Music / Brown Sugar

I gets high off your love, I don't know how to behave.

Is it just that you're the finest little thing that I ever saw
Or is my imagination runnin' too far
Or is it that my eyes are tellin' me something you could never see
Somethin' like me being with you
And you being with me

— "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine"

Brown Sugar is the debut studio album by singer-songwriter D'Angelo, released in 1995 on EMI.

After his successful performance with his group Precise at the Apollo Theater in 1991, D'Angelo received a $500 check for his work at the venue and used most of it to purchase a four-track recorder and a keyboard. At his mother's house in Richmond, he began writing most of the material that would constitute the record around 1991 and 1992.

Recording for the album took place during 1994 and 1995, with production being handled by Raphael Saadiq, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Bob Power, Kedar Massenburg and himself, in contrast to most R&B records which casted mostly well-known producers. D'Angelo would also play most of the instruments on the album himself, including saxophone, bass, guitar, piano, drums and a Hammond organ. He would also take major influence from older funk and soul artists such as Marvin Gaye and Prince, the latter of which he admitted to wanting to emulate on his records.

Considered a seminal record in contemporary R&B and soul music, Brown Sugar was cited for harkening back to traditional R&B's stripped-down style of live instruments and organic grooves with a sizable influence from jazz and hip-hop, which helped distinguish it from the digitally driven methods of the genre at the time.

It would also be considered a seminal record in the genre of neo soul, coined by Kedar Massenburg (one of the producers on the record) to describe the style of R&B that was appearing in the late '90s that was also being espoused by various other artists (ex: Erykah Badu, Maxwell, Joi, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Roots). D'Angelo would later join an experimental black music collective called the Soulquarians which included artists from and around the neo soul scene that would later assist in the production of his second album, Voodoo.

In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 183 on their updated list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Tracklist

1. "Brown Sugar" (4:22)
2. "Alright" (5:13)
3. "Jonz in my Bonz" (5:56)
4. "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine" (4:46)
5. "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker" (5:14)
6. "Smooth" (4:19)
7. "Cruisin'" (6:24)
8. "When We Get By" (5:44)
9. "Lady" (5:46)
10. "Higher" (5:28)

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Tropes in my Bonz

• Cluster F-Bomb: It should go without saying that a track titled "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker" would entail this.
• Crime of Passion: "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker" tells a story about how D'Angelo came home to find his wife and best friend in bed together and killed them both with a gun in a fit of rage. At the end, D'Angelo realizes he went too far, and gets arrested for his crime.
• Cover Version: "Cruisin'" is a cover of the song by Smokey Robinson. Possibly leading to Covered Up depending on which era you were born in.
• Epic Rocking: "Cruisin'" is this and the longest track at six minutes and 24 seconds. Several tracks follow behind this with "Jonz in my Bonz" in particular only being four seconds from the six minute mark.
• Face on the Cover: The cover is a sepia-toned photo of D'Angelo in a leather jacket.
• Funetik Title: "Jonz in my Bonz" ("Jones in my Bones")
• Girl of My Dreams: "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes Of Mine" has the narrator see a girl and dream about the ways he'd treat her if she was his lover.
  Ooh wee baby you've redefined my vision of love it seems
  Your love be the cherry in my chocolate covered dreams
  So it seems, my, oh, my
  Me and those dreamin' eyes of mine
• God-Is-Love Songs: "Higher" is this in spades. As it compares the love of a woman to the love of God:
  With God as my witness and watching over
  We'll write our love in the stone
  Please give us strength Lord to fight our battles
  And we can walk on the streets of gold
  
  Cause you take me higher, than I've ever, ever known
  Give me good feeling, like a king and queen on a throne
  Cause you take me higher, further than the skies above
  Send me in ecstasy baby, with your love
  • Gospel Music: "Higher" is also (befittingly) inspired by gospel given the tracks choir made up D'Angelo's multi-tracked vocals on the chorus singing along to an organ.
• Limited Lyrics Song: Despite going for nearly six minutes, "Jonz in my Bonz" is just one verse and the chorus repeated 'til the end.
• Love Is a Drug: On "Jonz in my Bonz":
  Said I got a jonz in my bonz
  I said this feeling that I got
  Won't leave me 'lone
• I Am the Band: D'Angelo would be a producer on this record and do most of the instrumental work by himself.
• Intercourse with You: "Brown Sugar", "Jonz in my Bonz"
• Neo Soul: The album is generally considered a classic and pioneer in the genre. With its use of live instrumentation and resemblance to older black music artists such as Prince or The Isley Brothers.
• Record Producer: Entirely self-produced by D'Angelo, with assists from Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Bob Power, Luther Archer, and Raphael Saddiq.
• Sexual Euphemism: "Jonz in my Bonz" is this, with the title essentially meaning being horny and the song being very coy about it.
• Til Murder Do Us Part: "Shit, Damn, Motherfucker" details a man catches his wife cheating with his best friend and then murdering them both in a fit of rage:
  Why the both of you's bleeding so much?
  Why the both of you's bleeding so much?
  Why the both of you's bleeding so much?
  Why am I wearin' handcuffs?
• Title Track: "Brown Sugar", babe.

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