Smokey Robinson was flattered when D’Angelo covered his 1979 classic, “Cruisin’.”
Robinson recently sat down with the R&B Money Podcast, where he was asked how he felt when he first heard D’Angelo’s version of the song.
“First of all, D’Angelo’s my little brother. I love him,” Robinson said at around the 40:40 minute mark. “What did I think when I heard it? I thought, ‘Yippee! Oooh great!’ That’s the same thing I think when I hear anybody doing any of my songs. As a songwriter, I hope that that happens all the time.”
He explained, “I know when the kids first started to sample music and during all that, people come to me, ‘Hey man, they sampled your music. Ain’t you upset?’ No, sample all of mine. Sample every song I ever wrote in my life, please. Because when you sample it, that says to me that out of the billion songs that are on Earth that you had a choice of, and plus you a songwriter yourself—you chose one of mine to incorporate in your music or to just sing, period? Thank you.”
“So D’Angelo, like I said, he’s a talented young man and he sang it and I was flabbergasted,” Robinson added. “I loved when he did that man. He’s got such a funky version of it.”
When one of the co-hosts brought up artists who don’t like having their music sampled, Smokey called them “fools” and “stupid.”
“First of all, like I said, it’s flattery and then you gonna earn some money. So why would you protest that?” the legendary singer wondered.
D’Angelo released his version of “Cruisin’” in 1995 as the second single from his debut studio album, Brown Sugar, which also arrived that year. The track peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Robinson released his version as a single in 1979 via Motown Records' Tamla label. It went on to peak at No. 4 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Soul Singles.
D'Angelo will perform for the first time in nine years at Roots Picnic, backed by The Roots. The festival is set to take place from May 31 to June 1 in Philadelphia.
