Rockin' Our Turntable: Erykah Badu

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 13, 2008 6:50PM

Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) is just completely and utterly fantastic, and believe us when we say that judgment is based on an objective level. Badu has long been a cypher of sorts -- is she an Earth mother? a revolutionary? an unbalanced eccentric? -- but New Amerykah draws together all the disparate threads of her personality and weaves them into a piece of work that stands as her strongest statement yet.

The album slowly unspools with the slowly building groove of "Amerykahn Promise" that is several shades of George Clinton at his laid back funkiest. After things get minimal and weird, with most of the songs containing hints of beats and rhythms. It's telling that the album's most accessible track, "Honey," is almost hidden at the end of the album, after the heartrending farewell of "Telephone" and a brief reprise of the opening track.

Badu wants the listener to immerse themselves in her songs, and the lack of obvious hooks actually makes this entreaty easy to fulfill. Without an obvious focal point the rhythms surround the listener and draw them into Badu's seductive rhymes and melodies. Lyrically she deals both explicitly and in muted metaphor with the state of the world around us today, alongside some of her hopes for the future.

Most soul and hip-hop these days is so preoccupied with the artifice it's as if many of its practitioners have forgotten about the actual artistry of their vocation. Badu steps away from this crowd, unafraid to experiment and follow her muse, and we're much better off for her daring.