Erykah Badu: C /D, S&D

I wasn't picking just one, I like all three of them.

Just by varying degrees, y'know.

"just saying that saying 'this is better in every way than mamas gun' seems weird. sort of like people saying the roots' game theory or even the new one are better than things fall apart.

-- titchyschneiderMk2"

except that the Roots earlier material is clearly far superior to their more recent, while Erykah has maintained a pretty high level across all of her records. i think that this one is the most interesting, daring, and quality of all of them though!

"the other strikes me as one of the best albums I've ever heard."

i am going to assume/hope you were referring to mamas gun. ;)

the whole album is quite righteous
now, Mama's Gun is an entire different ballpark for me

also: I want to know where she buys her wigs

xp: no

http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2008/05/qa_with_erykah_badu.php

So excited.

My favorite album, Dark Side of the Moon, was meant to be a whole piece, just like mine.

o_O

I gotta say that ain't surprising!

i am seeing her show tomorrow! so excited you guys!!!

Tags: Erykah Badu, Joni Mitchell, Mos Def, Pink Floyd, The Roots, White Stripes

ooh, chris "the best drummer" dave is playing with erykah now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d9eydCfTdw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFYl3Ho41P0

i wish that band was on the record.

people, this show. omg omg omg. if erykah badu had an army i'd enlist.

ahhhhhhhhhh
two of my friends were at that show, i almost got the 2nd ticket but it didnt work out :( must have been amaaaaazing

I wanted to go see her, but she was playing with the roots who totally suck and tickets were like $60. I'll catch her next time she comes, which should be soon

the roots did kind of suck. :( i mean, i don't think they suck in general, but their live show is a mess. but badu alone was worth the price, seriously. i keep trying to describe the show, but can't. i feel like i'm 13.

she sang "green eyes" off mama's gun while performing some crazy rhythmic gymnastics routine.

the roots were terrible when i saw them about a month ago, but i just NEED to see Erykah at this point, i would have paid anything. what happened to the Roots BTW, they are really maybe 1/50th of what they were 10 years ago.

the roots' show is almost always a mess. FFS would it hurt to come up with a setlist for once?

im seeing erykah end of june. i cant wait. if i was a woman i think id want to be erykah.

"the roots' show is almost always a mess. FFS would it hurt to come up with a setlist for once?

im seeing erykah end of june. i cant wait. if i was a woman i think id want to be erykah.

-- titchyschneiderMk2"

when i saw the roots in 99 and 01, they were outstanding. of course they only had good material to work with at that point, plus their guests (black moon, jill scott, jaguar wright, etc) were all extremely exceptional as well which helped them out.

i wonder what Pittsburgh's energy field is like that she can't play anywhere even within driving distance of us? she could hit baltimore, cleveland, DC, detroit, toronto all within a 4 hour drive from me, but she isnt not playing any of those places. how weak. even philly could be doable maybe, but i dont see anything about her playing there either.

roots were great when i saw them around '02 i think

last time i saw them was when the phrenology album was out. saw them twice that year. once in NY and next in london. good shows. but they do ramble on a bit. their shows never have much form.

Damn, I really want to see her this Thurs. but no car + venue in Redmond is : |

I feel for you there, the Rev. :-/

great review of the record from nabisco in pfork btw!!!

i think you nailed the nuance needed for the parts (politix, history-of-post-civil-rights-black-music, etc) that seemed likely to end up sinking it but that she managed to pull off

ok I think this album finally clicked for me.

the only part of nab's review that i didn't like was the part about the duet with the trumpet player (ie roy hargrove). a) the vocals seem pretty obviously overdubbed, and b) roy sounds great, but she sounds kinda terrible here?

roy hargrove's tone always sounds so weeded, which is appropriate

tru

that dude's niche is really adding those awesome blazed lines to r&b albums, not being a jazz trumpet hero or heading a record (the tracks w/d'angelo, badu, common, etc. on his own records are so terrible compared to the reverse).

man i love this album tho:

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/images/local/250/79bf43d14163425496a6e34037ab8fca.jpg

"O My Seh Yeh"!!!

i was listening to this yesterday and was thinking that a lot of her 'conscious' rhetoric seems a bit too 'familiar'. like ive heard it a million times before ten years ago. its all that NWO-paranoia again but reworked.

http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/NO.gif

im not saying its a corny rehash, just saying im not sure shes really changed her stance on anything since then. shes probably just been relistening to a lot of hip hop from back then - the healer lyrics really remind of me old essays people used to write about hip hop in say, rap-pages (lol) back in 1998/99.

i haven't heard that roy album. and i am actually interested in his new quintet album. actually.

So new album next month, no? Details are still pretty sketchy. Has me worried.

and she promised, at the end of 'honey'

holy fuck erykah live. mind. blown. coming on stage to 'a milli' ("where is erykah badu at?" an hour late is where erykah badu was at), 'the healer' was incredible, that version of 'appletree' which sounded like some sort of insane cybotron remix, and just how triumphant was 'soldier'...the woman is a fucking genius.

i got to meet her afterwards <3 <3 <3

sounds good. she's playing the blue balls festival in lucerne later this month - if only it had been happening when i'd been there, would've been extra surreal seeing her play somewhere like that

did you interview her?

show was brilliant. she is amazing.

no, about 15 journos/fans just got to sit with her for a while, ask questions and so on. she's really serene in person. um yeah, one of the most powerful shows i've been to i think. always astonished at how much she belts it out on stage - she's so understated on record, to hear a song like 'the healer' sung like that was mind-blowing.

ooh im jealous. i love erykah. wish she did more from mamas gun but i want you, danger and otherside of the game were amazing. i liked how amerykah promise sounded so fierce. also liked when she was tapping out beats on her drum machine!

'danger' - YES. one of my favourite erykah tracks, never heard it live before.

i was actually surprised she didn't do more from new amerykah - four tracks in it looked like she was going to play the whole thing in order. 'the cell' would have been incredible but i got no complaints really.

i didnt want her to do that much more from the new album. i think i enjoyed the last time i saw her a bit more just cos i love MG more than the new album, but she is still a really brilliant performer. even when she was talking about the occupation of countries etc, it was inspiring/interesting rather than soapbox-corny/preaching to the converted.

they should have had her at glasto.

ah well, i love NA more than MG (though obv huge love for both). agree about her political talk - also love that she brought that out right after a sequence of long-standing crowd favourites, just when the crowd was putty in her hands. she said some interesting stuff backstage - she was asked whether the obama campaign had got in touch with her or whether she'd accept an offer if they did, and she replied in the negative - she says she "doesn't know much about the system" (ie she distrusts everything about it) but obama's importance was in how he'd catalysed people as individuals to believe in whatever change they needed to effect in their own lives, personal and political.

o yeah brixton acad was a tad hot, don't you think!

its always too fucking hot. saw NERD the other week and felt quite disgusting.

i dont think obamas people get in touch with everyone thats donated a song - i doubt taz from sa-ra was asked personally! but he still did a song for it. i *almost8 did an eye roll when she talked about the system itself needing an overhaul but something about how she put it across was nicely cliche-free.

i really hope her other two albums come out this year. did anyone ask about those? is she trying to leave motown/universal?

her point was more about how the most significant impact of obama's presence and rhetoric of change has been to catalyse people as individuals, which will stand even if he doesn't become president or his presidency doesn't succeed politically.

word is that the next two albums are definitely on their way. don't think she's trying to leave anything.