Erykah Badu is a Grammy Award-winning, American R&B, soul, and hip hop singer and songwriter, whose work encompasses elements of jazz. Throughout the ten year spans of her career, Erykah Badu has exerted her pure, genuine energy through her artistry, moving the minds, hearts, souls, and bodies of music listeners that clamor for her music everywhere.
With her new album, New Amerykah featuring the debut single "Honey" laced with Erykah's bluesy grit and MC style vocals, the song is bolstered by producer's 9th Wonder's razor sharp hip hop beats. Badu has enlisted some of the most talented, groundbreaking underground producers and engineers in the hip-hop game to support her breakthrough return, including Grammy Award winning producer 9th Wonder (Jay-Z, Nas, Mary J. Blige), Madlib, Mike "Chav" Chavarria and R&B singer Bilal.
Like Baduizm, songs such as "The Healer" which has a hypnotic and immensely dope beat, the robotic "Twinkle", and the undeniably funky "The Cell" could seem cryptic upon first listen if one does not know the whole essence of Badu. Overall, lyrically content is politically aware and "revolution" driven "Amerykahn Promise", "My People", "Soldier", "Master Teacher".
Her closing track "Telephone", Honey is the bonus track, is an artistic and heartfelt collaboration. This song is based on a conversation in which Erykah had with Maureen Yancey, the mother of the late and unbelievably great J. Dilla on how he had dreamed late rapper ODB had told him the route to take in the afterlife. The raw instrumentation, heart, and feeling of this song deem itself the BEST song on Amerykah. Beautifully exotic and robotic while still abstractly organic, New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War is definitely an interesting to listen. |
