The follow-up to Black Messiah is “part of the same vision”.

After the surprise release of his mindblowing third album last year, D’Angelo is back in the studio working on its “companion piece”.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone – his first since the release of Black Messiah – the R&B polymath said he originally planned the album to be much longer.

“What I’m working on now is like a companion piece. I hope people receive it that way. It’s part of the same vision,” he said, adding: “I do want to put a lot of music out there. I feel like, in a lot of respects, that I’m just getting started.”

He also commented on the relationship between Black Messiah and To Pimp A Butterfly, describing Kendrick Lamar as “jacked into the roots, he respects the lineage. The timing of both was kind of uncanny — it was almost a sign: Motherfuckers are making some shit that’s relevant to the times.”

Read the full interview to get D’Angelo’s take on race relations, Questlove and being a sex object, and check out Mikey IQ Jones’ review of Black Messiah.