Don't you mean a cup of tea?
...Damn...y'all feel that? :)
Anyway, I finally bought my copy of "Baduizm" last night, and this time I
went to a chain store rather than
a used CD place (I figured Ms. Badu is worthy of her record sales props!)
There's a real truth to her album debuting at #2 on the charts - the
"Erykah Badu" section in the CD bin was empty - I had to search underneath
the racks to find the few spare copies in storage!
To be brief, though many are quick to describe her as a "90s Billie
Holliday", but in actuality a listen to the whole album actually conjures
up the description of, "The female D'Angelo": namely mellow sidestick
grooves with relatively sparse arrangements throughout (in contrast to,
say, Maxwell's soul orchestra of wah guitar, strings and horns) and some
'crossover' R&B material mixed in with the jazzy stuff. Honestly at first
I was a bit disappointed with the more strightforward R&B stuff, (i.e.
"Next Lifetime"), but I'm sure it'll grow on me. Regardless there's a depth
there that's obviously missing from the other young R&B divas of today -
Erykah succeeds in creating situations, thoughts and images that are a
*total* welcome change from the cliche quasi-Ebonic hip-hop slang that
everyone is prone to use on their records these days. The lady is an
ORIGINATOR!
As for her voice, Badu isn't a hyper-amazing mega-octave range singer by
any means, but does it matter when more importantly, she has total tonal
and dynamic control of her voice?
Hopefully Ms. Badu will be worthy of a "Best New Artist" grammy next year,
or at least will sweep several Soul Train awards, just like our man Maxwell
just did recently.
Fave tracks: "On & On" (of course), "Appletree," "Drama," "Certainly
(Flipped It)"
Elson
-30-
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Elson Trinidad
Los Angeles, CA, USA
elson@westworld.com * http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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