oozes soul and he really is a master of the genre, My favorites are "Brown Sugar", "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker" and his cover of "Cruisin"

A Neo-Soul landmark, it retains a consistent chill vibe with funky beats, jazzy grooves, and pop hooks. His vocals at time reminds me of Sly and at times Al Green. It's what neo-soul is all about. Taking what the likes of Al Green and Stevie Wonder started in the 70s, and showing what could be done in a modern context, with 90s pop and hip hop production. I think he's the only neo-soul artist who doesn't rap either? (At least in the Soulquarians movement.) Nearly every song is a hit imo. The two weaknesses: it's too long at 53 minutes, and it starts off slow. "Brown Sugar" is a strong start, but I thought "Alright" and "Jonz in My Bonz" were the weakest despite the incredible production work. It picks up with the funk and energy from there. I also wasn't too big of a fan of "Higher" after so many tracks I loved, but I admire the gospel vocals. Maybe if it were shorter and ended on a more satisfying touch. With so many deep cuts I love beyond the hits, it's a record I will frequently return to. I could definitely see this album be a bit stronger, but most of it is gold, and there isn't any other album that better represents neo-soul in its purest form.

I fucking love D’Angelo.