NEW AMERYKAH, POLL 1 (4th World War)

"The Cell" blows my mind everytime I hear it

"Me" is the perfect sequel to "On and On" -- the story, taken up 10 years later.

a bit more coherent, even

The Healer, hands down. I love the album as a whole but there's something really entrancing about the repetitive mantra and Erykah's tone. After that, Amerykahn Promise and the bit at the end of Me about her mother where she's improvising with the trumpet.

"That Hump"

"The Healer" reminds me of those second or third tracks on Maxiquaye: it's eerie, displaced, ethereal in an almost metallic way, and sexy in a way you can't place.

My second pick would be "Soldier", with the bridge that keeps on going through several points that you expect it to end, getting denser and more jumbled all the while.

soldier! is like my favourite song this year. it's so good to walk the streets to. there's that little passage of ooh-a-ooh, hey, hey, uhha-rr, hey, hey, up there with like ain't no mountain high enough in abstract noise making terms.

"Healer" is just sublime.

I vote "whole album," but "The Cell" is otherworldly.

I also love the Obama intro to "Soldier."

fwiw, I don't think that's Obama

Shoot. I guess I fixated on the word "change" and assumed it was him. I don't recognize the speech and the clip's too short.

i vote whole album, too. HOW CAN I CHOOSE?

"That Hump" because of the Switch "I Call Your Name" 'sample'.

I really wish the tracks developed more, though. "The Cell" obviously has a sweet bass line, but the track just repeats the whole way through! I just wish the grooves went somewhere.

i chose telephone, but really this whole album is genius.

where's 'real thang'? it's not my favourite but it's just so righteous - i think it and 'honey', the most straightforwardly tuneful tracks on the album, work really well as bonus tracks. 'real thang' is endlessly quotable too - "got to balance your chakra, raise your octave to opera", "your double helix gon' triple", "shatter glasses like ella" and most of all the spoken ad libs: "sir, i think you better tell your soldiers that they need to - FALL BACK! cuz we comin' with a centrifugal force, it's about to get metaphysical y'all"

anyway it's between 'the cell', 'the healer' and 'soldier' for me, but more than any other album this year it just feels wrong to pinpoint particular favourites, it's such a cohesive work overall.

i dont have real thang on my copy!

holy shit. just found real thang. it's the b-side to "the healer" 12" righteous is right. DAMN. is this supposed to be off of part 2 or something? and when do we get return of the ankh anyway?

I think "Real Thang" (which I haven't heard) is only on socialist British pressings or some shit like that.

didn't she do that with i want you on worldwide underground?, too?
kinda makes me wish i hadn't waited to move to america before buying a copy.

"I Want You" is right in the middle of my American copy of WWU. Best song on the album, too.

ah o k. i haven't got that one yet, i'm not sure why i thought so. maybe there are other bonus tracks on uk one. such a perfect song:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1uxsc_erykah-badu-i-want-you_music

"That Hump"

― Put A Ring On It (The Brainwasher), Friday, October 24, 2008 10:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"the cell", but having to pick one is near impossible

haha 'real thang; is uk-only'?! i will upload tomorrow when not fall over drunx

UH HUH

i think i want to vote for "the healer" now

Twinkle- i love the eerieness of the production, the way her voice gets twisted all the way through the song and that verse about warlocks and witches with ill glitches.

Telephone

I don't know why, but nothing on the album has grabbed me yet -- I think my ears are so conditioned to track-only, singles listening that stuff just blows by if there's not a hook (i.e. I'd vote for "whole album" too). Looking for "Real Thang" now -- on the version I have there's a track just listed as "Bonus Track," but that appears to be "Honey"

this album is great... i voted for "soldier," though it was really a tie between it, "the healer" and "the cell"

Me was a close 2nd

'real thang'

Telephone

hip-hop
is bigger than religion

master teacher pt 2.

Right I just listened to this to decide. It's Me, The Cell or 2nd part of Master Teacher... or Telephone.. one of those anyway.

cell is way overrated. it sounds like something from 91.

I'm compelled to admit I prefer the tornadic first half of "master teacher," just to balance the scales.

cell nu amerykah pt. 1 is way overrated.
― titchyschneiderMk2

I think this is what you meant to write.

Plus, sounds like 1991 sounds like awesome.

yep

"The Cell" sounds like something from 1973, specifically, something by Stevie Wonder.

stevie wonder was using lightweight breakbeats and blanded out synths in 1973?

the whole album sounds like it wishes it lived back in 1973. is that good or bad? i dunno. but that doesn't mean i wouldn't take Call Me and Fresh (and Burnin') over this had ir been released then.

there are about 3 or 4 tracks tops that sound like they could have been made back then. even then, only amerykahn promise sounds *properly* retro, everything else in that old school soul/jazz/funk vein sounds like its been made recently.

The Cell has synths?

The wobbly bassline and finger snaps in "The Healer" set an incredibly nice vibe in the room everytime i put this on, so I'm going with that. I must say, I don't really like the first track, though. I think it's a little too aggressive sounding, and seems out of place with the rest of the album.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i am pretty cool with these results, aside from "Honey" getting shafted

Yeah wtf?

well i'm not saying that's surprising, generally i think people who know an album won't vote for the single in a poll like this even if they like it

Also, "Honey" kind of feels like an addendum to, rather than a component of the album.

wtf, people; this is the only thread where we can specifically talk about this album!!?

anyhow, i din't want to sidetrack the whatcha listening to thread any further... so i'll post this here instead:

"New Amerykah makes me think of something Matos told me about Sign O the Times: "You will never get to the bottom of that album." It is the meatiest album I've heard in a long time."

sure. but so what? the main difference between the two, for me, being that SotT has at least ten GRATE songs on it; whereas, New Amerykah... has what esactly??? i mean, i keep waiting for the damn songs to sink in, but it just ain't happening. yet.

SotT has at least ten GRATE songs on it; whereas, New Amerykah... has what esactly???

11.

i mean, i keep waiting for the damn songs to sink in, but it just ain't happening. yet.

I don't know how long you've had it, but it took me about 3 months to realize this album's greatness.

hahaha--now if only i could remember any of them...

xp

i've had it since March. :(

took me 1 listen

well yeah, it sounded good right off the bat for me as well; i just don't get any of this "album of the year" nonsense.

Album of the year nothing. This is an all-timer.

gah! the love you guys express for this makes me feel like i'm listening to an entirely different album. hey, maybe that's it...

i loved Mama's Gun, btw.

It's been my experience here on ILX that those most strenuously resisting this album are also those who can't get beyond Mama's Gun (which I love also, but I've moved on).

but i'm not resisting it, strenuously or otherwise; it just doesn't seem to want to sink in for me. also, after eight months of trying to “get it”, i figure the problem must be with the album itself, and not with any unwarranted expectations i may have brought to the tale.

Look, if you don't like it, it's all good!

don't get an aneurysm forcing yourself to like it.

believe me, I felt the same way the first few weeks I was listening to it and not understanding all the crazy praise. I think it clicked one day when I had it on in the car. but yeah, like Alfred said, not worth forcing it if it's not happening.

haha, no. i'm just surprised with all the love it’s been receiving 'round about these parts. for me, it seems like the kind of record people will be denouncing five years (or so) down the line.

And won't you be really happy when that happens.

maybe it will be seen as overblown and slightly embarrassing in place but it's nowhere near as much those things as, say, The Love Below and probably better written and produced than that too.

xpost Anyway, no need to pull this misunderstood minoritarian act. The anemic results of this poll bear out the fact that you're hardly alone in not being moved by this record.

just put soldier on your headphones and bop around the streets to it, you'll love it. mmm, telephone, too, when it's early.

no. honestly i'm glad that people reaqlly love it, i just wish i understood why is all. no big deal. this too shall pass.

xxxp

anemic? 30 votes for a poll about an album that's only a few months old ain't bad.

xpost

Everything that falls short of the Now! poll results numbers is pretty anemic to me.

The Healer is a highlight but i don't think of it as being as much of a standout as these votes indicate. the main reason it's my year favourite is because i don't think there's a real dip and every track has some distinct value and power thru various means.

the main reason it's my year favourite is because i don't think there's a real dip and every track has some distinct value and power thru various means.

O! T! M!

i did not vote in this poll because i could not choose!

"The Healer" is really just the song that pops into my head when I think about this album.

i now associate 'The Healer' with being at the edge of Lake Brienz in the Swiss Alps. Shit is TRANQUIL.

the healer is a huge standout for me.

I love the hell out of "The Healer," but I have to admit preference for some of the album's denser, Sa-Ra-ian tracks.

love that dilla/sa-ra drunken 8th note thing

Every time this thread gets bumped, I start humming "The Healer". Sometimes I follow that with "The Cell", but I always default to "The Healer".

i think i voted for 'the cell' or 'soldier' here but it's one of those rare albums which makes such sense in its totality that picking individual peaks feels sort of wrong...what blows my mind is how stellar its components are, but the whole is somehow even more than just the sum of them.

I had a bit of a slow uptake, too, but at this point I can't identify an album released this decade that means as much to me. I just posted this in the other thread last night.

yall have no idea how much this record speaks to me... I might even say it feels like its ABOUT me

― mr. mayan end times guy (The Reverend), Thursday, November 13, 2008 2:53 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I feel like, amazing new developments aside, this record perfectly encaptures how it feels to be black in america in 2008

― mr. mayan end times guy (The Reverend), Thursday, November 13, 2008 2:55 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The album it reminds me most of is Curtis. While the makers of both records are quick to detail our social ills, neither sounds, for even a second, like they don't believe we can overcome them.

― mr. mayan end times guy (The Reverend), Thursday, November 13, 2008 3:35 AM Bookmark

Another thing is, despite all the social commentary, it's never didactic (not that there's anything wrong with that, I mean Public Enemy were didactic), the whole thing feels so personal at every level.

And there are so many easter eggs, lyrically and sonically! I always discover something new when I listen to it. It's a complex motherfucking work. Just about a week ago, I first noticed that "My People" ends with the words "Good morning. Did you have a Dream?" And I capitilize Dream intentionally, because whether she was referring to the American (Amerykahn?) Dream or, I think more likely, MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, she intends to load the word with more meaning than its M-W definition would indicate.

yeah absolutely - i get annoyed when people overuse adjectives like "meaningful" but it absolutely applies to new amerykah in the sense that every word, note, inflection, every last detail in the arrangement is there for a reason, and even the most minute element of it can spark off these chains of thought just like yours

Yeah, even things in the sequencing. It's no accident that "Me" is followed by "My People". She's already claimed her people as her in the former song. "I salute you [insert your name here] because you are me". It's also no mistake that she goes from grown folks acting all niggerish and not taking responsibility for their kids in "The Cell" to lamenting how those same kids "don't know their language...don't know their god" in "Twinkle" to the epiphany of "wait....what if there were no niggers, only master teachers?"

there's some amazingly subtle towards Dilla on the album, too, like how 'My People' is based on the Eddie Kendricks track 'People Hold On' that Dilla sampled on Donuts. There's snippets of Badu singing on Madlib's new Beat Konduktah tape too, which is a Dilla tribute.

subtle nods towards

The sirens at the beginning of "Telephone" cribbed straight from Donuts!

egggggsactly! god, i love this album. i highly reccommend the dil cosby suite album too; its really strangely moving.

dil cosby suite album?

sure. but so what? the main difference between the two, for me, being that SotT has at least ten GRATE songs on it; whereas, New Amerykah... has what esactly??? i mean, i keep waiting for the damn songs to sink in, but it just ain't happening. yet.

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― Ioannis, Thursday, November 13, 2008 5:47 AM Bookmark

I'm getting at this above, but a marked difference between Sign O the Times and New Amerykah is that the songs on SOtT are very discrete, whereas the songs on NA heavily rely upon each other for contextual clues and inferences, building upon each others' ideas. So, while both albums are very rich experiences, they operate in different ways.

Onomatopoeia of the police's shotguns: "BANG BANG" ["The Cell"]
Onomatopoeia of Erykah's shotguns: "BLLLLACK" ["Soldier"]

Little touches like ^^^ make this album.

dil cosby suite is the new madlib beat konduktah album, on stones throw...

I'll have to check that out, even though I'm not generally a huge fan of Madlib's solo work.

there's not a lot of erykah on there, just little glimpses and slivers, but she's there. makes sense, what with them working together, and both being friends of dilla's.

aaaarrrggg! see, this is exactly why i feel like i'm somehow being left out by not "getting" the damn thing; you all make it sound like it's the best album to come along since There's a Riot Going On (or Maxinequay maybe). still, truth be told, i'd much rather read what Rev has to say about New Amerykah than actually listen to it. (ok, preferably, i'd like to do both simultaneously...but whatever.)

Can I mention how much I love ?uestlove's drumming on "Telephone"? Between that and "75 Bars" and "Lay It Down", dude has done all my favorite drumming this year.

"I got love for my folks/ Baptized when the levy broke"

"MORE ACTION. MORE EXCITEMENT. MORE EVERYTHING."

^^^otm

"I got love for my folks/ Baptized when the levy broke"

and THEN the spooky backing vox come in

the sudden burst of emotion on "to my boys in iraqi fields/this ain't no time to kill", too

also the incredible amounts of righteousness and compassion in equal measure - "to my girls on prescription pills", you wait for the advice but it's just that tender "i know how you feel", but ultimately she's still got the shotgun on everyone's back

That whole bridge is incredible. It just keeps going and building higher through several points when it might end. Even though she repeats the mantra of "Get your money, dollar bill y'all", she warns to stay vigilant even once you've attained that Amerykan Promise, because this is Amerykah and it could all come crashing down at any moment, expecially with a little bit of help. And that shotgun on your back: not a threat; a promise. Btw, Erykah is quite good at the use of spooky background vox.

I'd never thought I might describe drum programming this way, but the unadorned, static beat somehow seems kind of......stoic.

here's a taste of "Real Thang" for all y'all Amerykahns:

i uploaded it upthread! http://www.sendspace.com/file/d94lbq

naughty

hmm, that's odd, Rev says he still hasn't heard it.

xp

yahhh, I think I just forgot to check it out earlier... this is alright I guess, seems kinda repetitive

Yeah, if this had been on the album, it would've been my last-placer. But it's still pretty good.

honey underrated

yeah, it's a total jam... ends the album on a real keepin' it positive note

No votes for honey???

This album is so fucking great, btw.

I adore Honey, but I think that for whatever reason it feels like a separate entity from the album as a whole. It really is a bonus track, in the truest sense of the word. So when I'm picking a favourite track, or thinking about New AmErykah at all, Honey just doesn't figure in.

re-poll. how did the first track not get a vote?

Alternate versions of "Master Teacher"

http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2008/11/sara_bilal_georgia_anne_muldrow_breathe_new_life_into_badus_master_teacher.php

re-poll. how did the first track not get a vote?

'cause it's such a beatjack i'm guessing

who cares if it's a beatjack? the reason it didn't get any votes is because it fundementally functions as an intro

the part i love about that song the most is the dude in the background. makes me smile every time. the little girl at the end, too

I'm pretty sure that all those voices are Erykah's sped up or slowed down.

I wonder about that myself; I haven't heard the original Ayers track and had kind of assumed some of the voices had come from it, but maybe not.

Part 2 is apparently due Feb. 17--day before my birthday! 8-D

The backup voices ("Promise promise"..."Give you my eyes", etc) are on the original track, the rest is Badu being "THE MAN" and "THE LITTLE GIRL".

Matos:

Yeah, I figured I'd like Erykah's version better, and I do. Thanks, Rev!

thx for the info

Part 2 is apparently due Feb. 17

This news just made my Christmas complete.

I wouldn't hold my breath for that Feb 17th release, but here's hoping.... You can listen to her performing a snippet of the (reported) single "Jump in the Air... Stay There" here:

huh i can't believe i didn't realise the reason part 2 never came out was b/c duhhh she got knocked up.

'honey' is positioned perfectly on the album, i adore it. "all i gotta do, is add a lil' lemon..."

there should be an option for second-part-of-master-teacher. it deserves its own title.

the Seiji remix of Honey is lovely.

Yeah, I figured I'd like Erykah's version better, and I do. Thanks, Rev!

― Matos W.K., Thursday, December 25, 2008 2:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

huh? its basically the same thing

I like the overdubs and the way it leads off the album--and the album it leads off. I'm not being that serious anyway.

Man, The Healer and Soldier are still my favourites, but the brilliance of Telephone, which had previously been kind of impenetrable, has finally unfurled itself. Front half of the album is more immediate, but the back half may be more rewarding in the long term. Time will tell.

there should be an option for second-part-of-master-teacher. it deserves its own title.

I'm sure I voted for "The Cell," but part one of "Master Teacher" in standalone would've been a strong contender.

I am blown away that Deej has never heard of a remix before! That is new information!

if i heard a remix that only added some pitch shifted talking over the top, i would be like "hey that's a pretty lame remix"

and yet this track ends up being really really great, so go figure

Judging "Amerykahn Promise" against the original, as opposed to for it's function in the context of this album is a willful fool's errand.

i know what you guys are saying here, i mean i like lil wayne's version of "shooter" way more than the robin thicke original, and that uses the original track in its entirety. but in this case it's not really an improvement imo, and i like the original better.

And most of the rest of us on this thread disagree, and that is what makes this world a beautiful place.

you guys are weirdos. the song isnt better as a throwaway intro track

i dont even like the ramp album that much and im kinda in the 'overrated' camp (i actually prefer that 12" that was just reissued this/last? year to pretty much any of the songs on the album) but she just jacked the song wholesale and stuck it at the front of her album w/ talking over it. its not a 'remix'

you know whats really great? that remix of the wildstyle theme at the beginning of illmatic ^__^

i hate the fact i have to sit through georgia annes shite to get through to the (infinitely better) second part of master teachers each time.

Need to revisit the whole album--looking back it seems like I felt it was 2/3 fantastic, 1/3 filler, and just when it would get going perfect (like "The Healer,") it seems like it would meander greatly. . . and the RAMP cover would've been a stronger opening without all the talk over it. 'Mama's Gun' is certainly a top 5 or 10 album of the 2000s for me; seems like if there'd been no Part 1 and Part 2 for this, but just the strongest work from both, this album might have been top 10, too. As a loving tribute to J-D, though, it's beautiful even as is.

the ramp cover is not a cover, it is the ramp song.

ie without the talk over it, would've been another artist's cut from another album

also there is no filler on this album, to my ears, tho the mileage can and obviously does vary

also georgia anne ROCKS

i hate the fact i have to sit through georgia annes shite to get through to the (infinitely better) second part of master teachers each time.

I hate that I have to hit skip about 3-minutes into "Master Teacher." Oh well.

first part of master teacher VERSUS even better sly stone groove second part of master teacher would be a better poll.

does anyone hating the ramp track ever listen to those ghostface records where he pushes play and raps on top? how do you live with yourselves?

The second half of "Master Teacher" sounds a lot like an auto-accompaniment setting on this Casio I used to have. (NB: This is awesome.)

didn't she record some of the album on garageband, appara?

I've heard that she wrote a lot of it on Garageband (like, as demos), but I don't know how much of that made it onto the album proper.

quite a bit of it, id say. a lot of it has that slightly headphone masterpiece-y, getting these ideas down and not bothering to change them afterwards feel to it.

saying 'filler' feels very wrong. you can say songs you dont like or whatever but when a project is so self-aware + 'artiste'-ish "filler" just feels like the totally wrong word to indicate what you're trying to say here. "I need to fill up this album to be released from my record contract!"??? really?

yeah..."filler" is a pretty abstract concept in general, but when you're talking about an album that's the first in a series of 2 or 3 albums that the artist made in the same timeframe, it's an even more amorphous idea.

does anyone hating the ramp track ever listen to those ghostface records where he pushes play and raps on top? how do you live with yourselves?

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― schlump, Monday, January 5, 2009 9:05 AM Bookmark

I keep wondering this. As for the "filler" charges, the album is FAR FAR MORE than the sum of its parts. Each song greatly effects the context of the others and this goes for the weaker songs as well as for the stronger. Also, those you don't like part 1 of "Master Teacher" are utter raving lunatics.

erykah's pitch-shifted voices don't add anywhere near as much as a ghostface rap

Yes they do. It sets up the whole album, and is pretty damn funny to boot.

I always skip the intro but I don't hate it; I just always want to start out on "The Healer".

(then usually I skip back to the beginning of "The Healer" and listen to it again)

^this (rev). they still make me smile/loosen me up/get me ready for the record even now

"does anyone hating the ramp track ever listen to those ghostface records where he pushes play and raps on top? how do you live with yourselves?"

i hate those too actually, although i prefer erykahs song more, just cos its still a great song. but soul and hip hop have diff rules. its not even the same thing actually - erykah isnt singing over the vocals of the ramp song like ghostface was, just the instrumental parts.

Okay, now you've gone from RONG (opinion-wise) to RONG (factually). She does talk over the vocals from the RAMP song.

Also, neither soul or hiphop have rules.

first track is really my favourite because of the impact on first listen and yeah it's the most FUN(k) thing on this

^^^

Some people on this thread sound like:

I refuse to accept recontexualisation.

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― Geir Hongro, Monday, October 6, 2008 8:33 AM Bookmark

I like every last thing on this album. If I denigrate the second half of "Master Teacher," it's only to counteract the bizarre anti-first-half sentiment.

ok i cant remember right now if she talks over the original vocals or not. either way, that song just felt a bit 'hammy' (despite being one of my fave songs on the album, flaws and all, just cos its so fierce and as said above, FUNKY). sort of like the neosoul equivalent of a tarantino film. its amazing live though. she should have done it with the band on the record. the reason i said rules is cos neo soul artists always pride themselves on continuing in the tradition of the greats, but i dont really equate singing over old funk/soul loops as being in that tradition. but then i remember erykahs been singing over loops since the first album, as have several other, so, hey, that little bug bear of mine doesnt really mean much.

the 1st half of master teacher is fine, i like the woozy loop, but the second half is divine.

Yes, the first half has a bizarre half-dreamy, half-clumsy lope that I love.

I don't think (m)any people here are saying that track 1 sucks, just that it being heavily sample-based makes it harder to call it a "song" rather than an "intro," or at least not one of the best songs or a favorite.

georgia anne still sucks though lol. i like the fact that theres someone singing so fucking weirdly, just not the actual singing.

dudes it's not like i don't get sampling/recontextualization, come on. i just think it's a really lazy track and i wish she would have done more to make it her own.

xp

I have no problem with that. I more or less regard it as an intro myself, but DAMN WHAT AN INTRO. xxp

Georgia Anne rox u r all gay.

The effort isn't the point, the point is that it does what it does, which is set the record off in tremendous fashion.

okay. maybe i will just kick off my next album off with a prince track.

That would be awesome!

if you can make it that funny and enjoyable then GLHF! xp

Blatant reducto ad absurdium.

Reductio ad absurdum, rather. lol malapropism

(now i'm just being a dick, sorry)

xp

not any more reductionist than comparing me to geir because i don't like this particular track

fair enough

i disagree but calling something the neosoul equivalent of a tarantino film deserves an otm. it just has to be applied to something else first. and i was having trouble believing anyone could really summon any hatred for master teacher pt 2. part one is great. it pops up on that jank random record someone mentioned here a while back.

i never knew the first song was ramp, but it's funny, because i always used to think it was a good example of something new drawing on old stuff without being too indebted. like it's obviously some kinda drells sly stone groove track, but it didn't seem too reverent or retro. maybe it's because of everything on top.

Jordan's totally otm and u dudes sound like chumps.

how many of you guys are always bumping the illmatic intro like "what a classic nas track!!!!"

the ghostface example doesnt make any sense as a pt of comparison

an intro functions as an intro, stop trying to make it something diff

i never knew the first song was ramp, but it's funny, because i always used to think it was a good example of something new drawing on old stuff without being too indebted. like it's obviously some kinda drells sly stone groove track, but it didn't seem too reverent or retro. maybe it's because of everything on top.

― schlump, Monday, January 5, 2009 1:29 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this doesnt make any sense -- 'reverent' or 'retro' is not the issues. its just the o.g. track w/ talking over it. thats it.

deej lemme tell you a lil bit about sampling and recontextualization, and then lemme hang myself for being a dunderhead.

I always listen to the intro when I listen to Illmatic.

the talking works though, it ruptures the original and is slightly frightening in a way that sets the tone for the album proper

(i mean i'm not defending it as anything other than an intro but on those terms it works)

maybe it would feel more like an intro if it was shorter, as it is it's longer than the healer.

if anything it lulls you into thinking the rest of the LP is gonna be that raucous. and it may be an intro but it's not just a mantra on loop ala My People or Master Teachers - you could argue that as lazier but i'm cool with all these things really.

"how many of you guys are always bumping the illmatic intro like "what a classic nas track!!!!"

plz, don't give people here more reason to be challopsy, this is just asking for it.
anyway, new america > the genesis. i treat erykah's as if it were an actual song...its got important context in the album and it was the first track on this that i really really liked, if only because it made me laugh the first time

i think it 'works' as an intro i just think that calling it 'recontextualization! lets have serious art discussion about a jacked track that she talks over!!' is some serious silliness, beyond ppl challopsing about the grey album

Whatever, I feel strongly about this.

Can we pretend I never brought the geir quote into this?

I mean, I meant that facetiously, and y'all are acting like it's the crux of my argument.

i dont get why people are dismissing it as just an intro. its a full blown song.

how so

i mean its a full blown RAMP song, not a full blown erykah song

You people are so fucking boring.

shall we talk about 'amerykahn promise' a bit more?

god i need someone to bring me a drink

a mint julep would do the job right about now

are there any itunes bonus tracks to argue about?

did you all ever hear 'real thang' in the end?

gossipgirl.jpg

what do u guys think of the minute before 'honey' -- what a genius bit of recontextualization amirite :D

i mean its a full blown RAMP song, not a full blown erykah song

― choom gangsta (deej), Monday, 5 January 2009 21:52 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

deej consistently OTM IMHO

Gossip Girl is pregnant for the third time.

I have tasted the challops in the mind of the universe.

i don't think people were dismissing it as an intro, rather defending in the sense of "who cares if it's jacked, it's just an intro"

xp

yah i dont think anyone was mad that it was jacked tho

i mean its a full blown RAMP song, not a full blown erykah song

i guess song is the key word there (people expecting/wanting more from badu in this regard, not just her saying mostly silly stuff over a funk loop...as if that was an inferior concept somehow!). it's not like you'd say 'The Next Episode' is a full blown David McCallum joint not a Dre one (unless you're nuts).

either way, its still a full on proper song (re: people discussing whether its just an intro or not), whether its erykahs or ramps. and it is still erykahs, even if she doesnt really give it a proper once over and make it hers (like she should have done) as someone else said above.

the next episode features rapping -- im not mad at her using it for an intro, im just saying im not getting anything from it as a song that didnt exist in the original -- shes not singing over it, shes not switching up the beat -- its just like when ghostface uses a soul song as an INTERLUDE, not the same as him using a song to rap over.

should have done a replay like with that tarika blue song on didntcha know.

you mean the entirely diff song that featured her singing

either way, it would have been better. i dunno what to call erykahs version, its sort of a cover, but not quite.

yeah..."filler" is a pretty abstract concept in general, but when you're talking about an album that's the first in a series of 2 or 3 albums that the artist made in the same timeframe, it's an even more amorphous idea.

I didn't mean "filler" as in something callously inserted to fill time, but in the more colloquial (and less damning) sense of being weaker and probably included because an artist has fallen too in love with everything produced during a period of time to objectively edit it down to its strongest form (probably the basis for the vast, vast majority of multi album/3LP/2CD/etc. projects produced). Erykah's "weaker" is still stronger than 99.999% of anyone else going's "strongest," so it's not a huge complaint. It's just that a lot of the album felt next-level, and then the rest had that biding-time feeling of the majority of Worldwide Underground, the longer-than-LP-length release she caveated as being an EP (if I'm not mis-remembering).

As for "sampling" the RAMP track--that's really pushing the limits of "sampling," but I don't really have any beef with that. I just think what's meant to be funny or spooky or ominous in the vocals just sound. . . corny, and more than a little boring. Why have an "intro" that's longer than the proper opening track--especially when the opening track is so ace ("The Healer")? The sampled "coming to you loud and clear" bit at the beginning of the Healer would've been intro enough, imo. I guess I tend to be a less-is-more person in general--shorter albums that are pithy thrill me, so I feel more ripped off by longer albums that don't need to be longer--there's no value in having simply more music, unless someone just wants to tack it on after a long silence after the end of the best stuff.

The "sampling" issue of using an entire track--eh. Doing it's fine by me, but do something that justifies it. Everybody knows the best Daft Punk tracks are almost just the originals, but for me, the slight changes they make really do add something; whereas the "conductor" vocals add nothing to 'American Promise'.

Erykah should do a mix/compilation, though, of her inspirations/favorite stuff. . .

mark of a great album i guess. different people getting different things from it. i totally disagree tho, the narration on track 1 is great and provides one of the few really light-hearted comedic aspects of the work (but still v reverent and committed, to my ears and mind).

I'm mad as hell about Stereolab's entire career.

not the same thing and you know it

oh snap wrong thread my bad

Erykah should do a mix/compilation, though, of her inspirations/favorite stuff. . .

^^^^^^^^would purchase for all my friends

So I realize this is a naïve question, but are her previous albums like this? I had always just thought of her as a slightly better version of a Jill Scott-type neo-hippie-R&B singer, which is not my thing at all, but I LOVE this album. Does her previous work have the same kind of simultaneous hip hop/70s soul vibe to it? The only older songs of hers I remember hearing were the live version of Tyrone and Bag Lady, which was pretty good but it was always weird to me that it used that same guitar sample as the then-current Dr. Dre song.
Also, was J Dilla directly involved in any of her music?

Time for some research, Whitey on the Moon.

Also, was J Dilla directly involved in any of her music?

― Whitey on the Moon, Monday, January 5, 2009 11:01 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

not too much, only on one of her biggest grammy award nom'd singles -- but i expect those deep cuts are hard to google for

OK OK jeez I acknowledged that it was naïve. I just wanted to get some feedback on what you guys thought of her older stuff before I actually buy/download/conduct further research.
And I apologize for not knowing who was "nom'd" for female vocal R&B performance or whatever Grammy in 2000.

nom'd nom'd nom'd

Baduism is neo-soul with hip-hop fringes - no rapping, no scratching, but the tight clip of the drums tells the tale. but it is very neo-soul (and brilliant).

Mama's Gun never goes as far as The Healer in the Hip-Hop direction, but the group who recorded it are the soulquarians (feat. Dilla), and it is an utterly sublime album, you need to hear it.

Worldwide Underground (is that the title of the EP?) is gonzo and brilliant, Danger is badass 70s funk meets Hip-Hop, while 'I want You' is like sultry water torture.

the first verse of 'danger' sets that scene like BAM. so perfect.

me and this baby
gon' be here all night long
walkin' this wood floor
until my man gets home
i'm at the front door
i'm listenin' by the phone
but i'm gon' be here
with my make-up on

her albums in order:
mamas gun
baduizm
worldwide underground
the new one
though i find it hard to really decide which is better of the last 3 there as they all have some really brilliant tracks. but basically mamas gun is impossibly classic.

All four are impossibly classic, so listen to them simultaneously.

That said, I rank them as such:

4th World War
Mama's Gun
Baduizm
Worldwide Underground

Part 2 comes out February 17th! Same day as The-Dream. Wish I had four ears.

oh noes the weight of expectancy (which i didn't have at all for Part 1). can it be better?

A Badu-lovin', magazine-readin' friend told me that Erykah, in an interview, said the 2nd part was mostly uptempo stuff like The Healer. Honey was originally meant to be on Part 2 but was moved to Part 1 at the last minute, hence its "bonus track" vibe.

don't toy with my expectations now

uptempo stuff like The Healer

does not compute. but i welcome more beats like that. if that's true about 'Honey' then it's weird that it then also became the single (so perhaps there are other singles/radio jams on part 2?)

at first i was like "wtf the healer is not uptempo" but it's pretty much the same tempo as "honey", it just has that slow burn vibe

An album full of "Healer"s?! As if I already didn't think the Nu AmErykah enterprise was already for-all-time material.

of course you would say that your next album is all like the best song on your last album

She could say the next album is like the worst song on 4WW and I'd say the same thing.

i'm kinda amazed that this album actually charted higher in many European countries than in the UK (e.g. #5 in Sweden! #10 in Switzerland! seems v random)

*Cough*. Maybe it wasn't The Healer. I put on the record, we started talking about the new album, Alex said "an album of uptempo songs like this", and I don't remember if it was The Healer or Amerykahn Promise. This is important! Two very different songs. I'll ask him today at lunch.

if that's true about 'Honey' then it's weird that it then also became the single

not weird at all, obviously the thinking was "we need a single to sell this album, let's use that really obviously accessible song you were gonna hold for the next one". finally the weird single/bonus track status of "Honey" makes sense!

haha an album of amerykahn promises. IMAGINE!

i never understood why 'the cell' wasn't considered an appropriate single, anyway. i think it's even more melodically immediate than 'honey'.

She could say the next album is like the worst song on 4WW and I'd say the same thing.

Come to think of it, she's already had something like that -- an album of "Me"s. It's called Mama's Gun.

i never understood why 'the cell' wasn't considered an appropriate single, anyway. i think it's even more melodically immediate than 'honey'.

it's ruffer and more 'minimal' which would rule it out for me as single material

the 'add a little lemon' line in 'Honey' actually bothers me a bit just because i thought 'wait is this still a cliched metaphor or are you literally singing a song about a foodstuff?'

Owen maybe you did mean Amerykahn Promise as that or The Cell are the fastest tracks

some dude a track originally intended for the second album becoming the first single off the first album seems unconventional or "weird" to me but whatever

haha an album of amerykahn promises. IMAGINE!

― lex pretend, Tuesday, January 6, 2009 11:42 AM (22 minutes ago)

^would buy

she said in an interview shes working with wajeed, jay electronica, madlib and basically other hip hop producers for pt 2. so it prob will be more like the healer. id like it to be more like master teacher pt 2, me, and telephone, but apparently part 3, or the third album shes done/been talking about is more mamas gun-sounding stuff, apparently more blues/jazz-based.

honey is an underrated song on this album.

MORE BALEARIC

O_O

I want this embedded IN MY BRANE

:-O

I talked to my resident Baduphile. When NA1:4WW came out, Erykah had big plans. 'New Amerykah 2: Return Of The Ankh' was to come out summer 2008, she was also gonna make a record with 'band', Tin Machine-style. She was even gonna publish a magazine. These plans have been altered or set aside.

At the time, she said of NA2:ROTA that it was made independently of NA1:4WW. Conceptually and compositionally different. She said it was more deeply steeped in 70s funk. As the sole track from the ROTA sessions, we can imagine ROTA to be an entire album of "Honey"... which is the song Alex referenced me to.

Here's a Youtube of a song from the new album, from a VH1 performance. It is called "Annie Don't Wear No Panties"

"She was sittin' on the front pew/ Givin' Deacon Johns n em a good view"

XD XD XD

fellas if u can't afford it
think u better videotape record it

also jesus HER HAIR IS INCREDIBLE

is that the clip where she calls out her sister at the end for singing a wrong note? i love that.

also jesus HER HAIR WIG IS INCREDIBLE

her chris dave is incredible

her body (and voice, obv) is incredible.

i luv badu.

Suddenly I have the fears about ROTA. "Annie" is cute and funny, but in no way primo Badu material.

"my ass and legs have gotten thick" indeed

Suggest Ban Permalink
― The Reverend, Friday, May 9, 2008 9:19 AM Bookmark

not heard it but that lyric makes me think of betty davis. that whole vhi gig is on the net as mp3s somewhere...

and yes, GREAT ass.

i would kill for a mama's gun-style record with that live band.

On the converse, hearing that it's all supposed to be like "Honey" and "Annie" makes me feel a lot better about the prospects of the new album than if she was trying to make another album just like 4th World War.

i don't think she understands how much ilx loves this record and how she ought to make more like it.

& my ass and legs have gotten thick is a great line.

New Amerykah Part 2: He Got In! Plus Woah My Ass Is Awesome In That YT Clip

sorry, meant to post THIS:

it's all good though...

daaaaaaaamn

i arrived late, but it's gotta be 'the cell'. that song is impossibly fresh and vital, and has restored my faith in hearing something truly extraordinary emerge from the whole neo-soul thing.

the cell just confused me for the longest time. i love the future-doo-wop backing vocals on the chorus.

is neo-soul still a thing?

neoul

My gf is taking a class in organizational management, and one of her textbooks contains the following passage:

"The ability to reframe is one of the most powerful capacities of great artists. It can be equally powerful for managers. Undergraduates at Vanderbilt University captured this in a class-iniated rap (for best results, rap fans should imagine the rapper Common doing these lines in a neo-soul, hip-hop style):

Reframe, reframe, put a new spin on the mess you're in.
Reframe, reframe, try to play a different game.
Reframe, reframe, when you're in a tangle, shoot another angle;
look at things a different way."

One of the book's authors:
http://www.bloch.umkc.edu/faculty-staff/faculty-directory/bolman/image.aspx?id=302&width=189&height=189

I am uh on board for this, ty ILM

just, just, wishin' more of the consensus stuff, was of this calibre imo ;-)

the r&b conversion, it begins

btw there's lots of A+ discussion on the general badu thread too, which has a lot of initial reactions: Erykah Badu: C /D, S&D

I did say I'd be investigating hip-hop in 2009, didn't foresee being blindsided by R&B! Will check that thread...

I apologize for not getting into this album earlier; the healer just hit permarepeat.
Retroactive p+j addition is GO

thumbs up

30,000 MEGAWATTS OF POWER BABY, RADIATING YOUR SOUL

IT'S BIGGER THAN MY NIGGA

TO MY FOLKS UP ON THE HILL WITH THE CAKE AND THE DOLLAR BILL

GET YA MONEY DOLLAR BILL YALL

SHITTY DAMN DAMN BABY BANG

PO MAN GOT HIS BACK TO THE DOOR

last time i listned to this it occurred to me that "Soldier" might be or even proably is about her son, still learnin new shit when I hear this, I love it so much

I wanted this album's other half to come out desperately until I realized I AM this album's other half!

link pls?

it's not out dude

BE WARNED BE WARNED . WHEN FOLLOWING MY TWEETS KEEP IN MIND IM AM MUCH MUCH MORE SPIRITUAL THAN YOU . YOU MAY NOT GET IT . AND ITS OKAY .
26 minutes ago from web

@morrissey2637 IF YOU HAD TO ASK THAT , THEN YOU HAVE DEFFINATELY CONFIRMED IT FOR ME . THANKS .
17 minutes ago from web in reply to morrissey2637

MY SPELLING IS NOT SO SPIRITUAL THO...
17 minutes ago from web

uhh guys are we all reading this right now

she's in the middle of this hilarious beef with this fat chick, it's killin me

unfortunately "WHEN FOLLOWING MY POSTS KEEP IN MIND IM AM MUCH MUCH MORE SPIRITUAL THAN YOU" is too long for a screen name

or maybe just MUCH MUCH TOO SPIRITUAL for a display name

I wanted this album's other half to come out desperately until I realized I AM this album's other half!

― sir-mounter (Eric H.), Saturday, July 25, 2009 9:16 AM Bookmark

otm

yea i love love love this album

told you

we ain't dead yet

we've been livin through yo internet

tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo0ZSRvYQRo

brilliancy

hell yes!!!

I wanted this album's other half to come out desperately until I realized I AM this album's other half!

― sir-mounter (Eric H.), Saturday, July 25, 2009 9:16 AM Bookmark

I salute you Eric H., because you are me.

would have voted Twinkle because it is insane

also because it quotes like my 4th-favourite movie ever

Hello friends.

i can entirely get behind that

The soldier is mama's gun.

lexpretend cf danger, "gotta keep that clip on mama's gun"

lexpretend …and of course "danger" sets its scene with erykah
pacing the floor, baby in her arms

rodneyjgreene which of course ties into "Otherside of the
Game", hence "Otherside" ---> "Danger" ---> "Soldier" = a vicious cycle of like father, like son

the honey vid is evidence she reads ilm

haha how so?

It's probably not fair of me to wanna SB people for what they wrote over a year ago, huh.

i was gonna say Honey vid is like cover connections but maybe not so much the connections part. IT IS however like having yr girl wear one of your shirts to bed ^_^

also this should be again:
Here's a Youtube of a song from the new album, from a VH1 performance. It is called "Annie Don't Wear No Panties"

http://www.youtube.com/v/9d9eydCfTdw&hl=en

I don't think I voted in this or "Master Teacher" would have a '1' next to it.

"the soldier," for being the only inspiring protest song of the decade

this got such a strange vote distribution

well 4WW is a real creeper album...Rev said something about taking three months to get into, I think it took me even longer to REALLY get the second half...I mean I voted The Healer kind of automatically, and I would prolley still today, bcz I think it's one of the best songs of the decade, but it would be a lot harder now to not vote The Cell or Twinkle or Master Teachers (no votes?! wtf!) or even That Hump...

yeah and "honey" with no votes??? "my people"???

Of the ones that got no votes, I love both Master Teacher and Amerykahn Promise (I can sort of see why this didn't get the votes though, it's very much an introduction to the album). Still can't get into the last two on the album (That Hump and Telephone) - they just seem so generic in comparison with what went before.

xp well, Honey doesn't really mesh well with the whole One Minute to Doomsday vibe, but I think it's way cool...it's like finding out that the Oracle at Delphi is actually the sweet-natured girl work at Caribou Coffee or something...

does anyone else think this album kind of got snubbed in the decade-end polls? I mean this album is better than Kid A and waaay better than Is This It?

eh people into r&b rated it highly, indie websites gave it a middling placing or none at all

what r&b people rated it highly? (i take it from the 'eh' that this is not a conversation you really wish to have...)

(That Hump and Telephone) - they just seem so generic in comparison with what went before.

what; i guess that's a valid criticism of telephone if you appreciate the lp for its originality and different-ness, but they're two of my favourites. that hump seems like a comparatively grounded analogue for the choppier cuts like the cell at the start; bassy rumbling instead of trelby synthesizing. & i can't be analytical about telephone but i kinda want it played at my funeral.

naw it's just that it's hard to make sense of r&b consensus since most of the big mags and webzines online are more indie-oriented. not that there's not plenty of good indie music of course

but our own andy kellman (here) and al sh1pley (here) each rated it highly on their respective lists and ILM loves it (iirc it was top 5 in the 08 poll). ctrl-f "badu" on this thread Best of Decade (2000s) Album Lists doesnt yield anything but i know it was on a few lists - i think at least top 50 in pitchfork

xp

i can't be analytical about telephone but i kinda want it played at my funeral.

v. much OTM

love this track to death

this got such a strange vote distribution

Was about to speculate on the distribution for Return of the Ankh, but I'm pretty sure "Window Seat" would bury the competition. (My vote right now goes to "Love" or "Out My Mind.")

i'd go for 'get munny' today.

i think "gone baby, don't be long" would win

has anyone listened to both straight through consecutively?

Not yet. I think the moods are a little too divergent for it to work.

the winner would almost certainly be "window seat" or "get munny" imo

btw 4WW wz #133 in Pitchfork's Top 200 of the 00's

it was in their top 10 of 08 too

no it wasn't, it was 13 of '08...

i guess it doesn't really matter...just irks me a little.

r&b is still a pretty ghettoized genre critically

this record doesn't really fall into the category of r&b as it stands in modern terms tho -- and anyway, badu (and other older artists like r. kelly or maxwell or d'angelo if he puts out a new record ever) exists outside that sort of ghetto anyway -- this record should've been a huger deal than it was, but it's hard to find real geeking out about non-rock, non-rap records outside of places like, um, ilm because there are rarely publications that cater to those audiences critically

can we please not break out the small violins for the critical standing of an album that finished 5th in P&J

wow that's your most fatherly display name ever

fatherly as in dad joke? old reference? you know scooby wasn't scrappy doo's dad, right?

i dont get it

dad-ish reference

are you familiar with longtime poster 'uh oh I'm having a fantasy'? xpost

dude scooby doo was on cartoon network and shit when you were a kid just like when i was a kid

ok im giggling now

i know, i mean that it's silly in a dad-ish way, not old in a dad-ish way

i giggled too

ok so dad joke more than dad reference

yes

just realized that i haven't thought a display name to be as alternately good/bad/hilarious since m@tt's El Garbage

sorry about whining over nothing

nah i mean shit yeah it's better than Kid A, but it's not like i really expected any 2008 album, no matter how good, to really represent on end-of-decade lists like that, at least not this soon. it was actually the 7th highest '08 album on the Pitchfork list, so really it climbed a bit from being ranked 13th a year earlier.

To be fair, it is the best album of the decade, so it's not "whining" to point out any list/poll that doesn't reflect that.

meh, diff't strokes -- half the albums on my list that k3v linked upthread were on no other blog or publication's list, so i have a hard time thinking of it as insufficiently appreciated

'that hump' was my vote i think -- the chorus is just great

yeah I mustn't have voted in this cuz "that hump" has been my fave on this from the beginning. that bassline is crazy, the vocals, the lyrics... it's one of my top 5 badu songs easily. I never really got the crazy love for "the healer," i don't really understand why it won this poll by such a large margin, it's one of the lesser tracks on the album imo (though the album is pretty much perfect... but still, "that hump," "twinkle," "the cell," "soldier," "telephone," "me," >>>>>>>>>>>> "the healer"....)

i agree, altho i still like healer more than 'master teachers'

Is there a thread for the second one? I cannot find it if there is. Anyway this is a totally perfect happy summer album, totes didn't expect it to sound this blissed out.

most of the talk about it is here Erykah Badu: C /D, S&D

ty ty ty

"That Hump"

― Put A Ring On It (The Brainwasher), Friday, October 24, 2008 10:34 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

otm

Ha its 5am and That Hump is hitting hard (tho less hard now that I just finished giggling at the ship/sarge scooby exchange)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZLKkkOoszAA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLKkkOoszAA

Did we ever poll the second? We should. (Or both together, even.)

And there are so many easter eggs, lyrically and sonically! I always discover something new when I listen to it. It's a complex motherfucking work. Just about a week ago, I first noticed that "My People" ends with the words "Good morning. Did you have a Dream?" And I capitilize Dream intentionally, because whether she was referring to the American (Amerykahn?) Dream or, I think more likely, MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, she intends to load the word with more meaning than its M-W definition would indicate.

― mr. mayan end times guy (The Reverend), Thursday, November 13, 2008 3:07 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah absolutely - i get annoyed when people overuse adjectives like "meaningful" but it absolutely applies to new amerykah in the sense that every word, note, inflection, every last detail in the arrangement is there for a reason, and even the most minute element of it can spark off these chains of thought just like yours

― lex pretend, Thursday, November 13, 2008 3:12 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, even things in the sequencing. It's no accident that "Me" is followed by "My People". She's already claimed her people as her in the former song. "I salute you [insert your name here] because you are me". It's also no mistake that she goes from grown folks acting all niggerish and not taking responsibility for their kids in "The Cell" to lamenting how those same kids "don't know their language...don't know their god" in "Twinkle" to the epiphany of "wait....what if there were no niggers, only master teachers?"

― mr. mayan end times guy (The Reverend), Thursday, November 13, 2008 3:23 PM Bookmark

Wait, but that's the Dream she has! You even have Curtis Mayfield playing herald for her with the sample of him at the beginning of "Master Teacher" repeating "dreams..." over and over.

*still learning things about this album*

This is still my favorite album of my lifetime, bout to put it on for the third time in a row.

She's playing NYE in Oakland with The Coup I believe.

rev otm

That Hump

second verse is the best vocal performance of her career imo

Only smoked a joint or two betwixt me and you.

that hump makes me sob tbh

always feel like whiney is going to pop up and take me to task for ^ that sentiment, but it's true

i just got to find a way
of liiiiiving
check tooo check
just tryin to pay my rent and i can feel it
coming down around me and this children
;_;

can i just posit the brother on her floor as the punctum here

my brother's sleeping on my floor
a bitch could use a little moooooore

otm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That Hump 1

recount

Thanks to some dude, I've relistened to her catalog in the last three days and am gone baby gone all over again.

This was polled way too early.

Master Teacher has always been my favourite.

i'd've voted soldier. this is the album that keeps on giving

I can't even with these two albums. Parts 1 and 2 are collectively our Songs in the Key of Life.

Every song on this album is great, I've been feeling That Hump lately (no pun intended)

That Hump is the best

"me" is my jam, love that tune so much

"The Cell" is mine.

I had no idea until Al's rundown that Master Teacher had spawned a popular hashtag

Did we ever poll the second? We should. (Or both together, even.)
― dead-trius (Eric H.), Friday, February 17, 2012 4:08 PM (3 years ago)

Nu AmErykah, Poll 1 + 2 (4th World War + Return of the Ankh)

I had no idea until Al's rundown that Master Teacher had spawned a popular hashtag

― the saer returns (Drugs A. Money), Friday, March 6, 2015 7:36 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

stay woke, dawg

for the "That Hump" fans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMpSpWeYRPA

Thank you, Paul McCartney for writing "Arrow Through Me" so Badu could pilfer it.

xp Lol I always thought that that "day and night, night and day..." part in That Hump was a callback to Didnt Cha Know

No votes for honey is insane, song's pure joy

What a perfect album this is. Can't believe it has already been 10 years!

damn I just realized "Twinkle" uses the drum pattern from "Sucker MCs"

this album is thirteen years old (!)

HOW DOES IT STILL SOUND SO CONTEMPORARY???

She should make another album

fr.

and since we're on the subject of things that will never happen: the world needs that erykah / andre3000 duets album more than ever at this point.

"me" is my jam, love that tune so much

― marcos, Friday, March 6, 2015 9:23 AM (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is what i wdve voted for

i don't think we'll ever hear the badu/andre3000 album but I think we could definitely hear a new album from her at some point

I still think her Tiny Desk show is one of the greatest things I've seen in years - the only real competition is other online shows she's done - and I do wish she'd press it up on vinyl and sell it me

you speak truth, stevie. good man.

+1 for "Me"

Best album ever recorded.

nothing long form since the phone ep, right?

Which itself is like 8 years old now too, right?

OK, I guess only 6. Point is, every year without a new Badu album feels like an eternity.

WILL THEY EVER FIND THE VACCINE??

certified classic by now.