Word: erykah
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Dates: during 1997-1997
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...ERYKAH BADU BADUIZM (Kedar Entertainment/Universal) Some singers can break your heart; Badu can put it back together again. Her neo-soul songcraft draws from soul, jazz, blues and hip-hop--but instead of a chaotic swirl of sound, the result is a slow-burning, meditative album that brings all these genres together. This is healing music about magic and love, racism and reincarnation, late-night parties and Afro picks. Badu's voice is a natural wonder, sharp and metallic, wounded and sad, yearning for empathy in one song, decrying injustice in the next. Her brilliant companion CD, Live, which captures...
...afternoon last fall, I happened upon Erykah Badu's debut video "On and On." Coming on late in Black Entertainment Television's "Planet Groove"--after an hour and half of rejects from the Mary J. Blige school of intonation and generic girl groups whose lyrics made the Spice Girls seem like Joni Mitchell--"On & On" was unlike anything I had seen or heard in awhile. A pastel-infused riff inspired by The Color Purple, I fell in love with the song's sweet sass, thoughtful hip-hop jazz-poetry. In the year of 'Lil Kim, Erykah was a refreshing surprise...
...originality and octave range. Live is a jazzy portrait of a charming Southern gal as funk goddess. Posing on the cover as a very pregnant butterfly (Badu was expecting during the recording of the album), she comes into her own, leaving the impression that she is beautifully, sassily, definitively Erykah...
...moon shine on you/I'll be the womb give you fruit/I'll be heaven love me right/I'll be divine give you light," Badu sings at the end. Here, as on the entire album, she proves that although she is not the second coming of Billie Holiday, Erykah "God Damn it I'm gonna sing my song" Badu is the second coming of sincere, original...
Other memorable tracks feature guest performers. On "One," a contemplation of monogamy, family and love, Erykah Badu blesses the track with her hypnotic vocals and a pretty good rap. The ubiquitous Puff Daddy also appears on the guaranteed hit, "The Body Rock," which he produces and raps (along with Mase and Rampage...