Rewind: D’Angelo — Devil’s Pie

A couple of weeks ago, I received a question about my favorite video on YouTube. Their catalog of unreleased remixes and live performances is a dream for any music nerd.

Recently, I’ve been captivated by a D’Angelo performance at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. At the time, he was the face of R&B after his acclaimed album, Voodoo. “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” was a hit combining his smooth voice with overwhelming sex appeal.

Instead of performing one of Voodoo’s sensual hits, D’Angelo opts for “Devil’s Pie”. The song is aggressive in nature, anchored by a hard-hitting drum snare combo that displays DJ Premier and J Dilla’s influence on production.

Lyrically, “Devil’s Pie” is among D’Angelo’s most daring. He attacks the growing influence materialism has on hip-hop and the music industry. He creates a fascinating conflict that focuses on the fragile line between heaven and hell. “I myself feel the high, from all that I despise,” he calmly says. D’Angelo places the Devil at the center of the narrative, always within reach of his next victim.

“Devil’s Pie” encapsulates what makes Voodoo such a forceful album. It has a fluidity that never finds comfort in one genre for too long, quickly switching between hip-hop, soul, funk, and jazz. Despite its powerful message and experimental nature, it is an odd song to perform at an award show.

For the MTV Movie Awards, D’Angelo creatively flips the track by giving it a jolt of funk. The guitar and horns have a greater presence, pulling from groups like Sly & the Family Stone, whose psychedelic soul-influenced aspects of Voodoo. “Fuck the slice, want the pie” he begins with his middle finger extended to the audience. The producers of the show are slow to react to his expletives, editing them out after the fourth time.

Towards the end of the performance, he pivots away from the message and transitions toward chaos. He demonstrably screams while simultaneously throwing the mic stand across the stage. D’Angelo leads an intense “ON THE LINE!” chant with his background singers that challenge what some would find musically acceptable.

D’Angelo closes by exhaling a final scream and quickly strutting off-stage while the band is playing. As the band finishes, the camera pans out to a still audience, seemingly shocked at what they witnessed.

A performance like this would certainly never happen today. The Oscars and GRAMMYs are carefully crafted television events, D’Angelo railed against everything the music industry was trending toward and has become today.

Watching the performance makes me think how misunderstood D’Angelo is as an artist. The “Untitled” video did wonders for his popularity but caused him to only be known through the lens of sex. His physical attraction overshadowed his truly gifted abilities as a musician. He couldn’t balance between the artist he saw himself as and the man the audience wanted him to be.

This conflict caused D’Angelo to lose his passion and music and himself. In the years following Voodoo, he battled substance abuse and didn’t release another album for 14 years. The performance showcases a generationally talented artist fighting the industry and his demons. Sadly, we were too enamored with what we saw to hear his warning or cry for help.