"D'Angelo was a textbook child of the Pentecostal church, a religion based on fire and brimstone. His grandparents' church was way up in the woods of Richmond, Va., a white tower encasing a hotbox of holy fervor, where people shouted and spoke in tongues and caught the Holy Ghost. And right there leading the choir was a teenaged D'Angelo, then just Michael, with his brother and cousins, as their grandmother preached."
""Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." This is from Psalms 23:4, a classic prayer about God's blessed navigating a world full of sin and evil at every turn. Growing up in the church, that's certainly what you're told starting from a very young age."
The Psalm 23:4 verse frames a theme of facing temptation and fearlessness because of divine presence. The narrator recalls a Pentecostal upbringing that emphasized worldly sin and constant temptation. Michael Archer, known as D'Angelo, experienced that religious intensity while leading his grandparents' choir in Richmond, Virginia, and later wrestled with church warnings against secular music. His grandmother supported his musical calling, and he tattooed Psalms 23:4 on his arms as a reminder entering that valley. A Nigerian father's large CD collection exposed the narrator to African artists and limited American jazz and gospel, with only a few pop albums found.
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