( ENSPIRE Entertainment ) Lovesick Is Produced Entirely by Apollo Brown and Features Collaborations With Westside Boogie, Skyzoo & 3D NA’Tee
ENSPIRE Contributor: Anastasia Hanna
Soul isn’t just a sound. It’s a timeless concept and a permanent state of being. It can’t be lent, sold, bequeathed, or copied—no matter how much someone tries. The best blues have soul, but soul isn’t the blues. Hip-hop isn’t soul, but it’s the most essential part of its DNA. The genre is R&B, but soul is the passion, desire, and regret. Love is nothing more than lust if it lacks soul. With it, you get something like Lovesick.
Lovesick is a collaboration between the 3x Grammy-nominated singer Raheem DeVaughn and the hip-hop producer, Apollo Brown, best known for making hip-hop so grimy that it permanently lodges in your lungs and underneath your fingernails. It is a work of startling beauty, a blend of modern R&B, classic soul, and guttural funk that recalls Smokey Robinson, Al Green, and Marvin Gaye. Yet it doesn’t sound out of step alongside DeVaughn’s peers, The-Dream, Anderson, Paak, and Miguel. It is an album that bears the echoes of Jodeci and James Brown, but it is ultimately the clarion vision of two masters of their respective forms.
Lovesick Tracklist:
- If You’re The One feat Skyzoo
- One Time feat Becky Cane
- When A Man
- If I Made Love To You
- Just Fall In Love feat Westside Boogie
- Broken Pieces
- I Still Love You
- Honey
- “Zaddy” feat 3D’NaTee
- Rick James
- On Top
- Everything Baby
***All Tracks Produced By Apollo Brown
Released on Mello Music, Lovesick is a stylistic departure from Apollo Brown’s cold-blooded 21st-century boom-bap, but it shouldn’t come as a shock considering his historical skill at soulful sample chopping. Still, it’s a testament to the Michigan native’s versatility and emotional depth; he has turned a sonic left turn into an eternal groove—an expansion that feels reminiscent of DJ Premier producing for D’Angelo, Salaam Remi collaborating with Amy Winehouse, J Dilla’s bible material with Erykah Badu, or more recently, Knxlwdge’s NxWorries project with Paak.
Credit DeVaughn for making the extraordinary feel effortless. In Lovesick, the Love King has built a vessel to transport you to a different, better time. It is a tribute to the artists who came before him—all those aforementioned names, plus Parliament and Prince. Listening to the lead single, “When a Man,” which was premiered by Rolling Stone, you intuit the sweat and soulful anguish of the hardest working man in show business, but also float from Apollo’s head nod to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Luck of Lucien.” The post-modern commentary seductively fused into a warm-hearted nostalgia.
After announcing the album with the Rolling Stone Premiered “When A Man,” Raheem and Apollo return with the project’s second-single “Zady” featuring 3D Na’Tee. “Zaddy” was premiered by Brooklyn Vegan.
“This is another soulful R&B release that makes it clear that the Lovesick album will be a summer of love classic,” Raheem DeVaughn confidently asserted. “The lyrical conversation on ‘Zaddy’ between me and New Orleans Sensation 3D Na’Tee is tastefully sensual.”
“‘Zaddy’ is undeniably one of my favorite joints on the album, and one of the earlier songs we worked on that set the tone for the sound of the project,” Apollo Brown added. “As always, Raheem displayed his throne on the song, and it was an absolute honor to be blessed by 3D Na’Tee’s greatness. Beautiful music!”
For the legendary DeVaughn, Lovesick further cements his stature as one of the finest crooners of his generation. The DMV-raised singer has sold hundreds of thousands of records, won BET Awards, and been nominated for three Grammys, but this stands among his finest work.
He has conjured the perfect record for the Sunday backyard BBQ and for riding in the car with the object of your affections, the ideal nocturnal soundtrack for when it’s time to lower the lights. For Brown, this is a panoramic expansion that shows the full range of his gifts. It is the home-cooked meal, the perfectly rolled joint, soft lighting, a pledge to love and fidelity, and all the struggles with temptation. It is soul, as smooth and supernatural as it gets.
Lovesick will be released on June 4, 2021, and also features collaborations with Shady Records’ Westside Boogie, Skyzoo, and 3D’NaTee.
For more information, follow these artists on social media to stay updated!
Follow Raheem DeVaughn:
https://twitter.com/raheem_devaughn
https://www.instagram.com/raheem_devaughn/
Follow Apollo Brown:
https://twitter.com/apollobrown
https://www.instagram.com/apollobrown/
Follow 3D Na’Tee:
https://twitter.com/3dnatee
https://www.instagram.com/3dnatee/
