Erykah Badu

★ 9.2

album

Baduizm - Special Edition

“One R&B album that stuck out to me the entire time since my childhood was Erykah Badu's "Baduizm". And it still holds up so freaking well after all this time. Jesus Christ, as soon as "Rimshot" begins playing, I get nothing but joy hearing Ms. Badu's vocals just overtake my soul. They're so beautiful and hypnotizing to where I'm fully invested in what she has to say, regardless of the topic. She makes each song so enchanting to listen to, and with production partially handled by The Roots, they really go hand in hand with each other. "Baduizm" is a really consistent album, which I've seen some people say it's a bad thing because there's no variation. I get where they're coming from, but the cohesiveness helps establish the world Erykah Badu is in and how she wants us to view said world. "On & On" is the main song on here, but for me, it's hard to pick a clear-cut favorite, as it changes a bit often every time I run this album back. "Otherside of the Game", "Next Lifetime", "Certainly", "No Love"... Fuck, man, there's too many fire songs on here. "Certainly (Flipped It)" might be that one for me on constant repeat right now. Even almost thirty years later, "Baduizm" holds up amazingly well as one of those important neo-soul albums you must listen to. It still brings joy to my soul every time, shout out to my nostalgia.”

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★ 8.9

album

Mama's Gun

“Erykah Badu's debut album "Baduizm" is one of those classic albums that helped shape my music taste to what it is today. Since then, I perhaps listened to certain songs from Badu's preceding albums, but none from her sophomore album "Mama's Gun". And to be quite honest, I can't really explain why I haven't given this album a complete listen until recently. I think maybe it's because I don't want to be disappointed in comparison to how much I love "Baduizm". If anything, "Mama's Gun" is almost as good. The neo-soul sound is refined and perfected on here, as the production on here sounds a bit more complete and refined. The jazz and funk influences on here are a bit more evident on here than before, which helps elevate the album to a higher status. Add in Erykah's smooth vocals coupled with great songwriting and you have almost an evolved "Baduizm". I say "almost" because even though this has the classic "Didn't Cha Know", as well as other favorites like "Cleva" and "Orange Moon", it's kind of hard to overcome my #1. Even still, this is an amazing step forward into the neo-soul sound in the 21st century. I just hated that it took me literally forever to appreciate the second consecutive masterpiece Erykah Badu had released up to that point in her career.”

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