Erykah Badu puts out new CD, 'New Amerykah Part One'

BY THOR CHRISTENSEN | Dallas Morning News

May 8, 2008

'When I came out in '97, they told me I changed the state of R&B," says Erykah Badu. "This album is gonna do it again in some kinda way."

She's talking about "New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)." And before you dismiss her words as hype, consider this: In an age when R&B and hip-hop revolve around booty and bling, the Dallas singer dares to write about things that actually matter, like poverty, racism and the poisonous effect of drugs and guns.

"It's hard to enjoy the fruits of my labor when everyone else is suffering," she says during a rehearsal break at a North Dallas studio. "I don't try to write solutions, because I don't think I'm qualified. But let's at least organize and say, 'How many people want change?' And that's what the song 'Soldier' is about."

"New Amerykah" may be her most political CD yet, but the former Erica Wright has been singing about society's problems from her 1997 debut "Baduizm" through her last album 2003's "Worldwide Underground." She brings her current tour to Radio City Music Hall tomorrow night.

What's she been doing in the five years since then?

"Procrastinating," she says, bursting out in laughter. "Procrastinating is living."

Actually, she stayed busy doing work for her charity, B.L.I.N.D. (Beautiful Love Incorporated Nonprofit Development). She also studied reiki and earned a license as a holistic health practitioner. But most of all, she was busy raising her kids. Puma, 3, is the girl in the pink dress bouncing around the rehearsal studio blurting out, "Mama, I love you!" Her 10-year-old brother Seven is the quiet one sprawled out on the carpet, eyes glued to his homework.

"They come first," she says. "That little girl is me all over again, and Seven is who I want to be - he's a humble, gentle person who takes his studies very seriously."

He also helped transform his mom from a technophobe into a computer fanatic. "Seven taught me how to drag the songs into GarageBand and how to lay down the vocal," she said. "I had the computer in the kitchen, and I could still tend to the kids or dinner.... Before I knew it, I had 50 songs."

Some of them will likely turn up on Part Two of "New Amerykah," due out later this year. Others may show up on a CD tentatively titled "Loretta Brown." And she also might release an album she's recorded with Edith Funker, her side band featuring guitarist Doyle Bramhall II and Wendy and Lisa of Prince fame.

As her musicians mill about the studio waiting for rehearsal to resume, Badu is still busy waxing philosophic about life at age 37. "I discovered I'm in a world full of personality worshipers: People aren't looking for a savior. They're looking for someone who looks like one," she says.

Today, she's no longer willing to play the goddess game.

"I snatched myself off the platform," she says with a laugh.

WHEN&WHERE Erykah Badu plays Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Ave., Manhattan, 212-247-4777, at 8 p.m. Friday with The Roots. Tickets are $55.50 to $80.50 through Ticketmaster. Call 631-888-9000 or go to ticketmaster.com.