![]() ![]() ![]() To be sure, Erykah Badu has always made clear her opposition to inequality and injustice. "My People" features a slow-yet-confident beat accompanied by confidently righteous lyrics that are almost gospel-like in their repetition and use of call and response: "When they start throwin' fire (My people, hold on)/Chant chant chant you down now (My people, hold on)/Oh you got to hold on and on (My people, hold on)." While "Amerykahn Promise" plays with up-tempo humor, most of the album shows off a thoroughly serious and contemplative side. The song is blatantly tongue-in-cheek, featuring a deep-voiced authority figure demanding that folks "respect their country." The opening track "Amerykahn Promise" kicks off with a funky bass-and-guitar line plucked straight from the '70s and used as background for the sideshow that is Amerykah, a humorously backward country of big promises and little pay-out. As a result, 4th World War is easily Badu's most political album to date. Soul, R&B, funk, the beats of hip-hop and rap, all are woven together into an often mind-bending eclecticism.įurthermore, Badu has culled each genre's latent tendency of rebellion and outspokenness. With the help of such producers as Madlib and 9th Wonder, 4th World War doesn't just integrate these traditions, but does so extremely well. In other words, Badu consciously sees herself as building on the best traditions in African American music. In each case, the cover-art has been altered to feature Badu's face singing the lyrics of the song.Įrykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), Motown, 2008. In it, Badu holds up iconic albums from Diana Ross, Funkadelic, Earth Wind and Fire, De La Soul and others. The video for her playfully groove-based single "Honey," leaked onto the Internet this past November, highlights this legacy. But perhaps what fans have missed the most during Badu's absence has been the musical legacy she represents. At a time when female R&B is dominated by artists like Beyonce and Rihanna, whose music seems to proudly tout the model of "sex-appeal-before-substance," Badu's music has always been intelligent, diverse, deep and shown an uncompromising willingness to speak truth to power.Īll of these are characteristics that seem to come at a premium in modern music, and over the years they have earned Badu a loyal fan base. The news couldn't come a moment too soon. Now, with New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), it seems the Dallas-born soul singer is making up for lost time.Ĥth World War is the first of three full-length albums the artist plans to release this year. IT'S BEEN four and a half years since Erykah Badu released her critically acclaimed Worldwide Underground EP. ![]()
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