Word: badue
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Dates: during 1997-1997
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This summer female pop stars are clearing out space for themselves, and the season's usual sea of masculinity is parting. The debut CD by Alaskan pop-folkie Jewel, Pieces of You (Atlantic), has sold more than 5 million copies and is still riding high on the charts. Erykah Badu, with her poetry-slam soulfulness, has sold more than 1 million copies of her brilliant new CD Baduizm (Kedar Entertainment/Universal) and is a headliner on this summer's neo-soul Smokin' Grooves Tour. And Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan has masterminded the summer's most talked-about musical event: Lilith...
...second, the spottily brilliant My Life, sold 3 million; both spawned countless sound-alikes. The bold but ultimately mercenary ghetto-sex-bomb posturing of rappers Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim, the emotionally blunt crooning of talented teen singer Aaliyah and even the admirably artsy neo-soul stylings of Erykah Badu all have roots in Blige's success. But Blige was the original round-the-way diva; her hard, up-from-the-projects exterior made her raw vocals that much more affecting. Says producer Jimmy Jam, who worked with Blige on World: "People can copy her, but no one can match...
Building buzz for an unknown singer on a little-known label is no easy task. Massenburg started by distributing 10,000 sampler cassettes featuring Badu to nearly everyone attending last year's Soul Train Music Awards; he also sent 2,500 vinyl copies of On & On to radio stations and clubs. The producer continued his campaign by persuading D'Angelo, the critically lauded neo-soul singer he had once managed, to join Badu in a remake of the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet Your Precious Love for the sound track of the movie High School High. Then, a few weeks...
...Badu's voice isn't cuddly or cozy; it's sharp and metallic at points, wounded and sad at others. Most of the songs on Baduizm are slow, supple and subtle. Certainly, with its naked gurgling bass, feels like a wee-hours jazz improv and sounds like a love ballad; it's actually a look at the dysfunctional "love affair" America has with its black citizens. Drama, despite its title, starts placidly but later crests as Badu laments symptoms of modern life: "race relations/ segregation/ no occupation/ world inflation...
...video should also give the singer a boost. The lush clip, inspired by the movie The Color Purple (one scene takes place in a jook joint), is receiving heavy play on Black Entertainment Television, and Badu, in her distinctive head wrap, cuts a sleek, striking figure. Badu hopes that she can help change what she calls the "monotonous" nature of contemporary R. and B. "I want to be the midwife to a new sound," she says. Baduizm is a gentle but firm slap that may bring neo-soul to robust life...