Produced primarily by the singer, Voodoo features a loose, groove-based funk sound and serves as a departure from the more conventional song structure of his debut album, Brown Sugar (1995).

Voodoo has since been regarded by music writers as a creative milestone of the neo soul genre during its apex[3][4] and has sold more than 1.7 million copies in the United States, being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

[8][9][10] The album also earned D'Angelo recognition for producing a commercial breakthrough for the genre and giving notice to other neo soul artists, including Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell.

[27] On the sessions' environment, Touré wrote "What started as the follow-up to D'Angelo's 1995 platinum debut, Brown Sugar, became five years of study at Soul University, complete with classes, pranks, gossip and equal amounts of discipline and laziness.

"[28] Production for the album was conducted in a generally informal manner and took place at Electric Lady Studios simultaneously with recording for Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun (2000) and Common's Like Water for Chocolate (2000).

[11] Frequent visits to the studio were made by fellow neo soul and hip hop recording artists associated with the Soulquarians collective such as Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, James Poyser, and Mos Def.

[11] In later interviews, Questlove discussed that he and D'Angelo incorporated much of the distinctive percussive rhythms of Detroit hip hop producer, Slum Village-member and The Ummah-affiliate J Dilla, also known as Jay Dee.

[27] Of the album's title and meaning, D'Angelo told USA Today: "[T]he myriad influences found on it can be traced through the blues and back deeper in history through songs sung–in religious [voodoo] ceremonies.

[46] According to New York Daily News music journalist Jim Farber, "In order to counter the slickness of modern R&B, D'Angelo's album reconfigured – and updated – the adventurous song structures and lowdown grooves of early-'70s works like Curtis Mayfield's 'Move On Up', Isaac Hayes' 'Hot Buttered Soul' and Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On'.

[55] Rob Evanoff of All About Jazz called the song "an uplifting soul ride", and stated that it evokes an image of "a musical train seen far off in the distance, slowly getting bigger as it gets closer".

[56] Evanoff also compared the track's style to the jam-sound of Pink Floyd, and wrote "it surrounds you with a deep thick infectious groove that, at first, shadows and then envelopes your senses in such a way that is equal bits liberating, intoxicating and hypnotic…you close your eyes and are transported into another dimension".

[63] Music critic Robert Christgau interpreted the lyrics to be "unjudgmental, unsentimental ... in which a young black man lays out the reasons he's ready to die-leaving the listener to wonder why the fuck he should have to think about it".

[63] It contains an ambiguous harmony and bass by Pino Palladino, who evokes the playing style of James Jamerson, with spontaneously improvised variations-on-a-theme parts that sit back "in the pocket".

[63] Co-written by D'Angelo's former girlfriend, singer Angie Stone, "Send It On" contains lyrics concerning themes of honesty and faith in love, and features jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove on flugel horn.

[66] According to Questlove, "The Root", "Spanish Joint", and "Greatdayndamornin' / Booty'" serve as the "virtuoso part of the record", featuring intricate technical arrangements,[27] no overdubbing, and Charlie Hunter playing both electric and bass guitar.

[44] It is about a vengeful woman's effect on the narrator: "In the name of love and hope she took my shield and sword ... From the pit of the bottom that knows no floor/Like the rain to the dirt, from the vine to the wine/From the alpha of creation, to the end of all time".

[18] It incorporates rhythmic Brazilian guitar licks by Hunter, funky horn arrangements by Hargrove,[18] and Latin grooves and fusion instrumentation similar to Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" (1973).

[69] Opening with a shimmery rustle of chimes,[68] the song contains a drum interpretation of Prince's "I Wonder U" from his Parade (1986),[52] which was also utilized for the Ursula Rucker and The Roots track "The Return to Innocence Lost" from Things Fall Apart.

[18][72] "Devil's Pie" and "Left & Right" were released as singles but failed to make a significant commercial impact,[18][73] with the latter having been aimed at R&B and hip hop-oriented radio stations due to the prominence of rappers Redman and Method Man on the track.

[74] A music video for "Left & Right", created by director Malik Hassan Sayeed and producer Rich Ford, Jr., was anticipated by fans and MTV network executives that had planned special promotions and a world premiere for the clip.

[75] However, Sayeed's concept of a concert video that paid tribute to funk shows of the past expended Virgin's budget and resulted in a missed deadline for the MTV premiere.

[75] The limited success with singles and lukewarm opinions from label executives led to more promotional efforts and a public response made by D'Angelo's management through issuing a statement, which cited Voodoo as the R&B musical equivalent of art rock band Radiohead's acclaimed studio album OK Computer (1997).

[72] Prior to its release, Virgin launched an extensive, multi-layered campaign for the album, which setup several promotional performances by D'Angelo in 1999, including a guest performance on the season premiere of The Chris Rock Show on September 17, New York's Key Club, the National Black Programmers Coalition meeting in New Orleans on November 20, KMEL San Francisco's House of Soul show on December 10, and KKBT L.A.'s Holiday Cooldown on December 11.

[76] Following commitments made by the label for the album's distribution in the UK, continental Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, D'Angelo appeared at London's Music of Black Origin Awards on October 6.

[18] Voodoo was issued with a parental advisory label, due to profanities and sexually explicit lyrics present on the tracks "Devil's Pie" and "Left & Right",[87] and also as a "clean" edited version with an alternate cover.

[20][46][103][104] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called it a "deeply brave and pretentious record ... signifies like a cross between lesser Tricky and Sly's Riot Goin' On", and wrote of D'Angelo, "he leads from strength" rather than "tune-and-hook", "a feel for bass more disquieting than bootalicious.

"[64] NME praised its diverse sound and commented that the album "represents nothing less than African American music at a crossroads ... To simply call D'Angelo's work neo-classic soul, as per corporate diktat, would be reductive, for that would be to ignore the elements of vaudeville jazz, Memphis horns, ragtime blues, funk and bass grooves, not to mention hip-hop, that slip out of every pore of these 13 haunted songs.

Club commented that the album "often recalls the muddier bits of Sly Stone's later works [...] and the much-missed balladry of prime Prince" and stated, "D'Angelo's mellow strategy frequently pays off [...] a brave antidote to current pop and hip-hop trends.

When you set the needle down on Miles' Kind of Blue or Coltrane's Giant Steps or Dexter Gordon's Go, you have an ulterior motive, you seek to escape, to enjoy, to experience, to extrapolate your inner demons.

[108] Rolling Stone's James Hunter disapproved of the experimental and loose-sounding structure, and viewed that it does not attain its potential, stating "long stretches of it are unfocused and unabsorbing [...] Voodoo flatters the real at the expense of the thing.