A curious thing
happens after
the first chorus
of Erykah’s
new single “Danger.”
The trunk rattling
horn and bass
combination that
carries along
the chorus cuts
out, then a guy
asks for the words
and Erykah politely
obliges, even
relaying them
with
perfect pronunciation.
Maybe Ms. Badu
was still self
conscious about
these things after
her often misquoted
chorus for The
Roots’ grammy
winning song “You
Got Me”
made the rounds.
Maybe, but I think
it’s part
of her ongoing
compromise with
her audience.
The latest dance
between Erykah
Badu the intergalactic
spaceship
goddess and Erica
Wright the aspiring
R&B singer
from Texas is
found on her moody,
wispy, happy and
downright confusing
new album Worldwide
Underground.
On Badu’s
debut, Baduism,
she burst on the
scene with “On
& On,”
a smooth breeze
of a song about,
of all things,
5 percent Nation
of Islam polemics
with images of
an alien mothership
coming for the
believers. It
turned out that
the only people
that would want
to understand
her quirkiness
were 5 percenters
and middle class
women. All of
a sudden, Erykah
was queen of bohemia,
but she wasn’t
the type to be
pigeonholed as
some middle-class
non-threatening
peacenik (leave
that to
B-teamers like
India.Arie.) We
realized that
she wasn’t
playing on her
next album Mama’s
Gun, when the
hard funk of the
chiba sack remix
to “Bag
Lady” hit
the radio. Lifting
the beat to Dr.
Dre’s “Xplosive”
got her into the
ghetto’s
car stereos. She
even addressed
her old approach
on the sequel
to “On &
On” called
“And On
& On,”
where she asked,
what sense does
it make talking
all
that stuff if
they can’t
understand it.
Will Badu’s
otherworldly talents
meet round the
way girl common
sense continue
on her latest,
Worldwide Underground?
The hard-hitting
speaker thump
is here on the
aforementioned
“Danger,”
the good time
remix of “Love
of my Life”
with Queen Latifah,
Angie Stone and
Bahamadia, and
“The Grind,”
a poor man’s
lament with Badu
singing “every
day is a struggle,
how to hustle
some dough/ if
you was raised
in the hood then
you already know.”
Those songs are
tightly strung
together with
strong verses
and structure
and evocative
lyrics. Most of
the remainder
of the album is
more experimental,
with verses that
sound made up
on the spot and
song
structures stretched
over songs for
so long, it ends
up sounding like
a jam session
being eavesdropped
on - which is
good or bad depending
on how you like
your songs.
The words, such
as they are, deal
with love, reminiscing
on days gone by,
and
doing “a
little yoga for
a minute.”
In some cases,
the words themselves
(d)evolve into
tribal-like wails
like at the end
of the near nine-minute
“Bump It.”
In “I Want
You” the
title words are
obsessed over
and over again,
as James Poyser
goes over the
same notes over
and over. After
three minutes
of this, Badu
tells us of all
her attempts to
distract herself
from her love,
and as this goes
into the seventh
minute, I wonder
if this is for
us or for her.
The truth is,
it doesn’t
matter, because
I’d rather
listen to Erykah
try to work everything
out than the easy
cookie-cutter
version of life
R&B singers
try to present.
As she says on
the album cover
screed, it’s
time to follow
the leader.
