Last year we saw the return of D’Angelo. The funky soul singer made a number of high profile performances, including the BET Awards, Bonnaroo, and Jay-Z’s Made In America festival. Now, his long awaited to follow up album to Voodoo is nearly 99% finished, according to Questlove. The Roots drummer says he’s spent the last month putting the final touches on the project, and will be done with the music by February. He tells Billboard it sounds like an “Instant classic” already.

“All last week, I was in the studio finishing (the album). We spent close to 18 hours, well not me personally because I have to go to ‘Fallon,’ but usually right after work. He’s the only person that I’ll actually go to the studio with and stay there to six in the morning, re-doing these drum parts. I won’t even do that for my own band, but I’ll do it for him. Right now, we’re just tightening up the loose ends. But I still stand by, 99% of it is done.”

Read more from Questlove on D’Angelo’s album interview after the jump

I would not be far off by saying this is probably my generation’s version of Sly (and the Family Stone’s) ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On.’ It’s potent. It’s funky. It’s an extremely hard pill to swallow. He’s one of those artists that have, of course, taken 13 years to follow up a record. It’s going to take you about 10 years to digest this record. Totally brilliant. Just the way this society works with music… being able to judge if something is a classic after the first listen, you can do that after thirty seconds on this. And the fact that we started this record in 2004, and it still sounds like it came out five years from now, it is a testament to the timelessness of it.” via Billboard

Related:
The Roots Surprise Fans with D’Angelo at Bonnaroo 2012 (Video)
D’Angelo Sings For ‘GQ’: Looks Good, Sounds Good, But Will He Stay?