Eric Bellinger is remembering D’Angelo … he says the voice, swag, vibe, lifestyle and music embodied the definition of “street soul.”

We got Eric at LAX on Tuesday and our photog asked him about D’Angelo’s tragic death, which shook the music world earlier in the day.

Eric says D’Angelo was a pioneer in music and he really looked up to the guy … Eric even sampled D’Angelo’s “Lady” on his song “Curious” with Fabolous and Cordae.

As we reported … D’Angelo died from pancreatic cancer.

Eric tells us how D’Angelo is still influencing musicians long after his heyday and he even sings us a little bit of “Nothing Even Matters.”