She kept working on “Part Two” with a host of underground musicians and producers, from Madlib, Shafiq Husayn and 9th Wonder to Karieem Riggins, Georgia Ann Muldrow and the Roots’ James Poyser, who produced the lead single, “Window Seat.” “The thought was, ‘Why wouldn’t we give fans a classic Badu album now? We’re going to lose them.’ But ultimately, there’s a piece of art for every season.”īadu originally planned to release her “New Amerykah” projects as a double album - she describes “Part One” as the left side of her brain and “Part Two” as the right - but split the work with the release of “Part One” in 2008. “We got flak over ‘New Amerykah Part Two’ because it wasn’t a traditional Badu album,” says Kay K Rosemond, an A&R (artists and repertoire) executive at Universal Motown who’s worked closely with Badu on all of her studio albums. What’s helped the singer maintain her relevance - namely, her uncompromising far-outness - through the years could also be why longtime fans occasionally have had trouble keeping up. Her 1997 breakout debut, “Baduizm,” remains her best-selling album, with 2.6 million copies sold. “New Amerykah Part One” landed on many music critics’ year-end lists and sold 360,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan - the lowest total of Badu’s career. The element of surprise is a true element for an artist, just like earth, wind, fire and water.” CHANGING IT UPĭue March 30, “New Amerykah Part Two” is Badu’s fifth studio album and first since 2008’s “New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War,” which found Badu riffing on politics, drawing from jazz, hip-hop and funk and sticking with mostly electronic production, to freer and freakier effect than on her 2003 release, “Worldwide Underground.” Because of the kind of artist I am, I don’t want to lose the boutiqueness or the exclusivity of the music. “I can say, ‘No pictures, no video,’ but everything is a video camera now. “The Age of Aquarius is a whirlwind, baby,” Badu says. When she explains her reasoning behind this to Billboard, she has just returned home to Dallas, where she raises her children: 12-year-old son Seven Sirius, 5-year-old daughter Puma Sabti and 1-year-old Mars. Over candlelight, she unveiled each track like it was sacred text and threatened to toss the album altogether if it leaked before the official street date.īadu hasn’t performed any of the unreleased material live, either, instead performing catalog tracks and a take on Snoop Dogg’s raunchiest party anthem, “Ain’t No Fun,” on a string of recent West Coast dates. In December, she gathered with Universal Motown president Sylvia Rhone, Jay Electronica (her longtime boyfriend and the father of her third child, Mars Merkaba) and select journalists for an album listening party at New York’s Chung King Studios. “Jump in the Air” (now retitled “Jump Up in the Air and Stay There”) is no longer on “New Amerykah Part Two” because Badu is a woman of her word. “No one can say anything negative about it, because it’s just fun,” Badu says of the song. (Badu describes it as an “Erykahleidoscope.”) Wayne raps about going “nuts like a danish” and vanishing into thin air while Badu howls and ululates, beckoning the listener to “come fly with us” over a sample of Parliament Funkadelic’s “Hydraulic Pump.” Viral music videos don’t get any weirder - or really, more ingenious - than this. Intended as a cut from her upcoming “New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh” album, the duo’s collaboration leaked and subsequently was released as a Web-only track, accompanied by one acid trip of a music video, in which Wayne’s and Badu’s heads float and multiply. It’s a cosmic bummer that the syrup-soaked rapper and the future-funk diva hadn’t thought to pair up before Badu’s new single, “Jump in the Air.” NEW YORK (Billboard) - If Lil Wayne is from Mars, then Erykah Badu is the high priestess of Venus.
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