While the firestorm around the release of D’Angelo’s “Black Messiah” has still yet to die down, amid the overall sweep of brilliance music fans alike witnessed in the last 72 hours stands a lone figure who’s name gets lost in the laundry list of greats that contributed to this piece of work. You have your Questlove’s, your Pino Paladino’s, the Q-Tip’s, Jesse Johnson’s, Ruse Elevado, Isaiah Sharke.. the list goes on. One name in particular — Kendra Foster — is stamped across two-third’s of album, claiming words from “The Charade,” “1000 Deaths,” “Really Love,” “Til It’s Done,” “The Door,” “Another Life,” “Ain’t That Easy,” and “Sugah Daddy.”
Foster has been affiliated with the George Clinton Parliament Family and was a part of a number of neo-soul bands that have come and gone before finding herself touring with D’Angelo, and ultimately assisting in writing this album. Her own solo work, though few, embodies that same grit and soul, heard in “Black Messiah,” and whether that’s a characteristic that she learned from D or shared with him, let’s hope there’s more of her to come soon.
