Lauryn Hill Pens Heartfelt Tribute Letter To D’Angelo

Grammy-award-winning singer and songwriter, Lauryn Hill, took to Instagram to pay tribute to D’Angelo after information broke of his premature passing.

Supply: Mark Metcalfe/ Dia Dipasupil

Hill known as D’Angelo an “plain magnificence and expertise” in her emotional tribute letter.

Hill, 50, collaborated with the neo-soul legend—who handed away after a non-public battle with pancreatic most cancers—on the beloved monitor “Nothing Even Issues,” the place he appeared as a visitor vocalist. The soulful duet turned a standout on her critically acclaimed, five-time Grammy-winning album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

“Individuals want reflection,” the music veteran started her emotional tribute letter. “I remorse not having extra time with you. Your plain magnificence and expertise weren’t of this world, and a presence not of this world wants safety in a world that covets mild and the anointing of God. You sir, moved us, stirred us, impressed and even intimidated others to motion together with your genius.”

The R&B big thanked D’Angelo for “being a beacon of sunshine to a era and past who had no remembrance of the legacy that preceded us.”

She continued, “Thanks for charting the course and for making house throughout a time when no comparable house actually existed. You imaged a unity of power and sensitivity in Black manhood to a era that solely noticed itself as having to be one or the opposite. It’s my earnest prayer that you’re in peace, distant from selfishness, concern, and/or controlling pursuits. Removed from possessiveness, removed from greed, removed from manipulation, removed from exploitation, removed from deliberately designed chaos, and that you simply, Brother, are in peace, in bliss, and in everlasting mild and success with our Father in heaven.”

Hill concluded her emotional tribute letter, “I really like you and I miss you. Could God grant peace and shelter to your loved ones, true pals, and real appreciators, Brother, King.”

D’Angelo mirrored on working with Lauryn Hill throughout a 2008 interview.

Throughout an interview with Rolling Stone in 2008, D’Angelo mirrored on his time working with Hill on “Nothing Even Issues,” calling his collaborative relationship with the songstress “heat and candy.”

“Initially, we have been going to swap tunes for one another’s tasks as a result of I used to be engaged on Voodoo on the identical time and my keyboardist James Poyser was additionally working along with her,” D’Angelo informed the publication on the time. “I went to her home in New Jersey, she performed loads of songs for me, and gave me a tough copy to hearken to. When Lauryn and I went into the studio collectively, I laid down my vocals in the middle of an hour.”

Jill Scott and Missy Elliott additionally paid tribute.

Hill wasn’t the one celeb to jot down a tribute in honor of D’Angelo on Tuesday. Jill Scott, one other neo-soul titan, took to X to honor the singer’s legacy. She revealed {that a} mutual pal had knowledgeable her that the star was “unwell” just a few days earlier than his demise.

“I didn’t know he was leaving us TODAY” she added. “Oooooooh my condolences to his household, his musical fam and followers. I’m a fan and I mourn. D. Keaton & now D’Angelo. Hurts.”

In a follow-up publish, she added, “I by no means met D’Angelo however I really like him, respect him, admire his present. This loss HURTS!! Like to my household which might be household to him. I’m so sorry. R.I.P. GENIUS.”

Missy Elliott shared heartfelt condolences for D’Angelo’s son, Michael Archer II, whose mom, Angie Stone, tragically died in a automotive crash simply seven months earlier than D’Angelo’s passing.

“Relaxation Peacefully D’Angelo,” The Rain singer wrote on X. “No mum or dad needs to see their kids go, nevertheless it’s painful for kids to see their mother and father go to so ship prayers up for his son, who additionally misplaced his mother this yr, for power.”