“Brown Sugar” by D’Angelo

At a glance, D’Angelo’s “Brown Sugar” seems to be about a dark-skinned woman the singer loves, but on a deeper note, it is actually D’Angelo’s confession of his love for grass. The singer personifies his love for grass by likening it to the kind of love felt for a woman.

The singer possibly refers to Brown Sugar as a blunt (cigar filled with grass) he may have smoked for the first time in Philadelphia which he shortens as ‘Philly’. Being intimate with a woman does not make your eyes the shade of blood-burgundy, however taking grass constantly does. He then compares the way he would kiss a girl to the way he inhales the smoke.

D’Angelo emphasizes on getting high, as he appears to be addicted to the feeling he gets and actually wants more of this sugar. Again, honey, caramel skin and cocoa eyes are not human references but the flavor and appearance of the blunt he’s smoking. The blunt is brown like caramel, is honey-flavored, and has dark spots like cocoa when it is inhaled. D’Angelo mentions “Chocolate Thai” which is another powerful strain of the aforementioned substance.

He goes on to cleverly align his enjoyment of smoking to having physical interaction with a lady. He then expresses how high he wants to get and how he always wants more of the Brown Sugar.

Conclusion

In all, the lyrics of “Brown Sugar” basically see D’Angelo personifying weed and comparing his love for it to that of a woman. He does this in a very clever and creative manner!

Facts about “Brown Sugar”

• “Brown Sugar” was written and produced by D’Angelo. He received assistance from a frequent collaborating partner – Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
• The R&B tune was released on June 13th, 1995. D’Angelo dropped this song as the first single of his debut album, which is entitled, Brown Sugar, bearing the same name as the song’s title.
• The song was included on some compilation albums released by D’Angelo, such as 2008’s The Best So Far… and 2013’s Icon.
• On the British Singles chart, “Brown Sugar” peaked at the number 24 spot. In America, it reached #27 on the Hot 100.
• “Brown Sugar” was used in season 2, episode 8 of the Television drama series, New York Undercover. It was also used in the 1996 comedy/romance film – A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, starring the film’s director/writer, Martin Lawrence.

Did “Brown Sugar” win a Grammy?

The song’s exceptional performance made it a top contender for the category of Best R&B Song at the 1996 edition of the Grammy Awards. However, it lost the category to Stevie Wonder’s classic hit “For Your Love”.

Furthermore, the song was instrumental in its album’s nomination for the Grammy Award for R&B Album of the Year for 1996. The album also lost to TLC’s album – CrazySexyCool.