D’Angelo’s “The Charade” Lyrics Meaning
The lyrics of D’Angelo’s “The Charade” mainly speaks about the state of the Black Community in America. The charade he talks about is the general pretense that African Americans have achieved a status of equality in the country.
The singer explained the first line of the song in an interview, saying that the system truly decimates Blacks. According to him, the only way to change this is to first make themselves aware, then push a proper agenda for the movement.
Throughout the song, he references the weight of longstanding racism faced by African Americans. He talks about how African Americans have often been perceived as savages including rapists, murderers and thieves. He goes on to lay bare the level of bias they have had to endure despite several cries for change.
D’Angelo expresses that though there have been several ‘dreamers’ such as political leaders in the Black Community, who have sought for total freedom, they were all eliminated abruptly. He takes a swipe at the mass media for doing more damage than good. In doing that, he emphasizes on the fact that African Americans have always demanded for their constitutional rights to be respected, yet they continue to get killed for it.
In all, D’Angelo uses “The Charade” to talk about ongoing discrimination against Blacks and how they get the absurd facades as though something is being done about it. He also uses the song to encourage his fellow Blacks to participate in fighting against the system.
Who wrote “The Charade”?
“The Charade” was written by D’Angelo in conjunction with songwriter Kendra Foster.
Production and Release
D’Angelo produced this song together with co-producer, Questlove. “The Charade” was released through RCA Records on December 15th, 2014.
The song was the second single from the soul singer’s 2014 studio album titled Black Messiah. “Really Love” came out as that album’s first single.
D’Angelo and the Vanguard
This song as well as its entire album (Black Messiah) was not credited to D’Angelo but D’Angelo and the Vanguard.
