“I will still get to the people, no matter what they put in front of me. She got to the people, and that’s what my purpose is,” she says with a wide smile. “That video is about a woman who has to do a lot of things in a short period of time, and no matter the obstacle, she was never discouraged. When her evening gown becomes stained in the process, she doesn’t despair instead, she turns a couch spread into a matching dress and head-wrap. The video for “On & On” follows a tattered Badu as she tries desperately to ready the house she has to clean, the kids whose hair she has to braid and the animals whose pens she has to tend-all while she sings her song, hoping to sneak away to a juke joint later that night to perform it. It’s a love affair of sorts, ‘cause we got over here and fell in love with this. are of no relation to America-we’re in a relationship. “When I talked about being ‘slipped a mickey,’ I was talking about the ‘mickey’ that was slipped around our necks, the noose, the ‘mickey’ that was put on our legs, the shackles, the ‘mickey’ that was put on our brains, the lies. Her sleepy eyes suddenly possess a cold, angry glint. “ ‘Certainly’ sounds like a love affair, but it is actually about the relationship between America and African Americans,” Badu explains. Who told you it was all right to love me? Take the song “Certainly.” At first, the slow, jazzy ballad seems to be the bluesy lament of a woman wronged by a controlling lover: (Badu wrote all the album’s lyrics, collaborating on the music with a variety of producers.) It displays not only a vocal sophistication well beyond her years, but also a social consciousness that’s reminiscent of Bob Marley or Nina Simone. “Baduizm” is a reflection of her influences, but is by no means a regurgitation. Erykah’s a young Josephine Baker, a young Eartha Kitt.”
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It’s totally opposite of what Toni Braxton and Mary J. And her music went back to the essence-real music. “Her presence was totally different,” Massenberg remembers. In 1995, music executive Kedar Massenberg, who discovered and at one time managed the contemporary soul singer D’Angelo, heard a demo tape Badu had made and signed her to his label, the fledgling Kedar Entertainment, which is distributed by Universal Records. “They said, ‘You can’t do everything.’ Now what would have happened to me if I listened to that?” Singing was always one of her talents, but her teachers asked her to give it up to focus on one discipline. She majored in theater at Grambling State University in Louisiana. The oldest daughter of an actress, Badu performed at the Dallas Theatre Center as a child, and later studied dance at the city’s Arts Magnet High School. You could say my religion was art, because I do my best work, the creator’s work, through art.”
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I’ve danced since I was 4, I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been drawing since I could clutch a crayon. “My parents always told me I was the best. (She later changed her first-name spelling Badu is an adopted Islamic name that means “giver of light.”) Her family never had much money, but music and a strong sense of self-worth gave her everything she really needed. 2.īadu, though, views her music more in cosmic than commercial terms.īadu was born Erica Wright and grew up in rough surroundings in South Dallas. And record buyers, primed by the widespread airplay of “On & On,” responded-the collection entered the national album chart last week at No. That versatility is what makes her debut album, “Baduizm,” such an appealing work. But her own touches make for a distinctive style. Besides Holiday, her songs reflect elements of everything from the jazz scatting of Sarah Vaughan to the funk bravado of Chaka Khan. When the elegant, regal performer begins to sing her hit single “On & On” in a voice that resembles Billie Holiday’s, the crowd roars in recognition. “I take other people’s trash and make it art.” In her music, Badu takes patches of musical eras, mixes them together and wears them with attitude. Singer Erykah Badu walks onto the stage at Billboard Live wearing a form-fitting dress made of a motley assortment of raglike materials-patches of brown, purple velvet, a pattern of orange and white diamonds.