New Amerykah Part One (4th World War): Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
fixed issues pointed out about the lead, background, writing and development, recording, music, lyrics and themes; reduced overlinking and paraphrase/removed some overquoting, fixed expired links |
||
Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
An [[esoteric]] concept album, ''New Amerykah Part One'' features social commentary and impersonal lyrics, with subject matter that includes poverty, urban violence, complacency, and cultural identity. It features dense, stylistically-varied music that incorporates [[funk]], [[soul music|soul]], and [[hip hop music|hip hop]] genres. |
An [[esoteric]] concept album, ''New Amerykah Part One'' features social commentary and impersonal lyrics, with subject matter that includes poverty, urban violence, complacency, and cultural identity. It features dense, stylistically-varied music that incorporates [[funk]], [[soul music|soul]], and [[hip hop music|hip hop]] genres. |
||
''New Amerykah Part One'' debuted at number two on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] and sold 123,884 copies in its first week. By December 2009, |
''New Amerykah Part One'' debuted at number two on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] and sold 123,884 copies in its first week. By December 2009, the album had sold 359,000 copies in the United States. It received universal acclaim from music critics, many of whom named it one of the year's best albums. Badu supported the album with [[The Vortex World Tour]] during May to July 2008. |
||
== Background == |
== Background == |
||
[[File:Questlove.jpg|thumb|left|190px|Producer [[Questlove]] sent music to Badu during her hiatus.]] |
[[File:Questlove.jpg|thumb|left|190px|Producer [[Questlove]] sent music to Badu during her hiatus.]] |
||
Dealing with [[writer's block]] and conflicted about her mainstream success, Erykah Badu embarked on her [[Frustrated Artist Tour]] in 2003.<ref name="Ryzik">{{cite web|last=Ryzik|first=Melena|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/arts/music/02ryzi.html?pagewanted=all|title=The Mind of a One-Woman Multitude|work=[[The New York Times]]|publisher=[[The New York Times Company]]|date=March 2, 2008|accessdate=October 20, 2011}}</ref> Her increasing popularity brought upon some backlash towards her public image and expectations of her as "queen of [[neo soul]]", an [[Honorific nicknames in popular music|honorific nickname]] that she found limiting.<ref name="Ryzik"/> Her third studio album, ''[[Worldwide Underground]]'' (2003), was released to mostly positive reviews and was certified [[RIAA certification|gold]],<ref name="McCann">McCann (2010), p. 27.</ref> although it was underpromoted and sold less than her previous albums.<ref name="About">{{cite web|last=Nero|first=Mark Edward|url=http://randb.about.com/od/g1/p/ErykahBadu.htm|title=About Erykah Badu|publisher=[[About.com]]. The New York Times Company|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Nero">{{cite web|last=Nero|first=Mark Edward|url=http://randb.about.com/od/reviews/fr/NewAmerykah1.htm|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. One: 4th World War|publisher=About.com. The New York Times Company|date=February 2008|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref> Badu herself was not satisfied with the album and felt she had nothing substantial to express with her music at the time.<ref name="Kellman">{{cite web|last=Kellman|first=Andy|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1313322/review|title=New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War - Erykah Badu|publisher=[[Allmusic]]. [[Rovi Corporation]]|at=Review|date=February 26, 2010|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Wilonsky">{{cite web|last=Wilonsky|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Wilonsky|url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-02-21/music/erykah-badu-has-returned/|title=Erykah Badu Has Returned|work=[[Dallas Observer]]|publisher=[[Village Voice Media]]|date=February 21, 2008|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref> |
Dealing with [[writer's block]] and conflicted about her mainstream success, Erykah Badu embarked on her [[Frustrated Artist Tour]] in 2003.<ref name="Ryzik">{{cite web|last=Ryzik|first=Melena|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/arts/music/02ryzi.html?pagewanted=all|title=The Mind of a One-Woman Multitude|work=[[The New York Times]]|publisher=[[The New York Times Company]]|date=March 2, 2008|accessdate=October 20, 2011}}</ref> Her increasing popularity brought upon some backlash towards her public image and expectations of her as "queen of [[neo soul]]", an [[Honorific nicknames in popular music|honorific nickname]] that she found limiting.<ref name="Ryzik"/> Her third studio album, ''[[Worldwide Underground]]'' (2003), was released to mostly positive reviews and was certified [[RIAA certification|gold]],<ref name="McCann">McCann (2010), p. 27.</ref> although it was underpromoted and sold less than her previous albums.<ref name="About">{{cite web|last=Nero|first=Mark Edward|url=http://randb.about.com/od/g1/p/ErykahBadu.htm|title=About Erykah Badu|publisher=[[About.com]]. The New York Times Company|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Nero">{{cite web|last=Nero|first=Mark Edward|url=http://randb.about.com/od/reviews/fr/NewAmerykah1.htm|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. One: 4th World War|publisher=About.com. The New York Times Company|date=February 2008|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref> Badu herself was not satisfied with the album and felt she had nothing substantial to express with her music at the time.<ref name="Kellman">{{cite web|last=Kellman|first=Andy|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1313322/review|title=New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War - Erykah Badu|publisher=[[Allmusic]]. [[Rovi Corporation]]|at=Review|date=February 26, 2010|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Wilonsky">{{cite web|last=Wilonsky|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Wilonsky|url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-02-21/music/erykah-badu-has-returned/|title=Erykah Badu Has Returned|work=[[Dallas Observer]]|publisher=[[Village Voice Media]]|date=February 21, 2008|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref> She took time off from her recording career to deal with her creative block and focus on caring for her children,<ref name="Ryzik"/> although she continued to tour in the period between albums.<ref name="GiantStep">{{cite press release|url=http://www.giantstep.net/releases/1819|title=Release - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) by Erykah Badu|publisher=[[Giant Step]]|date=February 26, 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> |
||
In 2004, Badu gave birth to a daughter, Puma Rose, with her former boyfriend, rapper [[The D.O.C.]].<ref name="McCann"/> Later that year, she received her first computer as a Christmas gift from drummer and producer [[Questlove|Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson]], and began communicating with and receiving music from him and other producers such as [[Q-Tip (rapper)|Q-Tip]] and [[J Dilla]].<ref name="Ryzik"/> Beginning in 2005,<ref name="McDonnell">{{cite journal|last=McDonnell|first=Evelyn|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/erykah-badu-/|title=Erykah Badu: Getting Spiritualized with Neo-Soul's Boho Big Mama|journal=[[Interview (magazine)|Interview]]|publisher=Interview|pages=33–34|date=May 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> Badu worked from her home in Dallas and used the software application [[GarageBand]] as a [[digital audio workstation]],<ref name="Warren">{{cite web|last=Warren|first=Tamara|url=http://www.venuszine.com/articles/music/features/4000/Erykah_Babu|title=Erykah Badu|work=[[Venus Zine]]|publisher=Venus Holdings|date=June 1, 2008|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> which she was introduced to by her son,<ref name="Ryzik"/> Seven. He taught her how to use her laptop as a mini recording studio,<ref name="Taylor">{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Patrick|url=http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2008_03_newamerykah1.html|title=Erykah Badu :: New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) :: Universal Motown|publisher=RapReviews. Flash Web Design Exclusive|date=March 18, 2008|accessdate=October 25, 2011}}</ref> and she used it to construct various backing tracks for songs.<ref name="Jones">{{cite web|last=Frere-Jones|first=Sasha|authorlink=Sasha Frere-Jones|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2008/03/31/080331crmu_music_frerejones|title=Monarch|work=[[The New Yorker]]|publisher=[[Condé Nast Publications|Condé Nast]]|date=March 31, 2008|accessdate=October 21, 2011}}</ref> Using GarageBand, she recorded demos of her vocals by singing into the computer's microphone.<ref name="Warren"/><ref name="Fallen">{{cite journal|author=Burton, Al. Fallen, Mildred|url=http://www.scribd.com/doc/17392522/Shook-02-Vol1|title=Beat Freaq Badu|journal=[[Shook (magazine)|Shook]]|publisher=UPG|date=March 2008|issue=2|volume=1|pages=20–25|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> |
In 2004, Badu gave birth to a daughter, Puma Rose, with her former boyfriend, rapper [[The D.O.C.]].<ref name="McCann"/> Later that year, she received her first computer as a Christmas gift from drummer and producer [[Questlove|Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson]], and began communicating with and receiving music from him and other producers such as [[Q-Tip (rapper)|Q-Tip]] and [[J Dilla]].<ref name="Ryzik"/> Beginning in 2005,<ref name="McDonnell">{{cite journal|last=McDonnell|first=Evelyn|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/erykah-badu-/|title=Erykah Badu: Getting Spiritualized with Neo-Soul's Boho Big Mama|journal=[[Interview (magazine)|Interview]]|publisher=Interview|pages=33–34|date=May 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> Badu worked from her home in Dallas and used the software application [[GarageBand]] as a [[digital audio workstation]],<ref name="Warren">{{cite web|last=Warren|first=Tamara|url=http://www.venuszine.com/articles/music/features/4000/Erykah_Babu|title=Erykah Badu|work=[[Venus Zine]]|publisher=Venus Holdings|date=June 1, 2008|accessdate=October 22, 2011|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100409104838/http://venuszine.com/articles/music/features/4000/Erykah_Babu|archivedate=August 31, 2014|deadurl=yes}}</ref> which she was introduced to by her son,<ref name="Ryzik"/> Seven. He taught her how to use her laptop as a mini recording studio,<ref name="Taylor">{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Patrick|url=http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2008_03_newamerykah1.html|title=Erykah Badu :: New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) :: Universal Motown|publisher=RapReviews. Flash Web Design Exclusive|date=March 18, 2008|accessdate=October 25, 2011}}</ref> and she used it to construct various backing tracks for songs.<ref name="Jones">{{cite web|last=Frere-Jones|first=Sasha|authorlink=Sasha Frere-Jones|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2008/03/31/080331crmu_music_frerejones|title=Monarch|work=[[The New Yorker]]|publisher=[[Condé Nast Publications|Condé Nast]]|date=March 31, 2008|accessdate=October 21, 2011|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090612081224/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2008/03/31/080331crmu_music_frerejones|archivedate=August 31, 2014|deadurl=yes}}</ref> Using GarageBand, she recorded demos of her vocals by singing into the computer's microphone.<ref name="Warren"/><ref name="Fallen">{{cite journal|author=Burton, Al. Fallen, Mildred|url=http://www.scribd.com/doc/17392522/Shook-02-Vol1|title=Beat Freaq Badu|journal=[[Shook (magazine)|Shook]]|publisher=UPG|date=March 2008|issue=2|volume=1|pages=20–25|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> |
||
{{clear}} |
{{clear}} |
||
== Writing and development == |
== Writing and development == |
||
She composed more than 75 songs within the year and intended on splitting them among her planned series of ''New Amerykah'' albums.<ref name="Ryzik"/> She said of her productivity with her laptop, "I could be here, in my own space, with headphones on, and the kids could be doing what they doing, and I’m cooking dinner still, I’m making juices still, and it’s so easy just to sing. You got an idea — boom! Idea, boom!"<ref name="Ryzik"/> Badu's [[iChat]] |
She composed more than 75 songs within the year and intended on splitting them among her planned series of ''New Amerykah'' albums.<ref name="Ryzik"/> She said of her productivity with her laptop, "I could be here, in my own space, with headphones on, and the kids could be doing what they doing, and I’m cooking dinner still, I’m making juices still, and it’s so easy just to sing. You got an idea — boom! Idea, boom!"<ref name="Ryzik"/> Badu's [[iChat]] contacts,<ref name="McDonnell"/> including hip hop producers Questlove,<ref name="Wilonsky"/> [[Madlib]], [[9th Wonder]], and [[J Dilla]], [[instant message]]d her to get back into the studio and sent her tracks.<ref name="Taylor"/> Such exchanges inspired a creative spark for Badu, which she explained in an interview for the ''[[Dallas Observer]]'', "I started to accept that maybe it's OK for me to put out music, and it doesn't have to be something dynamic or world-changing. But just as I was accepting that, here comes this burst of light and energy and creativity. And that's the process, I guess, of life—the detachment and the release of something gives you even more room to grow or be creative."<ref name="Wilonsky"/> |
||
With the album, Badu sought to augment her music's production, expose the work of [[underground hip hop|underground]] [[hip hop production|hip hop producers]], and exceed listeners' expectations of contemporary music.<ref name="Micallef"/> She discussed her creative intentions in an interview for ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', stating "In taking on a project like this, I'm taking the responsibility to talk for my race and my planet."<ref name="Crosley">{{cite journal|last=Crosley|first=Hillary|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1047089/badu-starts-nu-on-double-disc-album|title=Badu Starts 'Nu' On Double-Disc Album|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Nielsen Company|Nielsen Business Media]]|date=December 10, 2007|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> In an interview for the ''[[New York Post]]'', she explained the album to be about "the war against self [...] against your inner being", and said of her hiatus, "I've always taken my time between albums. I'm a performing artist - recording is secondary to me. My performances are what drive me. It's like my therapy. I like to write a lot while I'm on the road before I even think about recording."<ref name="Barracato">{{cite web|last=Barracato|first=Joseph|url=http:// |
With the album, Badu sought to augment her music's production, expose the work of [[underground hip hop|underground]] [[hip hop production|hip hop producers]], and exceed listeners' expectations of contemporary music.<ref name="Micallef"/> She discussed her creative intentions in an interview for ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', stating "In taking on a project like this, I'm taking the responsibility to talk for my race and my planet."<ref name="Crosley">{{cite journal|last=Crosley|first=Hillary|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1047089/badu-starts-nu-on-double-disc-album|title=Badu Starts 'Nu' On Double-Disc Album|journal=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|publisher=[[Nielsen Company|Nielsen Business Media]]|date=December 10, 2007|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> In an interview for the ''[[New York Post]]'', she explained the album to be about "the war against self [...] against your inner being", and said of her hiatus, "I've always taken my time between albums. I'm a performing artist - recording is secondary to me. My performances are what drive me. It's like my therapy. I like to write a lot while I'm on the road before I even think about recording."<ref name="Barracato">{{cite web|last=Barracato|first=Joseph|url=http://nypost.com/2008/02/24/qa-erykah-badu/|title=Q&A: ERYKAH BADU|work=[[New York Post]]|publisher=NYP Holdings|date=February 24, 2008|accessdate=October 23, 2011}}</ref> Badu also said that she now had a relevant message to express for listeners and was no longer struggling with a creative block.<ref name="Barracato"/> |
||
== Recording == |
== Recording == |
||
Line 50: | Line 50: | ||
For ''New Amerykah Part One'', Badu collaborated principally with Questlove, Madlib, 9th Wonder, [[Karriem Riggins]], [[James Poyser]], audio engineer Mike "Chav" Chavarria, and the members of musical group [[Sa-Ra]], who made production and lyrical contributions to most of the tracks.<ref name="Kellman"/> She later explained choosing which producers to work with, saying "All of these people have a reputation for being visionaries and knowing them well, I felt 'Okay, now it's time to put together a project that not only takes us to another place, another dimension, but highlights these sights.' And that's what I had in mind for this project".<ref name="Bolden">{{cite web|last=Bolden|first=Janeé|url=http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/13010|title=SOHH Soulful Exclusive: Erykah Badu Preps New Album, Becomes "Hip-Hop Healer"|publisher=[[SOHH]]. 4Control Media|date=November 15, 2007|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080306093617/http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/13010|archivedate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> |
For ''New Amerykah Part One'', Badu collaborated principally with Questlove, Madlib, 9th Wonder, [[Karriem Riggins]], [[James Poyser]], audio engineer Mike "Chav" Chavarria, and the members of musical group [[Sa-Ra]], who made production and lyrical contributions to most of the tracks.<ref name="Kellman"/> She later explained choosing which producers to work with, saying "All of these people have a reputation for being visionaries and knowing them well, I felt 'Okay, now it's time to put together a project that not only takes us to another place, another dimension, but highlights these sights.' And that's what I had in mind for this project".<ref name="Bolden">{{cite web|last=Bolden|first=Janeé|url=http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/13010|title=SOHH Soulful Exclusive: Erykah Badu Preps New Album, Becomes "Hip-Hop Healer"|publisher=[[SOHH]]. 4Control Media|date=November 15, 2007|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080306093617/http://www.sohh.com/articles/article.php/13010|archivedate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> |
||
She started the album's initial recording at Luminous Sound Recording in Dallas, where she was assisted by Chavarria in recording vocals and basic tracks to [[Multitrack recording|2-tracks]].<ref name="Micallef"/> Her vocal harmonies were recorded to a [[Studer]] A820 ½-inch, an Analog Playback Tape machine, using [[Recording Media Group International|RMG]] [[magnetic tape]].<ref name="Micallef"/> |
She started the album's initial recording at Luminous Sound Recording in Dallas, where she was assisted by Chavarria in recording vocals and basic tracks to [[Multitrack recording|2-tracks]].<ref name="Micallef"/> Her vocal harmonies were recorded to a [[Studer]] A820 ½-inch, an Analog Playback Tape machine, using [[Recording Media Group International|RMG]] [[magnetic tape]].<ref name="Micallef"/> Poyser, who was heavily involved as musician and producer in all of Badu's previous work, had his role on the album reduced amicably to accommodate her minimalist, [[beat (music)|beat]]-driven approach in production.<ref name="Fallen"/> He discussed Badu's direction for the album in an interview for ''[[Shook (magazine)|Shook]]'', stating "she wanted a dirtier, more organic underground hip hop sound. So she dealt with cats that brought that sound to the table."<ref name="Fallen"/> |
||
A portion of the album's initial recording and [[programming (music)|programming]] also took place at Sa-Ra's Cosmic Dust Studio.<ref name="Fallen"/> Om'mas Keith |
A portion of the album's initial recording and [[programming (music)|programming]] also took place at Sa-Ra's Cosmic Dust Studio.<ref name="Fallen"/> Sa-Ra member Om'mas Keith remarked on Badu's role at their studio, "Sometimes she’d come through and pick a skeletal and other times the beats would get made right then and there."<ref name="Fallen"/> Keith played instruments such as the [[Rhodes piano|Fender Rhodes]], [[Roland Juno-106]], and [[Roland SH-101]].<ref name="credits">{{cite AV media notes|title=New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)|others=[[Erykah Badu]]|year=2008|type=CD liner|publisher=[[Universal Motown Records|Universal Motown]]|id=B0010800-02|location=New York City}}</ref> Of all her collaborators, Badu only let Husayn write lyrics for her on the album.<ref>{{cite web|last=Weiss|first=Jeff|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/12/the-wideranging-world-of-shafiq-husayn.html|title=The wide-ranging world of Shafiq Husayn|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|publisher=[[Tribune Company]]|date=December 22, 2009|accessdate=October 21, 2011}}</ref> Husayn said that because Badu had not allowed anyone to do this before, "she had to go through some personal things to come to the point where she'd let somebody write for her in the manner that we did. It was spontaneous but at the same time there was structure to it. It might not have the right expression, or the right enunciation. Writing is so personal. That was a big thing."<ref name="Fallen"/> |
||
=== Electric Lady sessions === |
=== Electric Lady sessions === |
||
Badu subsequently held recording sessions at [[Electric Lady Studios]] in New York City, where the album was completed.<ref name="Ryzik"/> In her interview for ''[[Remix (magazine)|Remix]]'', she elaborated on the recording process, stating "Everything that the producers e-mailed me I put into GarageBand. Then we would try to duplicate it at Electric Lady. I did vocals on my laptop, babies crying and everything. I also [[Equalization (audio)|EQ]]'d the tracks using effects like GarageBand's Vocal Reflection."<ref name="Micallef">{{cite journal|last=Micallef|first=Ken|url=http://emusician.com/remixmag/artists_interviews/musicians/remix_earth_sun_moon//index.html|title=Earth, Sun, Moon|journal=[[Remix (magazine)|Remix]]|publisher=[[Penton Media]]|date=March 1, 2008|accessdate=October 21, 2011}}</ref> Badu worked with audio engineers Chris Bell, Tom Soares, and |
Badu subsequently held recording sessions at [[Electric Lady Studios]] in New York City, where the album was completed.<ref name="Ryzik"/> In her interview for ''[[Remix (magazine)|Remix]]'', she elaborated on the recording process, stating "Everything that the producers e-mailed me I put into GarageBand. Then we would try to duplicate it at Electric Lady. I did vocals on my laptop, babies crying and everything. I also [[Equalization (audio)|EQ]]'d the tracks using effects like GarageBand's Vocal Reflection."<ref name="Micallef">{{cite journal|last=Micallef|first=Ken|url=http://emusician.com/remixmag/artists_interviews/musicians/remix_earth_sun_moon//index.html|title=Earth, Sun, Moon|journal=[[Remix (magazine)|Remix]]|publisher=[[Penton Media]]|date=March 1, 2008|accessdate=October 21, 2011}}</ref> Badu worked with audio engineers Chris Bell, Tom Soares, and Chavarria, who had spent numerous hours with Badu listening to her previous albums, including her 1997 debut ''[[Baduizm]]'' and its 2000 follow-up ''[[Mama's Gun]]'', and older albums such as ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon]]'' (1973) by progressive rock band [[Pink Floyd]] and ''[[Innervisions]]'' (1973) by [[Stevie Wonder]].<ref name="Micallef"/> They worked with the producers' emailed music and embellished their own 2-tracks by using [[Pro Tools]] to incorporate live instrumentation such as bass, guitar, flutes, percussion, and keyboards.<ref name="Micallef"/> Contributing musicians included vocalist [[Georgia Anne Muldrow]], trumpeter [[Roy Hargrove]],<ref name="Warren"/> vibraphonist [[Roy Ayers]], guitarist [[Omar Rodríguez-López]],<ref name="Ryzik"/> and vocalist [[Bilal (American singer)|Bilal]].<ref name="Barracato"/> |
||
Inspired by Badu's creativity and their time listening to music, Chavarria added special effects and [[Delay (audio effect)|delay]]s to the tracks by using and manipulating a variety of [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-ins]] and [[guitar pedal]]s, subsequently reworking effects frequency and [[modulation]] parameters.<ref name="Micallef"/> Chavarria said they were able to expand on the producers' tracks rather than change them, because "Erykah made this record to display to the world that there is this whole group of producers out there who are outside of the mainstream making great music."<ref name="Micallef"/> Badu said of the approach, "I work in layers. The first layer is the track. The second layer is the songs. The third would be the musicians who add a certain nuance. And when they play, they play like they are a sample. Or we take a piece of what they played, and we sample and [[music loop|loop]] it."<ref name="Micallef"/> |
|||
Along with a [[talking drum]], Badu used [[tuning fork]]s when recording ''New Amerykah Part One'' to evoke a certain feeling through its frequency, a practice she had done on her previous albums: "Each tuning fork has a certain vibrational energy that is conducive to a feeling or a color or a smell. They're related to different [[chakra]]s in the body, too. Some may make you feel good or sexy or conscious of what you're saying."<ref name="Micallef"/> The album was [[audio mastering|mastered]] at Electric Lady Studios in February 2008.<ref name="Wilonsky"/> Before it was edited down to 11 tracks, ''New Amerykah Part One'' was originally intended as a double album, with 18 songs over two discs.<ref name="Crosley"/> |
|||
=== Vocal production === |
=== Vocal production === |
||
[[File:Epiphone E 60 miked with Shure SM-57, Recording Fischer, Compound Recordings, January 2008.jpg|right|thumb|240px|Badu recorded with a [[Shure SM57]] microphone (right).]] |
[[File:Epiphone E 60 miked with Shure SM-57, Recording Fischer, Compound Recordings, January 2008.jpg|right|thumb|240px|Badu recorded with a [[Shure SM57]] microphone (right).]] |
||
At Electric Lady, Badu applied a multifaceted approach to recording her vocals and opted against editing them in post-production.<ref name="Micallef"/> Using her voice [[Impressionism|impressionistically]],<ref name="Abebe">{{cite web|last=Abebe|first=Nitsuh|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11562-new-amerykah-part-one-4th-world-war/|title=Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War|publisher=[[Pitchfork Media]]|date=June 6, 2008|accessdate=November 11, 2011}}</ref> her vocals were characterized by high [[musical scale|scales]], varied frequencies, wide [[interval (music)|intervals]], and time-stretched harmonies.<ref name="Micallef"/> Chavarria, who engineered the vocals with Badu, remarked on her singing, "Her voice has so many frequencies, from a subharmonic of her tonic to a thin raspiness, and she wants to hear all of that."<ref name="Micallef"/> Badu used a [[Shure SM57]] [[Microphone#Dynamic microphone|dynamic microphone]], finding it to have enough [[bass (sound)|bottom]] for her voice type, and cut vocal takes while situated between two speakers in the studio's control room with the [[Live sound mixing|monitor mix]] playing.<ref name="Micallef"/> She explained this setting to be more comfortable, noting the ability to hear herself sing and hold the microphone when moving around. Badu |
At Electric Lady, Badu applied a multifaceted approach to recording her vocals and opted against editing them in post-production.<ref name="Micallef"/> Using her voice [[Impressionism|impressionistically]],<ref name="Abebe">{{cite web|last=Abebe|first=Nitsuh|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11562-new-amerykah-part-one-4th-world-war/|title=Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War|publisher=[[Pitchfork Media]]|date=June 6, 2008|accessdate=November 11, 2011}}</ref> her vocals were characterized by high [[musical scale|scales]], varied frequencies, wide [[interval (music)|intervals]], and time-stretched harmonies.<ref name="Micallef"/> Chavarria, who engineered the vocals with Badu, remarked on her singing, "Her voice has so many frequencies, from a subharmonic of her tonic to a thin raspiness, and she wants to hear all of that."<ref name="Micallef"/> Badu used a [[Shure SM57]] [[Microphone#Dynamic microphone|dynamic microphone]], finding it to have enough [[bass (sound)|bottom]] for her voice type, and cut vocal takes while situated between two speakers in the studio's control room with the [[Live sound mixing|monitor mix]] playing.<ref name="Micallef"/> She explained this setting to be more comfortable, noting the ability to hear herself sing and hold the microphone when moving around. Badu preferred to sing in one take rather than edit different takes together: "When I do vocals, I am singing with a certain volume in my voice. I am singing the double and triple harmonies at different volumes. You don't have to adjust it; I have already done it. We [[audio mixing (recorded music)|mix]] as we go, so by the time we put the vocals to ½-inch tape, I know it. If you touch a damn thing, I will know it."<ref name="Micallef"/> |
||
To adjust to potential [[audio feedback]] and [[spill (audio)|leakage]] and obtain a usable take, Chavarria tried having Badu sit in an overstuffed chair six feet behind the [[mixing console]] and use alternate microphones such as a [[Georg Neumann|Neumann]] M 269 or AEA R44 [[ribbon microphone]] with Sony MDR-V900 headphones into a Furman headphone mixer.<ref name="Micallef"/> However, Badu felt she could not perceive all of her voice's frequencies with the headphones and often discarded them to move towards the [[studio monitor]]s.<ref name="Micallef"/> He also considered situating her in an equilateral triangle with the two speakers, one of which would be placed out of [[phase (waves)|phase]] in order to have the leakage cancel itself. However, according to him, the mic has to be stationary, while Badu "likes to hold the mic like an MC. She is at home as a live performer."<ref name="Micallef"/> He said of working around audio spills and adapting to Badu's methods, "We worked to make her vocals fit into the track, [[phase (waves)|phase]]-wise. [...] What did work was to keep the monitors fairly low and turn the microphone out of phase, and we would move her around the room until she found a spot where the leakage was reasonable and where she felt comfortable and could hear herself. But just as often she would just sit in that chair behind the board in the A Room."<ref name="Micallef"/> |
To adjust to potential [[audio feedback]] and [[spill (audio)|leakage]] and obtain a usable take, Chavarria tried having Badu sit in an overstuffed chair six feet behind the [[mixing console]] and use alternate microphones such as a [[Georg Neumann|Neumann]] M 269 or AEA R44 [[ribbon microphone]] with Sony MDR-V900 headphones into a Furman headphone mixer.<ref name="Micallef"/> However, Badu felt she could not perceive all of her voice's frequencies with the headphones and often discarded them to move towards the [[studio monitor]]s.<ref name="Micallef"/> He also considered situating her in an equilateral triangle with the two speakers, one of which would be placed out of [[phase (waves)|phase]] in order to have the leakage cancel itself. However, according to him, the mic has to be stationary, while Badu "likes to hold the mic like an MC. She is at home as a live performer."<ref name="Micallef"/> He said of working around audio spills and adapting to Badu's methods, "We worked to make her vocals fit into the track, [[phase (waves)|phase]]-wise. [...] What did work was to keep the monitors fairly low and turn the microphone out of phase, and we would move her around the room until she found a spot where the leakage was reasonable and where she felt comfortable and could hear herself. But just as often she would just sit in that chair behind the board in the A Room."<ref name="Micallef"/> |
||
== Music == |
== Music == |
||
The album's music is a dense,<ref name="Butler">{{cite web|last=Butler|first=Nick|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/15306/Erykah-Badu-New-Amerykah-Pt.-1-%284th-World-War%29/|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt. 1 (4th World War) (staff review)|publisher=[[Sputnikmusic]]|date=February 27, 2008|accessdate=November 21, 2011}}</ref> stylistic amalgam that primarily incorporates [[funk]], [[Soul music|soul]], and [[hip hop music|hip hop]] genres,<ref name="Ryzik"/><ref name="Taylor"/><ref name="Mojo50">{{cite journal|author=Staff|title=The 50 Best Albums of 2008|journal=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|publisher=[[Bauer Media Group|Bauer]]|date=January 2009|issue=182|page=72}}</ref> as well as [[jazz]] and [[electronica]].<ref name="Hardy">{{cite web|last=Hardy|first=Ernest|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/29/entertainment/et-albums29|title='Amerykah' the beautiful|work=Los Angeles Times|publisher=Tribune Company|date=February 29, 2008|accessdate=October 27, 2011}}</ref> Alexander Billet of ''[[Z Communications|ZNet]]'' |
The album's music is a dense,<ref name="Butler">{{cite web|last=Butler|first=Nick|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/15306/Erykah-Badu-New-Amerykah-Pt.-1-%284th-World-War%29/|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt. 1 (4th World War) (staff review)|publisher=[[Sputnikmusic]]|date=February 27, 2008|accessdate=November 21, 2011}}</ref> stylistic amalgam that primarily incorporates [[funk]], [[Soul music|soul]], and [[hip hop music|hip hop]] genres,<ref name="Ryzik"/><ref name="Taylor"/><ref name="Mojo50">{{cite journal|author=Staff|title=The 50 Best Albums of 2008|journal=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|publisher=[[Bauer Media Group|Bauer]]|date=January 2009|issue=182|page=72}}</ref> as well as [[jazz]] and [[electronica]].<ref name="Hardy">{{cite web|last=Hardy|first=Ernest|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/29/entertainment/et-albums29|title='Amerykah' the beautiful|work=Los Angeles Times|publisher=Tribune Company|date=February 29, 2008|accessdate=October 27, 2011}}</ref> Alexander Billet of ''[[Z Communications|ZNet]]'' wrote that the styles featured on ''New Amerykah Part One'' are "woven together into an often mind-bending eclecticism."<ref name="Billet">{{cite web|last=Billet|first=Alexander|url=http://www.zcommunications.org/freedom-songs-by-alexander-billet|title=Freedom Songs|work=[[Z Communications|ZNET]]|publisher=Z Communications|date=March 4, 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> Music writer [[Nelson George]] described it as "a complicated mesh of soul, [[electro (music)|electro]] sounds and references, simple and obscure [...] a musically challenging album that owes much to [[Radiohead]] and [[Curtis Mayfield]]".<ref name="George">{{cite web|last=George|first=Nelson|authorlink=Nelson George|url=http://nelsondgeorge.net/?page=blog&sub=music&item=12|title=Baduism circa 2008|publisher=Nelson George|date=March 6, 2008|accessdate=October 29, 2011}}</ref> Expanding of the loose, [[jam (music)|jam]]-oriented style of ''Worldwide Underground'',<ref name="Muze">{{cite web|url=http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7612207|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, PT. 1: 4th World War CD Album|publisher=[[CD Universe]]. [[Muze]]|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Kot">{{cite web|last=Kot|first=Greg|authorlink=Greg Kot|url=http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2008/02/erykah-badu-tun.html|title=Turn It Up: Erykah Badu tunes into her own 'Freakquency' on adventurous new album|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|publisher=Tribune Company|date=February 29, 2008|accessdate=November 6, 2011|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080303162609/http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2008/02/erykah-badu-tun.html|archivedate=August 31, 2014|deadurl=yes}}</ref> it features [[groove (music)|groove]]-based instrumentation, murky tones,<ref name="Kot"/> hip hop [[phrasing (music)|musical phrasing]], eccentric interludes,<ref name="Ratliff">{{cite web|last=Ratliff|first=Ben|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/arts/music/25choi.html?pagewanted=2|title=New CDs|work=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times Company|date=February 25, 2008|accessdate=October 29, 2011}}</ref> and various beats, digital [[glitch (music)|glitches]], and [[sampling (music)|samples]].<ref name="Ryzik"/> [[Sputnikmusic]]'s Nick Butler noted the influence of J Dilla in the album's sound, and compared the music to the work of [[neo soul]] collective [[Soulquarians]],<ref name="Butler"/> which featured Dilla, Badu, and ''New Amerykah'' contributors Questlove, Poyser, and Bilal.<ref>{{cite web|last=Cowie|first=Del F.|url=http://exclaim.ca/Features/Timeline/common-soul_by_pound|title=Common - Soul By the Pound • Timeline|work=[[Exclaim!]]|publisher=1059434 Ontario|date=December 2008|accessdate=November 21, 2011}}</ref> Butler added that the album is "moved beyond the ideas and conventions that have defined neo-soul over the past decade."<ref name="Butler"/> [[Greg Kot]] wrote that, "Like her peers [[D'Angelo]] (with ''[[Voodoo (D'Angelo album)|Voodoo]]'' in 2000), [[Common (rapper)|Common]] (''[[Electric Circus (album)|Electric Circus]]'' in 2002) and [[the Roots]] (''[[Phrenology (album)|Phrenology]]'' in 2002), Badu has made a record that defies efforts to categorize it."<ref name="Kot"/> He remarked that its "murkier, funkier vibe" draws on the "hypnotic funk" of early 1970s albums such as [[Miles Davis]]'s ''[[On the Corner]]'' (1972), [[Herbie Hancock]]'s ''[[Sextant (album)|Sextant]]'' (1973), and [[Sly & the Family Stone]]'s ''[[There's a Riot Goin' On]]'' (1971).<ref name="Kot"/> |
||
Similar to ''Voodoo'' and ''On the Corner'', ''New Amerykah Part One'' emphasizes sound and mood over choruses and verses.<ref name="Jones"/> The album is |
Similar to ''Voodoo'' and ''On the Corner'', ''New Amerykah Part One'' emphasizes sound and mood over choruses and verses.<ref name="Jones"/> The album is unified by a musical theme, with songs sequenced together and typified by ominous musical elements,<ref name="Huff">{{cite web|last=Huff|first=Quentin B.|url=http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/erykah-badu-new-amerykah|title=Erykah Badu: New Amerykah|publisher=[[PopMatters]]|date=March 14, 2008|accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Henderson">{{cite web|last=Henderson|first=Eric|url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/erykah-badu-new-amerykah-part-one-4th-world-war/1285|title=Erykah Badu: New AmErykah: Part One (4th World War)|publisher=[[Slant Magazine]]|date=February 25, 2008|accessdate=November 6, 2011}}</ref> [[minor scale|minor-key]] melodies, and atmospheric beats.<ref name="Hoard">{{cite web|last=Hoard|first=Christian|url=http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/new-amerykah-20080306|title=New Amerykah|work=[[Rolling Stone]]|publisher=[[Jann Wenner|Wenner Media]]|date=March 6, 2008|accessdate=November 13, 2011}}</ref> Lauren Carter of the ''[[Boston Herald]]'' viewed that Badu's subtle musical approach led to her "wrapping tracks in a hazy, mellow groove that frequently has the feel of a [[Séance|seance]]."<ref name="Carter">{{cite journal|last=Carter|first=Lauren|title=ERYKAH BADU "New Amerykah, Part 1: 4th World War" (Universal/Motown)|journal=[[Boston Herald]]|publisher=Herald Media|page=32|date=February 26, 2008}}</ref> Several writers have compared its sound to the music of [[Funkadelic]].<ref name="Cook">{{cite web|last=Cook|first=Alex V.|url=http://www.outsideleft.com/main.php?updateID=1010|title=Mother Earth is Pregnant for the Fourth Time|publisher=Outsideleft|date=March 5, 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref><ref name="RS50">{{cite journal|author=Staff|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090410024927/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/24958695/the_50_best_albums_of_2008/15|title=The 50 Best Albums of 2008|journal=Rolling Stone|publisher=Wenner Media|date=December 2008|issue=1068|page=91|accessdate=October 29, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Linden">{{cite journal|last=Linden|first=Amy|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jyYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Erykah Badu, 'New Amerykah Pt. 1: The 4th World War' (Universal Motown)|journal=[[Vibe (magazine)|Vibe]]|publisher=Vibe Media Group|date=April 2008|volume=16|issue=4|page=75|accessdate=November 8, 2011}}</ref> |
||
Songs on the album incorporate [[experimental hip hop]] backing tracks and other hip hop elements in a surrealistic manner.<ref name="Micallef"/><ref name="Rosenberg">{{cite web|author=Staff|url=http://thestylusdecade.com/albums10081.html|title=Top Albums 100-81|publisher=[[Stylus Magazine|The Stylus Decade]]|date=January 2010|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> The majority of the beats are dark, blunted, and hazy, and have been noted by music writers as conveying an urban [[soundscape]] and feeling of paranoia.<ref name="Ryzik"/><ref name="Abebe"/> Most of the songs were either produced or co-written by members of Sa-Ra, who are known for their sonically [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonant]] music, characerized by eccentric [[chord (music)|chord]] placements and off-time beats.<ref name="Fallen"/> |
Songs on the album incorporate [[experimental hip hop]] backing tracks and other hip hop elements in a surrealistic manner.<ref name="Micallef"/><ref name="Rosenberg">{{cite web|author=Staff|url=http://thestylusdecade.com/albums10081.html|title=Top Albums 100-81|publisher=[[Stylus Magazine|The Stylus Decade]]|date=January 2010|accessdate=October 22, 2011|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100111214837/http://thestylusdecade.com/albums10081.html|archivedate=August 31, 2014|deadurl=yes}}</ref> The majority of the beats are dark, blunted, and hazy, and have been noted by music writers as conveying an urban [[soundscape]] and feeling of paranoia.<ref name="Ryzik"/><ref name="Abebe"/> Most of the songs were either produced or co-written by members of Sa-Ra, who are known for their sonically [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonant]] music, characerized by eccentric [[chord (music)|chord]] placements and off-time beats.<ref name="Fallen"/> Critic [[Sasha Frere-Jones]] commented on the album's hip hop element, saying that it "isn’t so much hip-hop as it is a reorganization of the historical [[flotsam and jetsam]] that were recycled and turned into hip-hop."<ref name="Jones"/> Music writer Alex V. Cook characterized the music as heavy on the groove and bass elements that are predominantly found in funk and hip hop.<ref name="Cook"/> |
||
== Lyrics and themes == |
== Lyrics and themes == |
||
[[File:BrokenPromises JohnFekner.jpg|thumb|275px|right|Badu's lyrics make reference to [[urban decay]],<ref name="Chomut"/> [[wikt:disfranchisement|disfranchisement]],<ref name="Cook"/> and unfulfilled promises of the [[American Dream]].<ref name="Huff"/> A [[South Bronx]] slum, an exemplar of the government's abandonment of cities in the 1970s and 1980s; the text reads "BROKEN PROMISES".]] |
[[File:BrokenPromises JohnFekner.jpg|thumb|275px|right|Badu's lyrics make reference to [[urban decay]],<ref name="Chomut"/> [[wikt:disfranchisement|disfranchisement]],<ref name="Cook"/> and unfulfilled promises of the [[American Dream]].<ref name="Huff"/> A [[South Bronx]] slum, an exemplar of the government's abandonment of cities in the 1970s and 1980s; the text reads "BROKEN PROMISES".]] |
||
''New Amerykah Part One'' is an [[esoteric]] concept album with sociopolitical themes and mostly downbeat subject matter |
''New Amerykah Part One'' is an [[esoteric]] concept album with sociopolitical themes and mostly downbeat subject matter.<ref name="Muze"/><ref name="Hoard"/> It features more impersonal topics and social commentary than on Badu's previous work.<ref name="Nero"/> Its subject matter deals with social concerns and struggles within the African-American community, exploring topics such as [[institutional racism]], religion, poverty, urban violence, the abuse of power, complacency, [[cultural identity]], drug addiction, and [[nihilism]].<ref name="Abebe"/><ref name="Ratliff"/> Badu has said that the album discusses "religion, [...] poor families, the undermining of the working class, the so-called minority."<ref name="Warren"/> Andy Gill of ''[[The Independent]]'' denoted the album's subject matter as "the black struggle to find a place of nobility".<ref name="Gill">{{cite web|last=Gill|first=Andy|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-erykah-badu-new-amerykah-part-one-4th-world-order-universal-789098.html|title=Album: Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World Order) (Universal) - Reviews - Music|work=[[The Independent]]|publisher=Independent Print Limited|date=February 29, 2011|accessdate=November 11, 2011}}</ref> [[BBC Music]]'s Greg Boraman perceived a "slightly apocalyptic theme" throughout, which he compared to [[Marvin Gaye]]'s ''[[What's Going On (Marvin Gaye album)|What's Going On]]'' and Sly & the Family Stone's ''There's a Riot Goin' On''.<ref name="Boraman">{{cite web|last=Boraman|first=Greg|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/26gb|title=Review of Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)|publisher=[[BBC Music]]. [[BBC]]|date=April 2, 2008|accessdate=December 28, 2011}}</ref> Patrick Taylor of RapReviews felt that its lyrics evoke both modern and older themes, particularly those of 1960s and 1970s [[psychedelic soul]].<ref name="Taylor"/> Ratliff called it "a political record" and said that most of the "social agenda" in Badu's lyrics has been previously explored by artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, and Funkadelic, which "suggests that little has changed in nearly 40 years, and perhaps [...] that’s her point."<ref name="Ratliff"/> |
||
Music journalist Nitsuh Abebe |
Music journalist Nitsuh Abebe wrote that the album's lyrical content is rooted in the era of "those [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)|Civil Rights]] and [[Post–Civil Rights Era African-American history|post-Civil Rights]] moments when African-Americans were left with some strange, heavy tasks: sorting out how to have a cultural identity as part of a nation that had, up until very recently, been a dedicated adversary, and sorting out how to clean up the wreckage that had accumulated in the meantime."<ref name="Abebe"/> Quentin B. Huff of [[PopMatters]] compared its thematic structure to singer-songwriter [[Suzanne Vega]]'s ''[[Beauty & Crime]]'' (2007), which was composed by Vega as an ode to her native New York City, and interprets the [[plot (narrative)|plot]] of ''New Amerykah Part One'' to be "an amalgam of post-Civil Rights Era experience mixed with a [[post-9/11]] worldview, plus a few shots of community spirit, individual growth, pleas for social activism and spiritual enlightenment, and [...] the realities of death."<ref name="Huff"/> Huff commented that the album's "clash in musical styles" reinforces the subject matter's "clash between progress and patience", adding that some songs "seem committed to having America honor" the promise of the [[American Dream]] for African-Americans, while other songs "seem to reject the promise, or at least the idea that the promise can be fulfilled without considerable effort".<ref name="Huff"/> |
||
Badu's songwriting on the album is characterized by |
Badu's songwriting on the album is characterized by [[pointillism]],<ref name="Henderson"/> [[Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|stream of consciousness]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Stout|first=David|url=http://goqnotes.com/audiophile/audiophile_040508.html|title=Great Dame: The return of Shirley Bassey|work=[[Q-Notes]]|publisher=Pride Publishing & Typesetting|date=April 5, 2008|accessdate=November 11, 2011}}</ref> and scenic narrative.<ref name="Abebe"/> Her lyrics are alternately overtly political and deeply personal,<ref name="Taylor"/> interlaced with [[The Nation of Gods and Earths|Five Percenter]] notions and references to the [[Nation of Islam]].<ref name="Ryzik"/><ref name="Abebe"/> Badu expresses a motherly perspective and feelings of dismay and empathy for the subjects in the songs.<ref name="Taylor"/> Charles Aaron of ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' commented that "a sense of history and maternal compassion [...] grounds even her most oblique forays."<ref name="Aaron">{{cite journal|last=Aaron|first=Charles|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=s_G9SEfNaboC&pg=PA51#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=40 Best Albums of 2008|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|publisher=SPIN Media|volume=25|issue=1|page=51|accessdate=October 29, 2011}}</ref> Abebe wrote similarly, "her keen writing about people" gives songs "much of their shape" and views that her candor helps communicate the album's "social concerns, which could otherwise sound like a laundry list of black-community struggles".<ref name="Abebe"/> |
||
== Songs == |
== Songs == |
||
Line 89: | Line 89: | ||
[[File:MadlibMarch2014Echo.jpg|right|thumb|260px|"The Healer" and "My People" were produced by [[Madlib]] (pictured).]] |
[[File:MadlibMarch2014Echo.jpg|right|thumb|260px|"The Healer" and "My People" were produced by [[Madlib]] (pictured).]] |
||
The opening track "Amerykahn Promise" samples the 1977 song "The American Promise" by American band [[RAMP]] as its backing track. The original song was co-written and produced by Roy Ayers, who gave Badu the original master tape for her to rework on the album.<ref name="Jones"/><ref name="Compton">{{cite web|last=Compton|first=Josette|url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2008/11/03/a-few-of-roy-ay/|title=A few of Roy Ayers' favorite things|work=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|date=November 3, 2008|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> Ayers and [[Edwin Birdsong]] were inspired to write the song by President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s 1965 speech "The American Promise", which called for justice and equal rights in the United States.<ref name="Fallen"/> "Amerykahn Promise" features explicit political satire and has themes of disfranchisement and the hindrance of the [[American Dream]].<ref name="Jones"/><ref name="Fallen"/><ref name="Cook"/> Its [[tongue-in-cheek]] subject matter portrays America as a land of broken promises.<ref name="Billet"/><ref name="Huff"/> The song opens with a [[blaxploitation]] trailer [[blurb]], saying "more action, more excitement, more everything",<ref name="Cook"/> and features an improvisatory funk [[vamp (music)|vamp]],<ref name="Jones"/> RAMP vocalists Sibel Thrasher and Sharon Matthews,<ref name="Fallen"/> and an authoritative male voice,<ref name="Nero"/> performed by |
The opening track "Amerykahn Promise" samples the 1977 song "The American Promise" by American band [[RAMP]] as its backing track. The original song was co-written and produced by Roy Ayers, who gave Badu the original master tape for her to rework on the album.<ref name="Jones"/><ref name="Compton">{{cite web|last=Compton|first=Josette|url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2008/11/03/a-few-of-roy-ay/|title=A few of Roy Ayers' favorite things|work=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|date=November 3, 2008|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> Ayers and [[Edwin Birdsong]] were inspired to write the song by President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s 1965 speech "The American Promise", which called for justice and equal rights in the United States.<ref name="Fallen"/> "Amerykahn Promise" features explicit political satire and has themes of disfranchisement and the hindrance of the [[American Dream]].<ref name="Jones"/><ref name="Fallen"/><ref name="Cook"/> Its [[tongue-in-cheek]] subject matter portrays America as a land of broken promises.<ref name="Billet"/><ref name="Huff"/> The song opens with a [[blaxploitation]] trailer [[blurb]], saying "more action, more excitement, more everything",<ref name="Cook"/> and features an improvisatory funk [[vamp (music)|vamp]],<ref name="Jones"/> RAMP vocalists Sibel Thrasher and Sharon Matthews,<ref name="Fallen"/> and an authoritative male voice,<ref name="Nero"/> performed by Keith.<ref name="Chomut">{{cite web|last=Chomut|first=Christina|url=http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/802926/erykah-badu-triumphs-with-her-first-cd-in-years|title=Erykah Badu triumphs with her first CD in years|publisher=SheKnows. AtomicOnline|date=March 7, 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> The authoritative character is portrayed as a [[barker (occupation)|circus-barker]] whose [[smoke and mirrors]] presentation of the American Dream leads to contentious dialogue with Badu.<ref name="Kot"/> A female voice at the end of the song asks, "Has anyone seen my 42 laws?", an arcane allusion to the 42 divine laws of ancient Egyptian goddess [[Maat]].<ref name="Lewis">{{cite web|last=Lewis|first=Miles Marshall|authorlink=Miles Marshall Lewis|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-03-04/music/the-plebeian-militant-homegirl/|title=Erykah Badu: The Plebeian, Militant Homegirl|work=[[The Village Voice]]|publisher=Village Voice Media|date=March 4, 2008|accessdate=November 13, 2011}}</ref> |
||
Produced by Madlib, "The Healer" is an ode to [[hip hop culture]] and a proclamation of its scope.<ref name="Warren"/> It opens with a brief snippet from a song by [[Malcolm McLaren]] featuring the [[World's Famous Supreme Team]].<ref name="Jones"/> |
Produced by Madlib, "The Healer" is an ode to [[hip hop culture]] and a proclamation of its scope.<ref name="Warren"/> It opens with a brief snippet from a song by [[Malcolm McLaren]] featuring the [[World's Famous Supreme Team]].<ref name="Jones"/> Frere-Jones notes "bells, unidentifiable knocks, a lonesome instrument that might be a sitar, or a guitar, and lots of empty space" in the musical backdrop, adding that "the music flirts with total stasis, though it still has an audible beat."<ref name="Jones"/> Badu's lyrics, delivered in an [[incantation]] style,<ref name="Taylor"/> make reference to various names of God, including Humdililah, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, Jah, and Rastafari, while asserting hip hop to be "bigger than" social institutions such as religion and government.<ref name="Jones"/> She explained the lyrics and religious references, saying "to me, hip-hop is felt in all religions - it has a healing power. I've recently been to Palestine, Jerusalem, Africa and a bunch of other places, and everyone is listening to hip-hop. There's something about that kicking snare sound that all kinds of people find meaning in."<ref name="Barracato"/> |
||
Layered with acoustic guitars, keyboards, and a shuffling drumbeat, the midtempo,<ref name="Hardy"/> autobiographical song "Me" discusses Badu's thoughts and feelings about her life,<ref name="Nero"/> including the struggle of growing as a public figure.<ref name="Taylor"/> It features multitracked trumpet by Roy Hargrove.<ref name="Ratliff"/> She mocks others' perception of her, which she has explained as "everything you can see of Erykah Badu — the [[Ankh]]s, the powers, the 5 Percenters, the mysteries, it’s all true. The lies; it’s all true. Had two babies with different daddies. Thirty-six years old and addicted to a variety of spending."<ref name="Warren"/> The song's jazz [[Conclusion (music)|conclusion]] has Badu singing about her mother's life and resilience in unison with a muted trumpet.<ref name="Abebe"/> "My People" has a slow beat and righteous lyrics delivered with [[gospel music|gospel]] and [[chant]]-like repetition and [[call and response]] patterns.<ref name="Billet"/><ref name="Cook"/> It features a sample of singer-songwriter [[Eddie Kendricks]]' 1972 song "My People...Hold On".<ref name="Micallef"/> |
Layered with acoustic guitars, keyboards, and a shuffling drumbeat, the midtempo,<ref name="Hardy"/> autobiographical song "Me" discusses Badu's thoughts and feelings about her life,<ref name="Nero"/> including the struggle of growing as a public figure.<ref name="Taylor"/> It features multitracked trumpet by Roy Hargrove.<ref name="Ratliff"/> She mocks others' perception of her, which she has explained as "everything you can see of Erykah Badu — the [[Ankh]]s, the powers, the 5 Percenters, the mysteries, it’s all true. The lies; it’s all true. Had two babies with different daddies. Thirty-six years old and addicted to a variety of spending."<ref name="Warren"/> The song's jazz [[Conclusion (music)|conclusion]] has Badu singing about her mother's life and resilience in unison with a muted trumpet.<ref name="Abebe"/> "My People" has a slow beat and righteous lyrics delivered with [[gospel music|gospel]] and [[chant]]-like repetition and [[call and response]] patterns.<ref name="Billet"/><ref name="Cook"/> It features a sample of singer-songwriter [[Eddie Kendricks]]' 1972 song "My People...Hold On".<ref name="Micallef"/> |
||
"[[Soldier (Erykah Badu song)|Soldier]]" was produced by Karriem Riggins and features a pulsing groove, soft flute,<ref name="Billet"/> rugged drums, and a deflty [[Chopping (sampling technique)|chopped]] sample.<ref name="Fallen"/> It was written by Badu immediately after receiving Riggins' beat for the song.<ref name="Fallen"/> Riggins likens the song's production style to that of J Dilla and his Detroit hip hop scene, stating "We shared a lot of the same ideas and I was really inspired by his sound. A lot of producers from Detroit have a certain sound, and I think it just comes from being in the city. Erykah definitely connects to that and she wanted that sound."<ref name="Fallen"/> The song's [[Political sociology|sociopolitical]] lyrics have Badu expressing sympathy and solidarity for those facing oppression,<ref name="Billet"/> with references to [[race and crime in the United States|black-on-black crime]], [[police corruption]],<ref name="Linsey">{{cite web|last=Linsey|first=Craig D.|url=http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/music/power_of_soul-38465764.html|title=Power of Soul|work=[[Philadelphia Weekly]]|publisher=Review Publishing|date=March 5, 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> and [[Hurricane Katrina]].<ref name="Kellman"/> "The Cell" was produced by |
"[[Soldier (Erykah Badu song)|Soldier]]" was produced by Karriem Riggins and features a pulsing groove, soft flute,<ref name="Billet"/> rugged drums, and a deflty [[Chopping (sampling technique)|chopped]] sample.<ref name="Fallen"/> It was written by Badu immediately after receiving Riggins' beat for the song.<ref name="Fallen"/> Riggins likens the song's production style to that of J Dilla and his Detroit hip hop scene, stating "We shared a lot of the same ideas and I was really inspired by his sound. A lot of producers from Detroit have a certain sound, and I think it just comes from being in the city. Erykah definitely connects to that and she wanted that sound."<ref name="Fallen"/> The song's [[Political sociology|sociopolitical]] lyrics have Badu expressing sympathy and solidarity for those facing oppression,<ref name="Billet"/> with references to [[race and crime in the United States|black-on-black crime]], [[police corruption]],<ref name="Linsey">{{cite web|last=Linsey|first=Craig D.|url=http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/music/power_of_soul-38465764.html|title=Power of Soul|work=[[Philadelphia Weekly]]|publisher=Review Publishing|date=March 5, 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> and [[Hurricane Katrina]].<ref name="Kellman"/> "The Cell" was produced by Husayn and features a lively, [[choir|choral]] style and [[hard bop]] feel.<ref name="Henderson"/> A metaphor for both heredity and confinment,<ref name="Ratliff"/> "The Cell" is a tableau of crime, drugs, and desperation in urban decay,<ref name="Cook"/><ref name="Linsey"/> streamlined by a stark story about Brenda, a character who falls victim to her environment.<ref name="Huff"/> |
||
=== Tracks 7-11 === |
=== Tracks 7-11 === |
||
"Twinkle" was co-produced by |
"Twinkle" was co-produced by Chavarria and has a dreadful, uneasy mood.<ref name="Jones"/> Cited by Chavarria as the album's most effects-heavy track, it features a futuristic sound, a convoluted beat, and abstract aural elements such as [[white noise]] bursts, high-pitched voices, abrasive instruments, and layers of twinkling [[keyboard bass]].<ref name="Micallef"/> Additionally, the song incorporates guitar by Omar Rodríguez-López and Jef Lee Johnson.<ref name="Linsey"/> The song's lyrics lament the plight of the African-American community and the cyclical effects on African Americans by the various failures of the social institutions such as the [[Health care in the United States|health care]], [[Education in the United States|education]], and [[Incarceration in the United States|prison system]]s in the United States.<ref name="Kellman"/><ref name="Taylor"/> Badu raps in the song's verse, "Children of the matrix be hittin’ them car switches / Seen some virgin Virgos hanging out with Venus bitches", followed by her singing, "They don’t know their language, they don’t know their God".<ref name="Jones"/> Over humming keyboards, the song's closing minutes feature a speech in the ancient African language of Mdw Ntchr,<ref name="Lewis"/> followed by a rant by a speaker that is modelled after actor [[Peter Finch]]'s rant in the 1976 film ''[[Network (film)|Network]]''.<ref name="Jones"/> The speaker angrily indictes the state of the world and the complacency of people.<ref name="Taylor"/><ref name="Huff"/> ''[[Philadelphia Weekly]]''{{'}}s Craig D. Linsey describes "Twinkle" as a "dense [[Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)|inner-city blues]]".<ref name="Linsey"/> |
||
"Master Teacher" was conceived by Georgia Anne Muldrow on her [[Rhodes piano]] at Sa-Ra's Cosmic Dust Studio with Badu present and was originally intended for one of their albums.<ref name="Fallen"/> Its idyllic music blends mellow soul and glitchy hip hop, featuring a chopped sample of Curtis Mayfield's 1972 song "[[Freddie's Dead]]".<ref name="Taylor"/> The song's lyrics envision a higher degree of African-American identity.<ref name="Huff"/> Its vocalists ask in [[refrain]], "What if there was no niggas, only master teachers?",<ref name="Henderson"/> and answering "I stay woke", with Badu responding " |
"Master Teacher" was conceived by Georgia Anne Muldrow on her [[Rhodes piano]] at Sa-Ra's Cosmic Dust Studio with Badu present and was originally intended for one of their albums.<ref name="Fallen"/> Its idyllic music blends mellow soul and glitchy hip hop, featuring a chopped sample of Curtis Mayfield's 1972 song "[[Freddie's Dead]]".<ref name="Taylor"/> The song's lyrics envision a higher degree of African-American identity.<ref name="Huff"/> Its vocalists ask in [[refrain]], "What if there was no niggas, only master teachers?",<ref name="Henderson"/> and answering "I stay woke", with Badu responding "I'm in the search of something new / Search inside me, searching inside you".<ref name="Huff"/> Midway through the song, Poyser's keyboards lower the music's tempo,<ref name="Fallen"/> with a fluid, jazzy sound. "That Hump" concerns the topic of drug dependency.<ref name="Kellman"/> The closing track "Telephone" is a tribute to J Dilla, who died in 2006 from complications with blood disorder,<ref name="Jones"/> and has themes of sorrow and hope.<ref name="Huff"/> It serves as a departure from the preceding songs' edgier musical direction, featuring soft melodies and an acoustic feel similar to Badu's live sound.<ref name="Fallen"/> The song opens with the sound of ominous sirens, referencing J Dilla's 2006 album ''[[Donuts (album)|Donuts]]''.<ref name="Taylor"/> The song's lyrics are based on a story told to Badu by J Dilla's mother on the day of his death. Poyser explained in an interview, "Dilla's mom told Erykah about one day when he was telling her about this dream he had where [[Ol' Dirty Bastard|Ol'Dirty]] was telling him to get on a different color bus and giving him directions home".<ref name="Fallen"/> According to Poyser, the song's music was inspired by Dilla's passing: |
||
{{cquote|We were in the studio right after Dilla’s funeral and we were working on stuff for the Edith Funker album. The focus there was more emotional than sonic. It was just feeling Dilla. It was something that wasn’t thought out, it just naturally took place. We were sitting there and we just started jamming and the song just happened instantly.<ref name="Fallen"/>}} |
{{cquote|We were in the studio right after Dilla’s funeral and we were working on stuff for the Edith Funker album. The focus there was more emotional than sonic. It was just feeling Dilla. It was something that wasn’t thought out, it just naturally took place. We were sitting there and we just started jamming and the song just happened instantly.<ref name="Fallen"/>}} |
||
The closing track "[[Honey (Erykah Badu song)|Honey]]" is a percussive,<ref name="GiantStep"/> lighthearted love song that contains a sample of singer [[Nancy Wilson (jazz singer)|Nancy Wilson]]'s 1978 song "I'm in Love".<ref name="Micallef"/><ref name="Ratliff"/> The track opens with a [[reprise]] of "Amerykahn Promise", with an announcer saying, "We hope you enjoyed your journey and now we’re putting control of you back to you", and a countdown leading to "Honey".<ref name="Fallen"/> According to Badu, the song is about "a lover, a fictitious character named Slim, who I'm chasing."<ref name="McDonnell"/> [[Allmusic]]'s Andy Kellman |
The closing track "[[Honey (Erykah Badu song)|Honey]]" is a percussive,<ref name="GiantStep"/> lighthearted love song that contains a sample of singer [[Nancy Wilson (jazz singer)|Nancy Wilson]]'s 1978 song "I'm in Love".<ref name="Micallef"/><ref name="Ratliff"/> The track opens with a [[reprise]] of "Amerykahn Promise", with an announcer saying, "We hope you enjoyed your journey and now we’re putting control of you back to you", and a countdown leading to "Honey".<ref name="Fallen"/> According to Badu, the song is about "a lover, a fictitious character named Slim, who I'm chasing."<ref name="McDonnell"/> [[Allmusic]]'s Andy Kellman commented that the song is included as an unlisted track as "it doesn't fit into the album's fabric, what with its drifting, deeply sweetened, synth-squish-and-string-drift groove."<ref name="Kellman"/> |
||
== Packaging and title == |
== Packaging and title == |
||
The album's cover and interior artwork were designed by Badu and graphic artist [[Emek]].<ref name="GiantStep"/> The cover features an abstract portrayal of Badu, who dons vintage nameplate knuckle rings bearing the album title and an [[Afro]] decorated in a [[bric-a-brac]] manner with various emblems.<ref name="GiantStep"/><ref name="Huff"/> Badu and Emek sought to reflect the former's perspective on various topics, including music, religion, governments, and economics, and incorporate emblems to depict American culture and modern society.<ref name="Chomut"/> Images featured in the Afro include those of flowers, spray cans, dollar signs, power plants, musical notes, toilets, raised fists, needles, laptops, turntables, handcuffs, broken chains, bar codes, drugs, and guns.<ref name="GiantStep"/><ref name="Huff"/><ref name="Greenblatt">{{cite web|last=Greenblatt|first=Leah|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20179152,00.html|title=New Amerykah Review|work=Entertainment Weekly|publisher=Time Inc.|date=March 3, 2008|accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref> The album's interior artwork features ominous, psychedelic, futuristic, and apocalyptic imagery.<ref name="Huff"/> The artwork includes illustrations of a red-eyed [[Uncle Sam]] pointing a gun, robotic creatures tattooing each other, a [[bar code]] bearing the [[alphanumeric]] message "50C1AL 5Y5T3M", and a suited skeleton with a dollar sign on its skull lecturing a headless audience from a podium that bears the pyramid image from the reverse of the [[Great Seal of the United States]].<ref name="Huff"/> The illustration of a soft melting fork, hypodermic needle, and spoon is an adaptation of [[Salvador Dalí]]'s 1931 painting ''[[The Persistence of Memory]]''.<ref name="Huff"/> |
The album's cover and interior artwork were designed by Badu and graphic artist [[Emek]].<ref name="GiantStep"/> The cover features an abstract portrayal of Badu, who dons vintage nameplate knuckle rings bearing the album title and an [[Afro]] decorated in a [[bric-a-brac]] manner with various emblems.<ref name="GiantStep"/><ref name="Huff"/> Badu and Emek sought to reflect the former's perspective on various topics, including music, religion, governments, and economics, and incorporate emblems to depict American culture and modern society.<ref name="Chomut"/> Images featured in the Afro include those of flowers, spray cans, dollar signs, power plants, musical notes, toilets, raised fists, needles, laptops, turntables, handcuffs, broken chains, bar codes, drugs, and guns.<ref name="GiantStep"/><ref name="Huff"/><ref name="Greenblatt">{{cite web|last=Greenblatt|first=Leah|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20179152,00.html|title=New Amerykah Review|work=Entertainment Weekly|publisher=Time Inc.|date=March 3, 2008|accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref> The album's interior artwork features ominous, psychedelic, futuristic, and apocalyptic imagery.<ref name="Huff"/> The artwork includes illustrations of a red-eyed [[Uncle Sam]] pointing a gun, robotic creatures tattooing each other, a [[bar code]] bearing the [[alphanumeric]] message "50C1AL 5Y5T3M", and a suited skeleton with a dollar sign on its skull lecturing a headless audience from a podium that bears the pyramid image from the reverse of the [[Great Seal of the United States]].<ref name="Huff"/> The illustration of a soft melting fork, hypodermic needle, and spoon is an adaptation of [[Salvador Dalí]]'s 1931 painting ''[[The Persistence of Memory]]''.<ref name="Huff"/> |
||
Before its release, the album was tentatively called ''KahBa'', which Badu derived from her name, as a reference to [[Islam]] and [[Kemetism]].<ref name="Bolden"/> The title of the album series, ''New Amerykah'', is a [[pun]] of Badu's name.<ref name="McDonnell"/> She has explained one meaning of it as "a statement that simply says, 'This is the beginning of the new world'-for both the slaves and the slave masters. In other words, everybody has to wake up and see. This new world moves much faster. We don't even realize how fast we're moving."<ref name="McDonnell"/> In her interview for ''Remix'', Badu said that ''New Amerykah'' also means "a very different and new for me" and elaborated on this context, stating "In 1997, a 25-year-old Erykah Badu came out as an artist, pregnant, a mother-to-be. We used to bring cassettes home as our listening from the studio. No one had a cell phone, only a couple people with these great big contraptions. The Internet was not our form of communication; we still had the library. We were creating from sand and scrap. So quickly it's turned into this technological society. I can send the album to millions of fans from Antarctica to Mexico City with one push of the button. The way our children think and the things they see? It's new, and it's happened so quick. And I am in the middle of that. Me on the platform with a microphone — that is how I envision ''New Amerykah''."<ref name="Micallef"/> ''Part One''{{'}}s subtitle, ''4th World War'', reflects the content's objective, political leanings, which Badu explained to be "outside of me [...] What’s going on outside is the [[Lateralization of brain function|left brain]]".<ref name="Serwer">{{cite web|last=Serwer|first=Jesse|url=http:// |
Before its release, the album was tentatively called ''KahBa'', which Badu derived from her name, as a reference to [[Islam]] and [[Kemetism]].<ref name="Bolden"/> The title of the album series, ''New Amerykah'', is a [[pun]] of Badu's name.<ref name="McDonnell"/> She has explained one meaning of it as "a statement that simply says, 'This is the beginning of the new world'-for both the slaves and the slave masters. In other words, everybody has to wake up and see. This new world moves much faster. We don't even realize how fast we're moving."<ref name="McDonnell"/> In her interview for ''Remix'', Badu said that ''New Amerykah'' also means "a very different and new for me" and elaborated on this context, stating "In 1997, a 25-year-old Erykah Badu came out as an artist, pregnant, a mother-to-be. We used to bring cassettes home as our listening from the studio. No one had a cell phone, only a couple people with these great big contraptions. The Internet was not our form of communication; we still had the library. We were creating from sand and scrap. So quickly it's turned into this technological society. I can send the album to millions of fans from Antarctica to Mexico City with one push of the button. The way our children think and the things they see? It's new, and it's happened so quick. And I am in the middle of that. Me on the platform with a microphone — that is how I envision ''New Amerykah''."<ref name="Micallef"/> ''Part One''{{'}}s subtitle, ''4th World War'', reflects the content's objective, political leanings, which Badu explained to be "outside of me [...] What’s going on outside is the [[Lateralization of brain function|left brain]]".<ref name="Serwer">{{cite web|last=Serwer|first=Jesse|url=http://www.timeout.com/newyork/music/interview-erykah-badu|title=Interview: Erykah Badu|work=[[Time Out (company)|Time Out New York]]|publisher=Time Out|date=March 15, 2010|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> |
||
== Release and promotion == |
== Release and promotion == |
||
Line 118: | Line 118: | ||
In January 2008, Badu previewed songs from the album as a headlining act at the [[Barbados Jazz Festival]].<ref name="Legaspi"/> ''New Amerykah Part One'' was released by [[Universal Motown Records]] in the United States on February 26, Badu's 37th birthday.<ref name="Nero"/> That same day, a release party took place on February 26 at the [[House of Blues]] in Dallas,<ref>{{cite web|last=Wilonsky|first=Robert|url=http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2008/02/dipping_further_into_erykahs_h.php|title=Dipping Further Into Erykah's "Honey"|work=Dallas Observer|publisher=Village Voice Media|date=February 8, 2008|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> and Badu performed songs from the album on [[VH1 Soul]]'s ''SoulStage''.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vh1-soul-is-more-soulful-than-ever-in-its-third-installment-of-soulstage-erykah-badu-presented-by-infiniti-premiering-tuesday-february-26-at-9pm-57086652.html|title=VH1 Soul is More Soulful Than Ever in Its Third Installment of 'SoulStage: Erykah Badu presented by Infiniti' Premiering Tuesday, February 26 at 9PM*|publisher=[[PR Newswire]]|location=New York|date=February 21, 2008|accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref> |
In January 2008, Badu previewed songs from the album as a headlining act at the [[Barbados Jazz Festival]].<ref name="Legaspi"/> ''New Amerykah Part One'' was released by [[Universal Motown Records]] in the United States on February 26, Badu's 37th birthday.<ref name="Nero"/> That same day, a release party took place on February 26 at the [[House of Blues]] in Dallas,<ref>{{cite web|last=Wilonsky|first=Robert|url=http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2008/02/dipping_further_into_erykahs_h.php|title=Dipping Further Into Erykah's "Honey"|work=Dallas Observer|publisher=Village Voice Media|date=February 8, 2008|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> and Badu performed songs from the album on [[VH1 Soul]]'s ''SoulStage''.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vh1-soul-is-more-soulful-than-ever-in-its-third-installment-of-soulstage-erykah-badu-presented-by-infiniti-premiering-tuesday-february-26-at-9pm-57086652.html|title=VH1 Soul is More Soulful Than Ever in Its Third Installment of 'SoulStage: Erykah Badu presented by Infiniti' Premiering Tuesday, February 26 at 9PM*|publisher=[[PR Newswire]]|location=New York|date=February 21, 2008|accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref> |
||
''New Amerykah Part One'' was released in European countries on February 29,<ref name="Hung Medien">{{cite web|url=http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Erykah+Badu&titel=New+Amerykah+Part+One+%284th+World+War%29&cat=a|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)|publisher=hitparade.ch. Hung Medien|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> |
''New Amerykah Part One'' was released in European countries on February 29,<ref name="Hung Medien">{{cite web|url=http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Erykah+Badu&titel=New+Amerykah+Part+One+%284th+World+War%29&cat=a|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)|publisher=hitparade.ch. Hung Medien|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> the United Kingdom on March 3,<ref name="Boraman"/> and Japan on March 12.<ref name="JAP">{{cite web|url=http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=UICT-1038|title=NEW AMERYKA Erykah Badu <nowiki>[CD]</nowiki>|publisher=[[CD WOW!]]. Neowing|accessdate=December 28, 2011}}</ref> Both Japanese and Australian editions contain the [[bonus track]] "Real Thang".<ref name="JAP"/> The album's digital release to the [[iTunes Store]] featured the song's "Tumbling Dice Remix" as a bonus track.<ref name="iTunes">{{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/new-amerykah-pt.-1-4th-world/id274231990|title=Music - New Amerykah, Pt. 1 (4th World War) by Erykah Badu|publisher=[[iTunes Store|iTunes]]. [[Apple Inc.]]|accessdate=December 28, 2011}}</ref> It was also released as a double [[LP record|vinyl LP]] on March 11,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7618106|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, PT. 1: 4th World War LP|publisher=CD Universe. Muze|at=Product Detail|accessdate=November 6, 2011}}</ref> and on [[USB flash drive|USB stick]] format.<ref name="HoneyPR">{{cite press release|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080204006273/en/Erykah-Badus-Honey-Music-Video-Tribute-Music|title=Erykah Badu’s ‘Honey’ Music Video is Tribute to Music and Music Lovers|publisher=[[Business Wire]]|location=New York|date=February 4, 2008|accessdate=October 22, 2011}}</ref> In an interview for the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', Badu discussed the album's accompanying USB stick, stating "I might as well give a digital world what they need and what they want. And that's to just cut out the [[wikt:middleman|middle man]], which is the CD, which will be extinct, I would say, in about seven to eight years — right along with the record labels."<ref name="Legaspi">{{cite web|last=Legaspi|first=Althea|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-03-23/news/0803210343_1_4th-world-war-digital-world-soul|title=Digital techniques give Badu new energy, creative options|work=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Company|date=March 23, 2008|accessdate=November 4, 2011}}</ref> |
||
On April 23, Badu released "[[Soldier (Erykah Badu song)|Soldier]]" as the album's second single and announced [[The Vortex World Tour]], a supporting tour to promote the album. The tour's 42 concert dates included shows in the United States, Canada, and [[Aruba]], spanned from May to June, and featured hip hop band [[The Roots]] as Badu's opening act. She later toured in Europe during June and July.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.republicrecords.com/erykah-badu-kicks-off-new-tour/#.U2XKpIzD_Dc|title=Erykah Badu Kicks Off New Tour|publisher=[[Republic Records]]|date=April 24, 2008|accessdate=May 4, 2014}}</ref> |
On April 23, Badu released "[[Soldier (Erykah Badu song)|Soldier]]" as the album's second single and announced [[The Vortex World Tour]], a supporting tour to promote the album. The tour's 42 concert dates included shows in the United States, Canada, and [[Aruba]], spanned from May to June, and featured hip hop band [[The Roots]] as Badu's opening act. She later toured in Europe during June and July.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.republicrecords.com/erykah-badu-kicks-off-new-tour/#.U2XKpIzD_Dc|title=Erykah Badu Kicks Off New Tour|publisher=[[Republic Records]]|date=April 24, 2008|accessdate=May 4, 2014}}</ref> |
||
== Commercial performance == |
== Commercial performance == |
||
In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] chart, selling 125,000 copies in its first week.<ref name="Caulfield">{{cite journal|last=Caulfield|first=Keith|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1046359/janet-dethrones-jack-to-top-billboard-200|title=Janet Dethrones Jack To Top Billboard 200|journal=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media|date=March 5, 2011|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> It was Badu's best opening week since her debut album ''[[Baduizm]]'' in 1997.<ref name="Jones"/> It also entered at number two on the ''Billboard'' [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums]].<ref name="bbcharts">{{cite web|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=erykah badu|chart=all}}|title=New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War - Erykah Badu|work=Billboard|publisher=Prometheus Global Media|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> In its second week, the album sold 41,466 copies,<ref>{{cite web|last=Paine|first=Jake|url=http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6541/title.hip-hop-album-sales-week-ending-3-10-08|title=Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 3/10/08|publisher=HipHopDX. Cheri Media Group|date=March 12, 2008|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> and 35,000 in its third week.<ref>{{cite web|last=Grein|first=Paul|url=http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart-watch/week-ending-march-16-2008-rick-rossthe-least-known-two-time-chart-topper.html|title=Week Ending March 16, 2008: Rick Ross–The Least-Known Two-Time Chart-Topper?|publisher=[[Yahoo! Music]]. [[Yahoo!]]|date=March 18, 2008|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> It spen 15 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200 and 29 weeks on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.<ref name="bbcharts"/> By December 2009, ''New Amerykah Part One'' had sold 359,000 copies, according to [[Nielsen SoundScan]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/266406/erykah-badu-unveils-new-amerykah-part-ii|title=Erykah Badu Unveils 'New Amerykah, Part II'|last=Concepcion|first=Mariel|date=December 11, 2009|journal=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media|accessdate=December 11, 2009}}</ref> |
In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] chart, selling 125,000 copies in its first week.<ref name="Caulfield">{{cite journal|last=Caulfield|first=Keith|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1046359/janet-dethrones-jack-to-top-billboard-200|title=Janet Dethrones Jack To Top Billboard 200|journal=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media|date=March 5, 2011|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> It was Badu's best opening week since her debut album ''[[Baduizm]]'' in 1997.<ref name="Jones"/> It also entered at number two on the ''Billboard'' [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums]].<ref name="bbcharts">{{cite web|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=erykah badu|chart=all}}|title=New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War - Erykah Badu|work=Billboard|publisher=Prometheus Global Media|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> In its second week, the album sold 41,466 copies,<ref>{{cite web|last=Paine|first=Jake|url=http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6541/title.hip-hop-album-sales-week-ending-3-10-08|title=Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 3/10/08|publisher=HipHopDX. Cheri Media Group|date=March 12, 2008|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> and 35,000 in its third week.<ref>{{cite web|last=Grein|first=Paul|url=http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart-watch/week-ending-march-16-2008-rick-rossthe-least-known-two-time-chart-topper.html|title=Week Ending March 16, 2008: Rick Ross–The Least-Known Two-Time Chart-Topper?|publisher=[[Yahoo! Music]]. [[Yahoo!]]|date=March 18, 2008|accessdate=December 25, 2011|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20140324022029/http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart-watch/week-ending-march-16-2008-rick-rossthe-least-known-two-time-chart-topper.html|archivedate=August 31, 2014|deadurl=yes}}</ref> It spen 15 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200 and 29 weeks on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.<ref name="bbcharts"/> By December 2009, ''New Amerykah Part One'' had sold 359,000 copies, according to [[Nielsen SoundScan]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/266406/erykah-badu-unveils-new-amerykah-part-ii|title=Erykah Badu Unveils 'New Amerykah, Part II'|last=Concepcion|first=Mariel|date=December 11, 2009|journal=Billboard|publisher=Nielsen Business Media|accessdate=December 11, 2009}}</ref> |
||
In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 55 on the [[UK Albums Chart]], on which it spent one week.<ref name="UKcharts">{{cite web|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/erykah%20badu/|title=Erykah Badu|publisher=[[Official Charts Company|The Official UK Charts Company]]|at=Albums|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> In France, it debuted at number 49 and spent 11 weeks on the [[Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique|French Albums Chart]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Erykah+Badu&titel=New+Amerykah+Part+One+%284th+World+War%29&cat=a|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)|publisher=lescharts.com. Hung Medien|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> In Switzerland, it debuted at number 10 and spent six weeks on the [[Swiss Music Charts|Swiss Albums Top 100]].<ref name="Hung Medien"/> In the Netherlands, the album entered at number 25 and spent seven weeks on the [[MegaCharts|Mega Album Top 100]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Erykah+Badu&titel=New+Amerykah+Part+One+%284th+World+War%29&cat=a|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)|publisher=dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien / hitparade.ch|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> In Poland, it reached number nine and spent eight weeks on the [[Polish Music Charts|Polish Albums Chart]].<ref name="OLiS">{{cite web|url=http://olis.onyx.pl/listy/index.asp?idlisty=448&lang=en|title=Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart|publisher=[[OLiS]]|at=sales for the period: 14.04.2008 - 20.04.2008|date=April 28, 2008|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> The album's highest international charting was number five in Sweden, where it charted for seven weeks.<ref name="Hung Medien"/> |
In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 55 on the [[UK Albums Chart]], on which it spent one week.<ref name="UKcharts">{{cite web|url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/erykah%20badu/|title=Erykah Badu|publisher=[[Official Charts Company|The Official UK Charts Company]]|at=Albums|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> In France, it debuted at number 49 and spent 11 weeks on the [[Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique|French Albums Chart]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Erykah+Badu&titel=New+Amerykah+Part+One+%284th+World+War%29&cat=a|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)|publisher=lescharts.com. Hung Medien|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> In Switzerland, it debuted at number 10 and spent six weeks on the [[Swiss Music Charts|Swiss Albums Top 100]].<ref name="Hung Medien"/> In the Netherlands, the album entered at number 25 and spent seven weeks on the [[MegaCharts|Mega Album Top 100]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Erykah+Badu&titel=New+Amerykah+Part+One+%284th+World+War%29&cat=a|title=Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)|publisher=dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien / hitparade.ch|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> In Poland, it reached number nine and spent eight weeks on the [[Polish Music Charts|Polish Albums Chart]].<ref name="OLiS">{{cite web|url=http://olis.onyx.pl/listy/index.asp?idlisty=448&lang=en|title=Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart|publisher=[[OLiS]]|at=sales for the period: 14.04.2008 - 20.04.2008|date=April 28, 2008|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> The album's highest international charting was number five in Sweden, where it charted for seven weeks.<ref name="Hung Medien"/> |
||
Line 150: | Line 150: | ||
| rev10Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review: New Amerykah Part One|journal=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|location=London|page=87|date=May 2008}}</ref> |
| rev10Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review: New Amerykah Part One|journal=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|location=London|page=87|date=May 2008}}</ref> |
||
}} |
}} |
||
''New Amerykah Part One'' received universal acclaim from [[music criticism|music critic]]s. At [[Metacritic]], which assigns a [[Standard score|normalized]] rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an [[weighted mean|average]] score of 83, based on 25 reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/new-amerykah-part-one-4th-world-war|title=New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic|publisher=[[Metacritic]]. [[CBS Interactive]]|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref |
''New Amerykah Part One'' received universal acclaim from [[music criticism|music critic]]s. At [[Metacritic]], which assigns a [[Standard score|normalized]] rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an [[weighted mean|average]] score of 83, based on 25 reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/new-amerykah-part-one-4th-world-war|title=New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic|publisher=[[Metacritic]]. [[CBS Interactive]]|accessdate=December 25, 2011}}</ref> [[Slant Magazine]]'s Eric Henderson said that it is a powerful listen that stands as Badu's most musically ambitious work.<ref name="Henderson"/> Sasha Frere-Jones of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' described the album as "a brilliant resurgence of black [[avant-garde]] vocal pop" and "the work of a restless polymath ignoring the world around her and opting for an idiosyncratic, murky feeling that reflects her impulses."<ref name="Jones"/> In his review for the ''Chicago Tribune'', Kot wrote that "art this deeply personal" is rarely an easy listen.<ref name="Kot"/> Quentin B. Huff of [[PopMatters]] commended Badu for "matching her warmth with her wisdom, along with her heightened awareness of what makes people, including herself, tick."<ref name="Huff"/> Alex Macpherson of ''[[The Guardian]]'' asserted that it is a rewarding listen that "demands to be explored."<ref name="Macpherson">{{cite web|last=Macpherson|first=Alex|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/mar/07/urban.shopping|title=CD: Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)|work=[[The Guardian]]|publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|Guardian News and Media Limited]]|date=March 6, 2008|accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref> |
||
In a mixed review, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's Christian Hoard said that Badu's socially conscious lyrics are unexceptional and too ambiguous, and called some songs "absent-minded doodles".<ref name="Hoard"/> Ben Ratliff of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote that her ideas can be clichéd or unclear altogether and concluded, "Whether you like it depends in great part on how much you liked her before — the persona as well as the music."<ref name="Ratliff |
In a mixed review, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's Christian Hoard said that Badu's socially conscious lyrics are unexceptional and too ambiguous, and called some songs "absent-minded doodles".<ref name="Hoard"/> Ben Ratliff of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote that her ideas can be clichéd or unclear altogether and concluded, "Whether you like it depends in great part on how much you liked her before — the persona as well as the music."<ref name="Ratliff"/> In his consumer guide for [[MSN Music]], [[Robert Christgau]] gave the album a three-star honorable mention and cited "Amerykahn Promise" and "The Cell" as highlights, but felt that some of the themes seem dated in comparison to the music: "When your funk is this futuristic, not to say abstract, [[astrology]] and [[Farrakhan]] sound old, not to say ignorant".<ref name="Christgau">{{cite web|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080516060114/http://music.msn.com/music/consumerguide/2008/4/honorablementions|title=Inside Music: Consumer Guide|publisher=[[MSN Music]]. [[Microsoft]]|date=April 2008|accessdate=March 23, 2013|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6FLUPEfmT|archivedate=March 23, 2013|at=Rating is specified at [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=13945 Christgau's website]}}</ref> |
||
=== Accolades === |
=== Accolades === |
||
''New Amerykah Part One'' was included on several publications' "best albums of the year" lists, including the [[Associated Press]] (number 1),<ref |
''New Amerykah Part One'' was included on several publications' "best albums of the year" lists, including the [[Associated Press]] (number 1),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20081212/ye-top-10-albums/|accessdate=August 31, 2014|title=Erykah, Estelle and Sia lead AP's top 10 albums|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|date=December 12, 2008|last=Moody|first=Nekesa Mumbi}}</ref> ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'',<ref name="Mojo50"/> ''[[The Austin Chronicle]]'' (number 9), ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' (number 5), ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' (number 8), ''The New York Times'' (number 4), ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' (number 8), PopMatters (number 4), Slant Magazine (number 8), and ''The Guardian'' (number 9).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090209033553/http://metacritic.com/music/bests/2008.shtml|title=Best Albums of 2008|publisher=Metacritic. CBS Interactive|date=December 2008|accessdate=November 25, 2011}}</ref> ''[[Vibe (magazine)|Vibe]]'' magazine named it one of the ten best albums of 2008.<ref name="Cummings">{{cite web|last=Cummings|first=Jozen|url=http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2008/12/the_ten_best_albums_of_2008/|title=The Ten Best Albums of 2008|journal=Vibe|accessdate=April 13, 2009|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20090307163743/http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2008/12/the_ten_best_albums_of_2008/|archivedate=August 31, 2014|deadurl=yes}}</ref> [[Pitchfork Media]] placed ''New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)'' at number 133 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7707-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-150-101/2/|work=[[Pitchfork Media]]|author=Pitchfork staff|title=The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 200-151|date=September 28, 2009|accessdate=October 1, 2009}}</ref> [[Rhapsody (online music service)|Rhapsody]] named it the best R&B album of the 2000s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.rhapsody.com/2009/12/bestrbalbums.html|title=Best R&B Albums of the Decade|publisher=[[Rhapsody (online music service)|Rhapsody]]|accessdate=January 12, 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20121102020029/http://blog.rhapsody.com/2009/12/bestrbalbums.html|archivedate=August 31, 2014|deadurl=yes}}</ref> According to [[Pitchfork Media]]'s Nitsuh Abebe: |
||
{{cquote|A lot of the critical love for ''New Amerykah'' seems rooted in a love for the music of ... a time in which popular black artists made records filled not only with visionary, avant-garde sounds, but with a social expansiveness, a fire and ambition to say something important to and for a community ... This album doesn't just have the personal and social ambitions of those old records—plenty of charmless "nu-soul" records aspire to that—but some of the sonic ones, too. Big tracks aside, it's an awfully ''static'' record, which gives it the kind of [[fine art|high-art]] "difficulty" that we critics have been known to like.<ref name="Abebe"/>}} |
{{cquote|A lot of the critical love for ''New Amerykah'' seems rooted in a love for the music of ... a time in which popular black artists made records filled not only with visionary, avant-garde sounds, but with a social expansiveness, a fire and ambition to say something important to and for a community ... This album doesn't just have the personal and social ambitions of those old records—plenty of charmless "nu-soul" records aspire to that—but some of the sonic ones, too. Big tracks aside, it's an awfully ''static'' record, which gives it the kind of [[fine art|high-art]] "difficulty" that we critics have been known to like.<ref name="Abebe"/>}} |
Revision as of 19:57, 31 August 2014
Untitled | |
---|---|
New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Erykah Badu, released February 26, 2008, on Universal Motown. It follows her 2003 album Worldwide Underground and a hiatus from recording music. Communicating with several hip hop producers over the Internet, Badu conceived the album through the GarageBand software program on her laptop, which led to the album's primary recording sessions at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.
An esoteric concept album, New Amerykah Part One features social commentary and impersonal lyrics, with subject matter that includes poverty, urban violence, complacency, and cultural identity. It features dense, stylistically-varied music that incorporates funk, soul, and hip hop genres.
New Amerykah Part One debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and sold 123,884 copies in its first week. By December 2009, the album had sold 359,000 copies in the United States. It received universal acclaim from music critics, many of whom named it one of the year's best albums. Badu supported the album with The Vortex World Tour during May to July 2008.
Background
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Questlove.jpg/190px-Questlove.jpg)
Dealing with writer's block and conflicted about her mainstream success, Erykah Badu embarked on her Frustrated Artist Tour in 2003.[1] Her increasing popularity brought upon some backlash towards her public image and expectations of her as "queen of neo soul", an honorific nickname that she found limiting.[1] Her third studio album, Worldwide Underground (2003), was released to mostly positive reviews and was certified gold,[2] although it was underpromoted and sold less than her previous albums.[3][4] Badu herself was not satisfied with the album and felt she had nothing substantial to express with her music at the time.[5][6] She took time off from her recording career to deal with her creative block and focus on caring for her children,[1] although she continued to tour in the period between albums.[7]
In 2004, Badu gave birth to a daughter, Puma Rose, with her former boyfriend, rapper The D.O.C..[2] Later that year, she received her first computer as a Christmas gift from drummer and producer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, and began communicating with and receiving music from him and other producers such as Q-Tip and J Dilla.[1] Beginning in 2005,[8] Badu worked from her home in Dallas and used the software application GarageBand as a digital audio workstation,[9] which she was introduced to by her son,[1] Seven. He taught her how to use her laptop as a mini recording studio,[10] and she used it to construct various backing tracks for songs.[11] Using GarageBand, she recorded demos of her vocals by singing into the computer's microphone.[9][12]
Writing and development
She composed more than 75 songs within the year and intended on splitting them among her planned series of New Amerykah albums.[1] She said of her productivity with her laptop, "I could be here, in my own space, with headphones on, and the kids could be doing what they doing, and I’m cooking dinner still, I’m making juices still, and it’s so easy just to sing. You got an idea — boom! Idea, boom!"[1] Badu's iChat contacts,[8] including hip hop producers Questlove,[6] Madlib, 9th Wonder, and J Dilla, instant messaged her to get back into the studio and sent her tracks.[10] Such exchanges inspired a creative spark for Badu, which she explained in an interview for the Dallas Observer, "I started to accept that maybe it's OK for me to put out music, and it doesn't have to be something dynamic or world-changing. But just as I was accepting that, here comes this burst of light and energy and creativity. And that's the process, I guess, of life—the detachment and the release of something gives you even more room to grow or be creative."[6]
With the album, Badu sought to augment her music's production, expose the work of underground hip hop producers, and exceed listeners' expectations of contemporary music.[13] She discussed her creative intentions in an interview for Billboard, stating "In taking on a project like this, I'm taking the responsibility to talk for my race and my planet."[14] In an interview for the New York Post, she explained the album to be about "the war against self [...] against your inner being", and said of her hiatus, "I've always taken my time between albums. I'm a performing artist - recording is secondary to me. My performances are what drive me. It's like my therapy. I like to write a lot while I'm on the road before I even think about recording."[15] Badu also said that she now had a relevant message to express for listeners and was no longer struggling with a creative block.[15]
Recording
Initial recording
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Karriem_Riggins.jpg/210px-Karriem_Riggins.jpg)
For New Amerykah Part One, Badu collaborated principally with Questlove, Madlib, 9th Wonder, Karriem Riggins, James Poyser, audio engineer Mike "Chav" Chavarria, and the members of musical group Sa-Ra, who made production and lyrical contributions to most of the tracks.[5] She later explained choosing which producers to work with, saying "All of these people have a reputation for being visionaries and knowing them well, I felt 'Okay, now it's time to put together a project that not only takes us to another place, another dimension, but highlights these sights.' And that's what I had in mind for this project".[16]
She started the album's initial recording at Luminous Sound Recording in Dallas, where she was assisted by Chavarria in recording vocals and basic tracks to 2-tracks.[13] Her vocal harmonies were recorded to a Studer A820 ½-inch, an Analog Playback Tape machine, using RMG magnetic tape.[13] Poyser, who was heavily involved as musician and producer in all of Badu's previous work, had his role on the album reduced amicably to accommodate her minimalist, beat-driven approach in production.[12] He discussed Badu's direction for the album in an interview for Shook, stating "she wanted a dirtier, more organic underground hip hop sound. So she dealt with cats that brought that sound to the table."[12]
A portion of the album's initial recording and programming also took place at Sa-Ra's Cosmic Dust Studio.[12] Sa-Ra member Om'mas Keith remarked on Badu's role at their studio, "Sometimes she’d come through and pick a skeletal and other times the beats would get made right then and there."[12] Keith played instruments such as the Fender Rhodes, Roland Juno-106, and Roland SH-101.[17] Of all her collaborators, Badu only let Husayn write lyrics for her on the album.[18] Husayn said that because Badu had not allowed anyone to do this before, "she had to go through some personal things to come to the point where she'd let somebody write for her in the manner that we did. It was spontaneous but at the same time there was structure to it. It might not have the right expression, or the right enunciation. Writing is so personal. That was a big thing."[12]
Electric Lady sessions
Badu subsequently held recording sessions at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, where the album was completed.[1] In her interview for Remix, she elaborated on the recording process, stating "Everything that the producers e-mailed me I put into GarageBand. Then we would try to duplicate it at Electric Lady. I did vocals on my laptop, babies crying and everything. I also EQ'd the tracks using effects like GarageBand's Vocal Reflection."[13] Badu worked with audio engineers Chris Bell, Tom Soares, and Chavarria, who had spent numerous hours with Badu listening to her previous albums, including her 1997 debut Baduizm and its 2000 follow-up Mama's Gun, and older albums such as The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) by progressive rock band Pink Floyd and Innervisions (1973) by Stevie Wonder.[13] They worked with the producers' emailed music and embellished their own 2-tracks by using Pro Tools to incorporate live instrumentation such as bass, guitar, flutes, percussion, and keyboards.[13] Contributing musicians included vocalist Georgia Anne Muldrow, trumpeter Roy Hargrove,[9] vibraphonist Roy Ayers, guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López,[1] and vocalist Bilal.[15]
Inspired by Badu's creativity and their time listening to music, Chavarria added special effects and delays to the tracks by using and manipulating a variety of plug-ins and guitar pedals, subsequently reworking effects frequency and modulation parameters.[13] Chavarria said they were able to expand on the producers' tracks rather than change them, because "Erykah made this record to display to the world that there is this whole group of producers out there who are outside of the mainstream making great music."[13] Badu said of the approach, "I work in layers. The first layer is the track. The second layer is the songs. The third would be the musicians who add a certain nuance. And when they play, they play like they are a sample. Or we take a piece of what they played, and we sample and loop it."[13]
Along with a talking drum, Badu used tuning forks when recording New Amerykah Part One to evoke a certain feeling through its frequency, a practice she had done on her previous albums: "Each tuning fork has a certain vibrational energy that is conducive to a feeling or a color or a smell. They're related to different chakras in the body, too. Some may make you feel good or sexy or conscious of what you're saying."[13] The album was mastered at Electric Lady Studios in February 2008.[6] Before it was edited down to 11 tracks, New Amerykah Part One was originally intended as a double album, with 18 songs over two discs.[14]
Vocal production
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Epiphone_E_60_miked_with_Shure_SM-57%2C_Recording_Fischer%2C_Compound_Recordings%2C_January_2008.jpg/240px-Epiphone_E_60_miked_with_Shure_SM-57%2C_Recording_Fischer%2C_Compound_Recordings%2C_January_2008.jpg)
At Electric Lady, Badu applied a multifaceted approach to recording her vocals and opted against editing them in post-production.[13] Using her voice impressionistically,[19] her vocals were characterized by high scales, varied frequencies, wide intervals, and time-stretched harmonies.[13] Chavarria, who engineered the vocals with Badu, remarked on her singing, "Her voice has so many frequencies, from a subharmonic of her tonic to a thin raspiness, and she wants to hear all of that."[13] Badu used a Shure SM57 dynamic microphone, finding it to have enough bottom for her voice type, and cut vocal takes while situated between two speakers in the studio's control room with the monitor mix playing.[13] She explained this setting to be more comfortable, noting the ability to hear herself sing and hold the microphone when moving around. Badu preferred to sing in one take rather than edit different takes together: "When I do vocals, I am singing with a certain volume in my voice. I am singing the double and triple harmonies at different volumes. You don't have to adjust it; I have already done it. We mix as we go, so by the time we put the vocals to ½-inch tape, I know it. If you touch a damn thing, I will know it."[13]
To adjust to potential audio feedback and leakage and obtain a usable take, Chavarria tried having Badu sit in an overstuffed chair six feet behind the mixing console and use alternate microphones such as a Neumann M 269 or AEA R44 ribbon microphone with Sony MDR-V900 headphones into a Furman headphone mixer.[13] However, Badu felt she could not perceive all of her voice's frequencies with the headphones and often discarded them to move towards the studio monitors.[13] He also considered situating her in an equilateral triangle with the two speakers, one of which would be placed out of phase in order to have the leakage cancel itself. However, according to him, the mic has to be stationary, while Badu "likes to hold the mic like an MC. She is at home as a live performer."[13] He said of working around audio spills and adapting to Badu's methods, "We worked to make her vocals fit into the track, phase-wise. [...] What did work was to keep the monitors fairly low and turn the microphone out of phase, and we would move her around the room until she found a spot where the leakage was reasonable and where she felt comfortable and could hear herself. But just as often she would just sit in that chair behind the board in the A Room."[13]
Music
The album's music is a dense,[20] stylistic amalgam that primarily incorporates funk, soul, and hip hop genres,[1][10][21] as well as jazz and electronica.[22] Alexander Billet of ZNet wrote that the styles featured on New Amerykah Part One are "woven together into an often mind-bending eclecticism."[23] Music writer Nelson George described it as "a complicated mesh of soul, electro sounds and references, simple and obscure [...] a musically challenging album that owes much to Radiohead and Curtis Mayfield".[24] Expanding of the loose, jam-oriented style of Worldwide Underground,[25][26] it features groove-based instrumentation, murky tones,[26] hip hop musical phrasing, eccentric interludes,[27] and various beats, digital glitches, and samples.[1] Sputnikmusic's Nick Butler noted the influence of J Dilla in the album's sound, and compared the music to the work of neo soul collective Soulquarians,[20] which featured Dilla, Badu, and New Amerykah contributors Questlove, Poyser, and Bilal.[28] Butler added that the album is "moved beyond the ideas and conventions that have defined neo-soul over the past decade."[20] Greg Kot wrote that, "Like her peers D'Angelo (with Voodoo in 2000), Common (Electric Circus in 2002) and the Roots (Phrenology in 2002), Badu has made a record that defies efforts to categorize it."[26] He remarked that its "murkier, funkier vibe" draws on the "hypnotic funk" of early 1970s albums such as Miles Davis's On the Corner (1972), Herbie Hancock's Sextant (1973), and Sly & the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On (1971).[26]
Similar to Voodoo and On the Corner, New Amerykah Part One emphasizes sound and mood over choruses and verses.[11] The album is unified by a musical theme, with songs sequenced together and typified by ominous musical elements,[29][30] minor-key melodies, and atmospheric beats.[31] Lauren Carter of the Boston Herald viewed that Badu's subtle musical approach led to her "wrapping tracks in a hazy, mellow groove that frequently has the feel of a seance."[32] Several writers have compared its sound to the music of Funkadelic.[33][34][35]
Songs on the album incorporate experimental hip hop backing tracks and other hip hop elements in a surrealistic manner.[13][36] The majority of the beats are dark, blunted, and hazy, and have been noted by music writers as conveying an urban soundscape and feeling of paranoia.[1][19] Most of the songs were either produced or co-written by members of Sa-Ra, who are known for their sonically dissonant music, characerized by eccentric chord placements and off-time beats.[12] Critic Sasha Frere-Jones commented on the album's hip hop element, saying that it "isn’t so much hip-hop as it is a reorganization of the historical flotsam and jetsam that were recycled and turned into hip-hop."[11] Music writer Alex V. Cook characterized the music as heavy on the groove and bass elements that are predominantly found in funk and hip hop.[33]
Lyrics and themes
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/BrokenPromises_JohnFekner.jpg/275px-BrokenPromises_JohnFekner.jpg)
New Amerykah Part One is an esoteric concept album with sociopolitical themes and mostly downbeat subject matter.[25][31] It features more impersonal topics and social commentary than on Badu's previous work.[4] Its subject matter deals with social concerns and struggles within the African-American community, exploring topics such as institutional racism, religion, poverty, urban violence, the abuse of power, complacency, cultural identity, drug addiction, and nihilism.[19][27] Badu has said that the album discusses "religion, [...] poor families, the undermining of the working class, the so-called minority."[9] Andy Gill of The Independent denoted the album's subject matter as "the black struggle to find a place of nobility".[38] BBC Music's Greg Boraman perceived a "slightly apocalyptic theme" throughout, which he compared to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Sly & the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On.[39] Patrick Taylor of RapReviews felt that its lyrics evoke both modern and older themes, particularly those of 1960s and 1970s psychedelic soul.[10] Ratliff called it "a political record" and said that most of the "social agenda" in Badu's lyrics has been previously explored by artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, and Funkadelic, which "suggests that little has changed in nearly 40 years, and perhaps [...] that’s her point."[27]
Music journalist Nitsuh Abebe wrote that the album's lyrical content is rooted in the era of "those Civil Rights and post-Civil Rights moments when African-Americans were left with some strange, heavy tasks: sorting out how to have a cultural identity as part of a nation that had, up until very recently, been a dedicated adversary, and sorting out how to clean up the wreckage that had accumulated in the meantime."[19] Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters compared its thematic structure to singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega's Beauty & Crime (2007), which was composed by Vega as an ode to her native New York City, and interprets the plot of New Amerykah Part One to be "an amalgam of post-Civil Rights Era experience mixed with a post-9/11 worldview, plus a few shots of community spirit, individual growth, pleas for social activism and spiritual enlightenment, and [...] the realities of death."[29] Huff commented that the album's "clash in musical styles" reinforces the subject matter's "clash between progress and patience", adding that some songs "seem committed to having America honor" the promise of the American Dream for African-Americans, while other songs "seem to reject the promise, or at least the idea that the promise can be fulfilled without considerable effort".[29]
Badu's songwriting on the album is characterized by pointillism,[30] stream of consciousness,[40] and scenic narrative.[19] Her lyrics are alternately overtly political and deeply personal,[10] interlaced with Five Percenter notions and references to the Nation of Islam.[1][19] Badu expresses a motherly perspective and feelings of dismay and empathy for the subjects in the songs.[10] Charles Aaron of Spin commented that "a sense of history and maternal compassion [...] grounds even her most oblique forays."[41] Abebe wrote similarly, "her keen writing about people" gives songs "much of their shape" and views that her candor helps communicate the album's "social concerns, which could otherwise sound like a laundry list of black-community struggles".[19]
Songs
Tracks 1-6
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/MadlibMarch2014Echo.jpg/260px-MadlibMarch2014Echo.jpg)
The opening track "Amerykahn Promise" samples the 1977 song "The American Promise" by American band RAMP as its backing track. The original song was co-written and produced by Roy Ayers, who gave Badu the original master tape for her to rework on the album.[11][42] Ayers and Edwin Birdsong were inspired to write the song by President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 speech "The American Promise", which called for justice and equal rights in the United States.[12] "Amerykahn Promise" features explicit political satire and has themes of disfranchisement and the hindrance of the American Dream.[11][12][33] Its tongue-in-cheek subject matter portrays America as a land of broken promises.[23][29] The song opens with a blaxploitation trailer blurb, saying "more action, more excitement, more everything",[33] and features an improvisatory funk vamp,[11] RAMP vocalists Sibel Thrasher and Sharon Matthews,[12] and an authoritative male voice,[4] performed by Keith.[37] The authoritative character is portrayed as a circus-barker whose smoke and mirrors presentation of the American Dream leads to contentious dialogue with Badu.[26] A female voice at the end of the song asks, "Has anyone seen my 42 laws?", an arcane allusion to the 42 divine laws of ancient Egyptian goddess Maat.[43]
Produced by Madlib, "The Healer" is an ode to hip hop culture and a proclamation of its scope.[9] It opens with a brief snippet from a song by Malcolm McLaren featuring the World's Famous Supreme Team.[11] Frere-Jones notes "bells, unidentifiable knocks, a lonesome instrument that might be a sitar, or a guitar, and lots of empty space" in the musical backdrop, adding that "the music flirts with total stasis, though it still has an audible beat."[11] Badu's lyrics, delivered in an incantation style,[10] make reference to various names of God, including Humdililah, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, Jah, and Rastafari, while asserting hip hop to be "bigger than" social institutions such as religion and government.[11] She explained the lyrics and religious references, saying "to me, hip-hop is felt in all religions - it has a healing power. I've recently been to Palestine, Jerusalem, Africa and a bunch of other places, and everyone is listening to hip-hop. There's something about that kicking snare sound that all kinds of people find meaning in."[15]
Layered with acoustic guitars, keyboards, and a shuffling drumbeat, the midtempo,[22] autobiographical song "Me" discusses Badu's thoughts and feelings about her life,[4] including the struggle of growing as a public figure.[10] It features multitracked trumpet by Roy Hargrove.[27] She mocks others' perception of her, which she has explained as "everything you can see of Erykah Badu — the Ankhs, the powers, the 5 Percenters, the mysteries, it’s all true. The lies; it’s all true. Had two babies with different daddies. Thirty-six years old and addicted to a variety of spending."[9] The song's jazz conclusion has Badu singing about her mother's life and resilience in unison with a muted trumpet.[19] "My People" has a slow beat and righteous lyrics delivered with gospel and chant-like repetition and call and response patterns.[23][33] It features a sample of singer-songwriter Eddie Kendricks' 1972 song "My People...Hold On".[13]
"Soldier" was produced by Karriem Riggins and features a pulsing groove, soft flute,[23] rugged drums, and a deflty chopped sample.[12] It was written by Badu immediately after receiving Riggins' beat for the song.[12] Riggins likens the song's production style to that of J Dilla and his Detroit hip hop scene, stating "We shared a lot of the same ideas and I was really inspired by his sound. A lot of producers from Detroit have a certain sound, and I think it just comes from being in the city. Erykah definitely connects to that and she wanted that sound."[12] The song's sociopolitical lyrics have Badu expressing sympathy and solidarity for those facing oppression,[23] with references to black-on-black crime, police corruption,[44] and Hurricane Katrina.[5] "The Cell" was produced by Husayn and features a lively, choral style and hard bop feel.[30] A metaphor for both heredity and confinment,[27] "The Cell" is a tableau of crime, drugs, and desperation in urban decay,[33][44] streamlined by a stark story about Brenda, a character who falls victim to her environment.[29]
Tracks 7-11
"Twinkle" was co-produced by Chavarria and has a dreadful, uneasy mood.[11] Cited by Chavarria as the album's most effects-heavy track, it features a futuristic sound, a convoluted beat, and abstract aural elements such as white noise bursts, high-pitched voices, abrasive instruments, and layers of twinkling keyboard bass.[13] Additionally, the song incorporates guitar by Omar Rodríguez-López and Jef Lee Johnson.[44] The song's lyrics lament the plight of the African-American community and the cyclical effects on African Americans by the various failures of the social institutions such as the health care, education, and prison systems in the United States.[5][10] Badu raps in the song's verse, "Children of the matrix be hittin’ them car switches / Seen some virgin Virgos hanging out with Venus bitches", followed by her singing, "They don’t know their language, they don’t know their God".[11] Over humming keyboards, the song's closing minutes feature a speech in the ancient African language of Mdw Ntchr,[43] followed by a rant by a speaker that is modelled after actor Peter Finch's rant in the 1976 film Network.[11] The speaker angrily indictes the state of the world and the complacency of people.[10][29] Philadelphia Weekly's Craig D. Linsey describes "Twinkle" as a "dense inner-city blues".[44]
"Master Teacher" was conceived by Georgia Anne Muldrow on her Rhodes piano at Sa-Ra's Cosmic Dust Studio with Badu present and was originally intended for one of their albums.[12] Its idyllic music blends mellow soul and glitchy hip hop, featuring a chopped sample of Curtis Mayfield's 1972 song "Freddie's Dead".[10] The song's lyrics envision a higher degree of African-American identity.[29] Its vocalists ask in refrain, "What if there was no niggas, only master teachers?",[30] and answering "I stay woke", with Badu responding "I'm in the search of something new / Search inside me, searching inside you".[29] Midway through the song, Poyser's keyboards lower the music's tempo,[12] with a fluid, jazzy sound. "That Hump" concerns the topic of drug dependency.[5] The closing track "Telephone" is a tribute to J Dilla, who died in 2006 from complications with blood disorder,[11] and has themes of sorrow and hope.[29] It serves as a departure from the preceding songs' edgier musical direction, featuring soft melodies and an acoustic feel similar to Badu's live sound.[12] The song opens with the sound of ominous sirens, referencing J Dilla's 2006 album Donuts.[10] The song's lyrics are based on a story told to Badu by J Dilla's mother on the day of his death. Poyser explained in an interview, "Dilla's mom told Erykah about one day when he was telling her about this dream he had where Ol'Dirty was telling him to get on a different color bus and giving him directions home".[12] According to Poyser, the song's music was inspired by Dilla's passing:
We were in the studio right after Dilla’s funeral and we were working on stuff for the Edith Funker album. The focus there was more emotional than sonic. It was just feeling Dilla. It was something that wasn’t thought out, it just naturally took place. We were sitting there and we just started jamming and the song just happened instantly.[12]
The closing track "Honey" is a percussive,[7] lighthearted love song that contains a sample of singer Nancy Wilson's 1978 song "I'm in Love".[13][27] The track opens with a reprise of "Amerykahn Promise", with an announcer saying, "We hope you enjoyed your journey and now we’re putting control of you back to you", and a countdown leading to "Honey".[12] According to Badu, the song is about "a lover, a fictitious character named Slim, who I'm chasing."[8] Allmusic's Andy Kellman commented that the song is included as an unlisted track as "it doesn't fit into the album's fabric, what with its drifting, deeply sweetened, synth-squish-and-string-drift groove."[5]
Packaging and title
The album's cover and interior artwork were designed by Badu and graphic artist Emek.[7] The cover features an abstract portrayal of Badu, who dons vintage nameplate knuckle rings bearing the album title and an Afro decorated in a bric-a-brac manner with various emblems.[7][29] Badu and Emek sought to reflect the former's perspective on various topics, including music, religion, governments, and economics, and incorporate emblems to depict American culture and modern society.[37] Images featured in the Afro include those of flowers, spray cans, dollar signs, power plants, musical notes, toilets, raised fists, needles, laptops, turntables, handcuffs, broken chains, bar codes, drugs, and guns.[7][29][45] The album's interior artwork features ominous, psychedelic, futuristic, and apocalyptic imagery.[29] The artwork includes illustrations of a red-eyed Uncle Sam pointing a gun, robotic creatures tattooing each other, a bar code bearing the alphanumeric message "50C1AL 5Y5T3M", and a suited skeleton with a dollar sign on its skull lecturing a headless audience from a podium that bears the pyramid image from the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States.[29] The illustration of a soft melting fork, hypodermic needle, and spoon is an adaptation of Salvador Dalí's 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory.[29]
Before its release, the album was tentatively called KahBa, which Badu derived from her name, as a reference to Islam and Kemetism.[16] The title of the album series, New Amerykah, is a pun of Badu's name.[8] She has explained one meaning of it as "a statement that simply says, 'This is the beginning of the new world'-for both the slaves and the slave masters. In other words, everybody has to wake up and see. This new world moves much faster. We don't even realize how fast we're moving."[8] In her interview for Remix, Badu said that New Amerykah also means "a very different and new for me" and elaborated on this context, stating "In 1997, a 25-year-old Erykah Badu came out as an artist, pregnant, a mother-to-be. We used to bring cassettes home as our listening from the studio. No one had a cell phone, only a couple people with these great big contraptions. The Internet was not our form of communication; we still had the library. We were creating from sand and scrap. So quickly it's turned into this technological society. I can send the album to millions of fans from Antarctica to Mexico City with one push of the button. The way our children think and the things they see? It's new, and it's happened so quick. And I am in the middle of that. Me on the platform with a microphone — that is how I envision New Amerykah."[13] Part One's subtitle, 4th World War, reflects the content's objective, political leanings, which Badu explained to be "outside of me [...] What’s going on outside is the left brain".[46]
Release and promotion
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Erykah_Badu_cs.jpg/240px-Erykah_Badu_cs.jpg)
The album's lead single, "Honey", was released on December 11, 2007.[47] It reached number 88 on the US Billboard Hot 100, on which it spent three weeks.[48] On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, it charted for 17 weeks and peaked at number 22.[48] A music video for the song was directed by Badu and Chris Robinson, and released on January 28, 2008.[49] Badu wanted to pay homage to classic records with the video,[50] which is set in a small business record store and follows a customer as she looks through vintage R&B, hip hop, and rock LPs, whose album covers are depicted as moving images with Badu cast in them.[50] The video received airplay on MTV, VH1, and BET.[12]
In January 2008, Badu previewed songs from the album as a headlining act at the Barbados Jazz Festival.[51] New Amerykah Part One was released by Universal Motown Records in the United States on February 26, Badu's 37th birthday.[4] That same day, a release party took place on February 26 at the House of Blues in Dallas,[52] and Badu performed songs from the album on VH1 Soul's SoulStage.[53]
New Amerykah Part One was released in European countries on February 29,[54] the United Kingdom on March 3,[39] and Japan on March 12.[55] Both Japanese and Australian editions contain the bonus track "Real Thang".[55] The album's digital release to the iTunes Store featured the song's "Tumbling Dice Remix" as a bonus track.[56] It was also released as a double vinyl LP on March 11,[57] and on USB stick format.[50] In an interview for the Chicago Tribune, Badu discussed the album's accompanying USB stick, stating "I might as well give a digital world what they need and what they want. And that's to just cut out the middle man, which is the CD, which will be extinct, I would say, in about seven to eight years — right along with the record labels."[51]
On April 23, Badu released "Soldier" as the album's second single and announced The Vortex World Tour, a supporting tour to promote the album. The tour's 42 concert dates included shows in the United States, Canada, and Aruba, spanned from May to June, and featured hip hop band The Roots as Badu's opening act. She later toured in Europe during June and July.[58]
Commercial performance
In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 125,000 copies in its first week.[59] It was Badu's best opening week since her debut album Baduizm in 1997.[11] It also entered at number two on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[60] In its second week, the album sold 41,466 copies,[61] and 35,000 in its third week.[62] It spen 15 weeks on the Billboard 200 and 29 weeks on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[60] By December 2009, New Amerykah Part One had sold 359,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[63]
In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 55 on the UK Albums Chart, on which it spent one week.[64] In France, it debuted at number 49 and spent 11 weeks on the French Albums Chart.[65] In Switzerland, it debuted at number 10 and spent six weeks on the Swiss Albums Top 100.[54] In the Netherlands, the album entered at number 25 and spent seven weeks on the Mega Album Top 100.[66] In Poland, it reached number nine and spent eight weeks on the Polish Albums Chart.[67] The album's highest international charting was number five in Sweden, where it charted for seven weeks.[54]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The A.V. Club | B[68] |
Entertainment Weekly | A–[45] |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Los Angeles Times | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Pitchfork Media | 7.8/10[19] |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Slant Magazine | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Sputnikmusic | 4.5/5[20] |
Uncut | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
New Amerykah Part One received universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 83, based on 25 reviews.[71] Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson said that it is a powerful listen that stands as Badu's most musically ambitious work.[30] Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker described the album as "a brilliant resurgence of black avant-garde vocal pop" and "the work of a restless polymath ignoring the world around her and opting for an idiosyncratic, murky feeling that reflects her impulses."[11] In his review for the Chicago Tribune, Kot wrote that "art this deeply personal" is rarely an easy listen.[26] Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters commended Badu for "matching her warmth with her wisdom, along with her heightened awareness of what makes people, including herself, tick."[29] Alex Macpherson of The Guardian asserted that it is a rewarding listen that "demands to be explored."[69]
In a mixed review, Rolling Stone magazine's Christian Hoard said that Badu's socially conscious lyrics are unexceptional and too ambiguous, and called some songs "absent-minded doodles".[31] Ben Ratliff of The New York Times wrote that her ideas can be clichéd or unclear altogether and concluded, "Whether you like it depends in great part on how much you liked her before — the persona as well as the music."[27] In his consumer guide for MSN Music, Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honorable mention and cited "Amerykahn Promise" and "The Cell" as highlights, but felt that some of the themes seem dated in comparison to the music: "When your funk is this futuristic, not to say abstract, astrology and Farrakhan sound old, not to say ignorant".[72]
Accolades
New Amerykah Part One was included on several publications' "best albums of the year" lists, including the Associated Press (number 1),[73] Mojo,[21] The Austin Chronicle (number 9), Entertainment Weekly (number 5), New York (number 8), The New York Times (number 4), The A.V. Club (number 8), PopMatters (number 4), Slant Magazine (number 8), and The Guardian (number 9).[74] Vibe magazine named it one of the ten best albums of 2008.[75] Pitchfork Media placed New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) at number 133 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.[76] Rhapsody named it the best R&B album of the 2000s.[77] According to Pitchfork Media's Nitsuh Abebe:
A lot of the critical love for New Amerykah seems rooted in a love for the music of ... a time in which popular black artists made records filled not only with visionary, avant-garde sounds, but with a social expansiveness, a fire and ambition to say something important to and for a community ... This album doesn't just have the personal and social ambitions of those old records—plenty of charmless "nu-soul" records aspire to that—but some of the sonic ones, too. Big tracks aside, it's an awfully static record, which gives it the kind of high-art "difficulty" that we critics have been known to like.[19]
Rolling Stone ranked it number 19 on its list of the 50 Best Albums of 2008, commenting that "Amerykah is a hip-hop update of Funkadelic's brain-melting sonic stews."[34] Spin ranked the album number 12 on its year-end list, with the publication's Charles Aaron stating, "Laptop R&B that uses hip-hop as its muse, New Amerykah also nods to P-Funk's agit-slop opuses about America's decay".[41]
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Amerykahn Promise" | William Allen, Roy Ayers, Edwin Birdsong | Roy Ayers, Erykah Badu (add.), Mike "Chav" Chavarria (add.), Edwin Birdsong (co.), William Allen (co.) | 4:16 |
2. | "The Healer" | Daniel Bangalter, Otis Jackson Jr., Malcolm McLaren, Erica Wright | Madlib | 3:59 |
3. | "Me" | Shafiq Husayn, Wright | Erykah Badu, Shafiq Husayn | 5:36 |
4. | "My People" | Leonard Caston, Jackson, Anita Poree, Wright | Madlib | 3:25 |
5. | "Soldier" | Tom Barlage, Willem Ennes, Karriem Riggins, Hans Waterman, Guus Willemse, Wright | Erykah Badu, Karriem Riggins | 5:04 |
6. | "The Cell" | Husayn, Wright | Erykah Badu, Shafiq Husayn | 4:21 |
7. | "Twinkle" | Taz Arnold, Om'mas Keith, Husayn, Wright | Erykah Badu, Mike "Chav" Chavarria, Shafiq Husayn, Taz Arnold | 6:57 |
8. | "Master Teacher" | Husayn, Curtis Mayfield, Georgia Anne Muldrow | Georgia Anne Muldrow, Shafiq Husayn | 6:48 |
9. | "That Hump" | Keith, Wright | Erykah Badu, Om'mas Keith, Shafiq Husayn | 5:25 |
10. | "Telephone" | James Poyser, Ahmir Khalib Thompson, Wright | Erykah Badu, James Poyser, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson | 7:48 |
11. | "Honey" (unlisted bonus track) | Fritz Baskett, Patrick Douthit, Clarence McDonald, David Shields, Wright | 9th Wonder | 5:21 |
• (add.) Additional production
• (co.) Co-producer
No. | Title | Writer(s) | {{{extra_column}}} | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
11. | "Real Thang" | Jackson, Wright | Madlib | 3:52 |
12. | "Honey" (unlisted bonus track) | Baskett, Douthit, McDonald, Shields, Wright | 9th Wonder | 5:21 |
- Sample credits[78]
- "The Healer" contains a sample of "Kono Samuraï" (1971) by The Yamasuki Singers.
- "My People" contains a sample of "My People...Hold On" (1972) by Eddie Kendricks.
- "Soldier" contains samples of "Theme" (1973) by Solution and "Upon This Rock" by Joe Farrell.
- "Master Teacher" contains a sample of "Freddie's Dead" (1972) by Curtis Mayfield.
- "That Hump" contains a sample of "There'll Never Be" (1978) by Switch.
- "Telephone" contains a sample of "King of the Beats" (1988) by Mantronix.
- "Honey" contains a sample of "I'm in Love" (1978) by Nancy Wilson.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[17]
|
|
Charts
Chart (2008) | Peak position |
---|---|
Austrian Albums Chart[54] | 39 |
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[54] | 32 |
Dutch Albums Chart[54] | 25 |
Finnish Albums Chart[54] | 30 |
French Albums Chart[54] | 49 |
German Albums Chart[79] | 44 |
Japanese Albums Chart[80] | 64 |
Norwegian Albums Chart[54] | 13 |
Polish Albums Chart[67] | 9 |
Swedish Albums Chart[54] | 5 |
Swiss Albums Chart[54] | 10 |
UK Albums Chart[64] | 55 |
US Billboard 200[60] | 2 |
US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[60] | 2 |
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ryzik, Melena (March 2, 2008). "The Mind of a One-Woman Multitude". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
- ^ a b McCann (2010), p. 27.
- ^ Nero, Mark Edward. "About Erykah Badu". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Nero, Mark Edward (February 2008). "Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. One: 4th World War". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kellman, Andy (February 26, 2010). "New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War - Erykah Badu". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Review. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Wilonsky, Robert (February 21, 2008). "Erykah Badu Has Returned". Dallas Observer. Village Voice Media. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Release - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) by Erykah Badu" (Press release). Giant Step. February 26, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e McDonnell, Evelyn (May 2008). "Erykah Badu: Getting Spiritualized with Neo-Soul's Boho Big Mama". Interview. Interview: 33–34. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Warren, Tamara (June 1, 2008). "Erykah Badu". Venus Zine. Venus Holdings. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; April 9, 2010 suggested (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Taylor, Patrick (March 18, 2008). "Erykah Badu :: New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) :: Universal Motown". RapReviews. Flash Web Design Exclusive. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Frere-Jones, Sasha (March 31, 2008). "Monarch". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; June 12, 2009 suggested (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Burton, Al. Fallen, Mildred (March 2008). "Beat Freaq Badu". Shook. 1 (2). UPG: 20–25. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Micallef, Ken (March 1, 2008). "Earth, Sun, Moon". Remix. Penton Media. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ a b Crosley, Hillary (December 10, 2007). "Badu Starts 'Nu' On Double-Disc Album". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Barracato, Joseph (February 24, 2008). "Q&A: ERYKAH BADU". New York Post. NYP Holdings. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- ^ a b Bolden, Janeé (November 15, 2007). "SOHH Soulful Exclusive: Erykah Badu Preps New Album, Becomes "Hip-Hop Healer"". SOHH. 4Control Media. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011.
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; March 6, 2008 suggested (help) - ^ a b New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (CD liner). Erykah Badu. New York City: Universal Motown. 2008. B0010800-02.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Weiss, Jeff (December 22, 2009). "The wide-ranging world of Shafiq Husayn". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Abebe, Nitsuh (June 6, 2008). "Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Butler, Nick (February 27, 2008). "Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt. 1 (4th World War) (staff review)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ a b Staff (January 2009). "The 50 Best Albums of 2008". Mojo (182). Bauer: 72.
- ^ a b c Hardy, Ernest (February 29, 2008). "'Amerykah' the beautiful". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved October 27, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Billet, Alexander (March 4, 2008). "Freedom Songs". ZNET. Z Communications. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ George, Nelson (March 6, 2008). "Baduism circa 2008". Nelson George. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
- ^ a b "Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, PT. 1: 4th World War CD Album". CD Universe. Muze. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Kot, Greg (February 29, 2008). "Turn It Up: Erykah Badu tunes into her own 'Freakquency' on adventurous new album". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Company. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; March 3, 2008 suggested (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f g Ratliff, Ben (February 25, 2008). "New CDs". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
- ^ Cowie, Del F. (December 2008). "Common - Soul By the Pound • Timeline". Exclaim!. 1059434 Ontario. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Huff, Quentin B. (March 14, 2008). "Erykah Badu: New Amerykah". PopMatters. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Henderson, Eric (February 25, 2008). "Erykah Badu: New AmErykah: Part One (4th World War)". Slant Magazine. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Hoard, Christian (March 6, 2008). "New Amerykah". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ Carter, Lauren (February 26, 2008). "ERYKAH BADU "New Amerykah, Part 1: 4th World War" (Universal/Motown)". Boston Herald. Herald Media: 32.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cook, Alex V. (March 5, 2008). "Mother Earth is Pregnant for the Fourth Time". Outsideleft. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ a b Staff (December 2008). "The 50 Best Albums of 2008". Rolling Stone (1068). Wenner Media: 91. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
- ^ Linden, Amy (April 2008). "Erykah Badu, 'New Amerykah Pt. 1: The 4th World War' (Universal Motown)". Vibe. 16 (4). Vibe Media Group: 75. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
- ^ Staff (January 2010). "Top Albums 100-81". The Stylus Decade. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; January 11, 2010 suggested (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Chomut, Christina (March 7, 2008). "Erykah Badu triumphs with her first CD in years". SheKnows. AtomicOnline. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ Gill, Andy (February 29, 2011). "Album: Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World Order) (Universal) - Reviews - Music". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ a b Boraman, Greg (April 2, 2008). "Review of Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)". BBC Music. BBC. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ Stout, David (April 5, 2008). "Great Dame: The return of Shirley Bassey". Q-Notes. Pride Publishing & Typesetting. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
- ^ a b Aaron, Charles. "40 Best Albums of 2008". Spin. 25 (1). SPIN Media: 51. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
- ^ Compton, Josette (November 3, 2008). "A few of Roy Ayers' favorite things". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ a b Lewis, Miles Marshall (March 4, 2008). "Erykah Badu: The Plebeian, Militant Homegirl". The Village Voice. Village Voice Media. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Linsey, Craig D. (March 5, 2008). "Power of Soul". Philadelphia Weekly. Review Publishing. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ a b Greenblatt, Leah (March 3, 2008). "New Amerykah Review". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ Serwer, Jesse (March 15, 2010). "Interview: Erykah Badu". Time Out New York. Time Out. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ Wilonsky, Robert (December 11, 2007). "Livin' in a Nu AmErykah". Dallas Observer. Village Voice Media. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ a b "Honey [*] - Erykah Badu". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ Wilonsky, Robert (January 28, 2008). "Starring Erykah Badu as Your Record Collection". Dallas Observer. Village Voice Media. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Erykah Badu's 'Honey' Music Video is Tribute to Music and Music Lovers" (Press release). New York: Business Wire. February 4, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ a b Legaspi, Althea (March 23, 2008). "Digital techniques give Badu new energy, creative options". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Company. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
- ^ Wilonsky, Robert (February 8, 2008). "Dipping Further Into Erykah's "Honey"". Dallas Observer. Village Voice Media. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
- ^ "VH1 Soul is More Soulful Than Ever in Its Third Installment of 'SoulStage: Erykah Badu presented by Infiniti' Premiering Tuesday, February 26 at 9PM*" (Press release). New York: PR Newswire. February 21, 2008. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)". hitparade.ch. Hung Medien. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ a b "NEW AMERYKA Erykah Badu [CD]". CD WOW!. Neowing. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Music - New Amerykah, Pt. 1 (4th World War) by Erykah Badu". iTunes. Apple Inc. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
- ^ "Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, PT. 1: 4th World War LP". CD Universe. Muze. Product Detail. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ "Erykah Badu Kicks Off New Tour". Republic Records. April 24, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
- ^ Caulfield, Keith (March 5, 2011). "Janet Dethrones Jack To Top Billboard 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ a b c d "New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War - Erykah Badu". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ Paine, Jake (March 12, 2008). "Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 3/10/08". HipHopDX. Cheri Media Group. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ Grein, Paul (March 18, 2008). "Week Ending March 16, 2008: Rick Ross–The Least-Known Two-Time Chart-Topper?". Yahoo! Music. Yahoo!. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; March 24, 2014 suggested (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Concepcion, Mariel (December 11, 2009). "Erykah Badu Unveils 'New Amerykah, Part II'". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved December 11, 2009.
- ^ a b "Erykah Badu". The Official UK Charts Company. Albums. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ "Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)". lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ "Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)". dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ a b "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. April 28, 2008. sales for the period: 14.04.2008 - 20.04.2008. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ Alston, Joshua (March 10, 2008). "Erykah Badu: New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)". The A.V. Club. Chicago. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
- ^ a b Macpherson, Alex (March 6, 2008). "CD: Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ "Review: New Amerykah Part One". Uncut. London: 87. May 2008.
- ^ "New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War) Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (April 2008). "Inside Music: Consumer Guide". MSN Music. Microsoft. Rating is specified at Christgau's website. Archived from the original on March 23, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
- ^ Moody, Nekesa Mumbi (December 12, 2008). "Erykah, Estelle and Sia lead AP's top 10 albums". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
- ^ "Best Albums of 2008". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. December 2008. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
- ^ Cummings, Jozen. "The Ten Best Albums of 2008". Vibe. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2009.
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; March 7, 2009 suggested (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Pitchfork staff (September 28, 2009). "The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s: 200-151". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
- ^ "Best R&B Albums of the Decade". Rhapsody. Archived from the original on August 31, 2014. Retrieved January 12, 2010.
{{cite web}}
:|archive-date=
/|archive-url=
timestamp mismatch; November 2, 2012 suggested (help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Erykah Badu's Sample-Based Music". WhoSampled. p. 2. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
- ^ "Erykah Badu – Longplay-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- ^ "New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) – Erykah Badu" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
References
- McCann, Bob (December 8, 2009). Encyclopedia of African American actresses in film and television. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-3790-1.
External links
- Pages with empty short description
- 2008 albums
- Albums produced by 9th Wonder
- Albums produced by James Poyser
- Albums produced by Karriem Riggins
- Albums produced by Madlib
- Albums produced by Sa-Ra Creative Partners
- Albums produced by Questlove
- Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios
- Concept albums
- Erykah Badu albums
- Universal Motown Records albums