Busta Rhymes has taxen to wax to honor the memory of D’Angelo, releasing a touching new tribute song called “Magic.”
Premiered by Okayplayer, the track finds Bus-a-Bus spitting over D’Angelo’s “One Mo’ Gin” instrumental and celebrating the late singer’s talent, impact and legacy.
After recalling how he first met the Voodoo virtuoso at a Tribe Called Quest studio session in the early ’90s, Busta spits in a spoken word flow: “The shit he did cut deep in the soul, hit the center of your core / Oh yes, we wanted more! Damn right, we wanted more! / We could not get enough of the god, damn, he was so charismatic / Every body of work he contributed to culture ended up being a classic / Type of shit that made a n*gga romantic together with his woman, climactic / Thank God He gave you to us as a gift that kept giving us this magic.”
Listen to “Magic” below.
Busta Rhymes also shared some of his fondest memories of D’Angelo with Okayplayer, saying: “When I met him, it was just a good, beautiful energy with the bro. D’Angelo’s personality speaks volumes because of how reserved he was. When it was time for him to actually speak — when you heard him sing or play the keyboard — it magnified the polar opposite of how quiet he was.”
Reflecting on their decades-long friendship, the Flipmode Squad founder said: “The entire 34 years of knowing D has been an incredible experience … I feel like the Earth shifted when D came to do music. He was the embodiment of some shit that was a complete balance of what our ancestors created, to where he took it.”
Busta also vowed to keep D’Angelo’s music and memory alive, adding: “The shit that he did decide to share with us — when people discover it, now or years from now, [it] is going to still shift the way of thinking. For whoever can appreciate real music. People think that it ends because of his physical transition, but it needed to be made clear that there’s nothing about him that’s going to end anytime soon.”
D’Angelo passed away on October 14 following a private battle with pancreatic cancer. He was just 51 years old.
In a statement, his family said: “The shining star of our family has dimmed his light for us in this life … We are saddened that he can only leave dear memories with his family, but we are eternally grateful for the legacy of extraordinarily moving music he leaves behind.
“We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time but invite you all join us in mourning his passing while also celebrating the gift of song that he has left for the world.”
