What’s your favorite Erykah Badu song? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
“Peace and blessings manifest with every lesson learned. If your knowledge were your wealth, then it would be well-earned.” – “On & On”
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When Erykah Badu (née Erica Abi Wright) beamed down onto the urban music scene like a sister from another planet, with her bewitching 1997 debut, Baduizm, she stood out for several reasons. Her huge headwrap enveloped her tiny frame; she wore statement jewelry, including a sizable ring with an Ankh (the ancient Egyptian symbol for life), and on stage, she was fond of lighting incense and candles.
Early on, her airy and slightly raspy vocals gave us shades of Billie Holiday and Chaka Khan. And on the wings of signature singles like “On & On,” “Appletree,” “Next Lifetime” and “Otherside of the Game,” Badu secured her spot as the “queen of neo-soul,” which Billboard aptly describes as R&B “built on the traditions and stylings of the past while breathing new life and energy into the genre.”
The lyricist: Raw and real, profound, (and sometimes profane)
Nearly 30 years since we first heard this brave bird sing, the Dallas native remains mysterious, mystical and mesmerizing. There’s a sly wink and a biting wit to much of Badu’s music. Need proof? Listen to 2015’s cheeky mixtape, But You Caint Use My Phone, where she puts her freestyle spin on Drake’s “Hotline Bling” and Usher’s “U Don’t Have To Call” (“You don’t have to call. It’s okay, squirrel”).
Earlier this year, the 54-year-old won her fifth Grammy for her collaboration with female rapper Rapsody on the sensual song “3:AM.” It’s been a minute, however, since she’s released a new album. So we can’t wait to hear what she comes up with on her first full-length studio album in 15 years. No release date has been set, but she’s reportedly collaborating with Kendrick Lamar producer The Alchemist.
Meanwhile, her anniversary-marking Mama’s Gun ’25: The Return Of Automatic Slim Tour hits ten cities through December 10.
6 things we love about Erykah Badu
1. She’s a fashion icon.
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Forever a trendsetter and never a follower, in 2024, Badu was honored with the Fashion Icon Award at the prestigious CDFA Fashion Awards.
“I’ve always had a love for taking bits and pieces of the things I am attracted to, and creating something far more grand than the sum of those parts,” Badu said in her acceptance speech.
“From the music I make, to the looks I put on, to the technology I’m developing, I’m always looking for innovative, exciting ways to be more expressive and connect with people – to be closer to nature.”
Her bold fashion choices continue to turn heads and spark conversation, notably the taupe, hand-knit “booty bodysuit” she wore to the 2025 Billboard Women in Music awards ceremony, where she received another Icon Award.
Designed by fashion student Myah Hasbany, the exaggerated ensemble appeared to be an homage to Sarah Baartman, a South African woman who in the early 19th century was exhibited in Europe as the Hottentot Venus.
“It’s a night to celebrate the womb of the world, the womb of life, the womb-iverse of all things. The smartest creature on planet Earth. The wisest, the most invincible, sexiest, purest, finest. The woman. I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to be born a woman!,” Badu told the crowd as she accepted her trophy.
2. She’s a mother and hip-hop muse.
Badu is a proud mother of three, and each of her kids has a different hip-hop Dad: her son Seven, with rapper, actor and musician Andre 3000, is 28; her daughter Puma, with rapper The D.O.C., is 21; and her daughter Mars, with rapper Jay Electronica, is 16.
“[The thing I like about rap right now] is the same thing I liked about rap when I first met it,” she told Billboard. “Rap is the people. Hip-hop is the people…It’s the tribe.”
In the early aughts, Badu was also romantically linked to Chi-town rapper and actor Common. We fondly remember their glowing Essence cover and their Grammy-winning duet, “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)” from the Brown Sugar soundtrack.
“With Erykah Badu, that was my first love where you’re just open and floating,” Common told People Magazine.
Of her relationship with Andre 3000, who at the height of their young love affair was featured in her bohemian slice of life video for “Other Side of the Game,” Badu told Rolling Stone, “Over these years, we’ve just become closer and closer as friends, as humans, as man, as woman.”
3. She’s a doula and certified midwife.
Badu shared with Thrive Magazine that she had doula-assisted home births with the children. Now she pays it forward as a doula and certified midwife.
“During the birth, I am present. Whoever they want present during the birth, I am responsible for being the welcoming committee. I have to make sure that everything is energetically sound in the room [and I provide] everything they need,” she told Essence.
4. She’s a compelling actress.
Although her film roles have been sparse, she made a star-making turn in the 1999 drama Cider House Rules and struck comedic gold as a flaky psychic in the 2019 comedy What Men Want, starring Taraji P. Henson.
But her acting chops certainly aren’t going to waste – she injects her flair for the dramatic into her live shows and performances.
“I tour eight months out of the year for the past 25 years. That’s what I do. I am a performance artist. I am not a recording artist,” she told Billboard.
“I come from the theater. It’s the immediate reaction between you and the audience and the immediate feeling. The point where you become one living, breathing organism with people. That’s what I live for. It’s my therapy. And theirs, too. We’re in it together.”
5. She gives us food for thought.
Badu was one of the first celebrity sisters we knew who promoted a vegan lifestyle.
“I’ve been a vegetarian since my senior year of high school, that was 1989,” she told People Magazine, “and I’ve eaten like a vegan since 1997.”
So what’s on her grocery store shopping list? “I eat mostly raw, kale salad, avocados, fruits, vegetables and alkaline water. One of my favorite dishes is my own coconut collard greens,” she said.
In a discussion with Thrive Magazine, she added: “I’m not trying to win an award for being the best vegetarian, [I] just want to be healthy. Take a salt bath. Do things that my parents were never able to do. I’m blessed to do anything I want, so I decide to take the best care of my body and my family in the same way. Holistically. Vitally.”
6. Her music speaks to us, and our “artsy friends.”
“Guess I was born to make mistakes. But I ain’t scared to take the weight. So when I stumble off the path. I know my heart will guide me back.” – ”Didn’t Cha Know”
Each one of Badu’s records has marked a chapter in our collective sisterhood and offered us sonic gems. Through her art, we feel her and recognize that she is like us.
We’ve already mentioned the brilliance of Baduizm. And her Live album, also released in 1997, gave us the when a woman’s fed up anthem, “Tyrone,” which she improvised on stage. Then in 2003, she dropped Worldwide Underground, which included “Love of My Life Worldwide,” featuring Angie Stone, Bahamadia and Queen Latifah.
Perhaps her most experimental works are 2008’s New Amerykah One: 4th World War and 2010’s New Amerykah Two: Return of the Ankh, both of which are full of moody, provocative, hypnotic, and funky tracks. The most commercially successful songs are “Honey” and “Window Seat,” respectively.
But Badu’s second album, the 2000 opus Mama’s Gun, is arguably her masterpiece.
Lyrically breathtaking, her vulnerability is palpable on songs like “Bag Lady,” where Badu beckons sisters to let go of the dead weight and emotional baggage that’s weighing us down; the Roy Ayers-assisted “Cleva” which reflects how we’re still fly even if we don’t have long hair, expensive clothes or a perfect shape; and “Green Eyes” is a thinly veiled attempt for the green-eyed muse to mask her jealousy. Meanwhile, “Didn’t Cha Know” – a song about being fallible and uncertain about life’s direction, but having faith that we’ll find the right path – resonates with us deeply.
What’s your favorite Erykah Badu song? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
