D’Angelo Says He’s Working on a “Companion Piece” to Black Messiah

D’Angelo’s Black Messiah is returning for an encore. D says his worth-the-wait album has an accompanying “companion piece” currently in the works. “There were so many songs that I wanted people to hear,” the 41-year-old crooner told Rolling Stone (in his first interview since Black Messiah’s release) of his latest. “What I’m working on now is like a companion piece. I hope people receive it that way. It’s part of the same vision.” Hallelujah and all that. But the big question mark: Will the as-yet-untitled follow-up take another 15 years to release? #LettucePray that this second second coming arrives much, much sooner. “I do want to put a lot of music out there,” D’Angelo added. “I feel like, in a lot of respects, that I’m just getting started.” Can he get an amen?

Read it at Rolling Stone.

Azealia Banks Thinks Rachel Dolezal Scandal Is “F*cking Hilarious”

The ridiculous case of Rachel Dolezal—the former president of the Spokane, Washington NAACP who resigned after being outed as a White woman who pretended to be Black for a decade—has inspired both smart race commentary as well as the expected fresh-out-the-dry-cleaner capes. But how does rapper-slash-reparations-crusader Azealia Banks feel about the controversy? Like many of us, she got a hearty LOL out of the whole thing.

“I dunno why this Rachel Dolezal thing is so f*cking hilarious to me,” the Harlemite tweeted yesterday (June 15), getting additional laughs at the expense of Dolezal’s hairpiece. “This is like some sh*t off MadTV.” True, it would’ve fit right in on Chappelle’s Show, although the defunct show’s iconic founder has shown sympathy and said he’d be reluctant to joke about the situation. Whatever. The #AskRachel memes have singlehandedly provided enough laughs to get six packs summer-ready. The silly news has also elicited this rhetorical query from Banks: “Are a whole bunch of White people about to come out as transracial?” Actually, that’s a good question.

Read it at Billboard.

The White House Will Neither Confirm or Deny Prince’s Performance for the Obamas

At the level of the United States presidency, some things should probably be kept confidential. The location of the nukes. Area 51. Michelle Obama’s preferred brand of doobie wrap. But the White House is being strangely hush-hush about a recent Prince and Stevie Wonder performance at 1600 Penn that was confirmed on social media by some of the 500 attendees. White House spokesman Josh Earnest will not say whether Prince was in attendance for a weekend party that he says was thrown “on [the Obama’s] own dime.” Still, Rev. Al Sharpton tweeted Sunday about how “awesome” it was to see the Prince and Wonder rocking out together on the keyboards, as they performed some of the Purple One’s greatest hits. Weird.

Read it at Yahoo! News.