"Brown Sugar" was acclaimed by contemporary music critics. Martin Johnson of the "Chicago Tribune" praised D'Angelo's fusing of "elements of Prince, early '70s Smokey Robinson and post-Woodstock Sly and the Family Stone". "NME" wrote that "D'Angelo's downbeat world blurs the borders..., kicking over the traces of the genre game". "Time" magazine's Christopher John Farley said that D'Angelo's austere sound on the album serves as a reminder of the 1970s' musical atmosphere, but updated for listeners in the 1990s. In his review for "Vibe", James Hunter wrote that he is "determined to give pre-hip hop forms like blues, soul, gospel, and jazz a mid-'90s vibe", and "inhabits his songs from odd angles, without non-stop Vandross-style aural showmanship." "Rolling Stone" magazine's Cheo H. Coker praised "Brown Sugar" for its soulful sound and musical deviation from the New Jack-style of R&B at the time, stating: