erykah badu... envelope pusher

I remember when Erykah Badu came on the scene in 1997 with Baduizm and my nephew who was about 9 at the time asked me, in his own words, what the hell is she saying Auntie K? (he always was a little cusser)... My response was, after I laughed at him, she’s telling the truth, her truth, the world’s truth, whatever truth... it's a story she’s telling and all that matters is how you interpret it.


Sometimes I wish she had an explanation for each of her songs written, or a little snippet of what she was thinking of when she wrote it, anything to allow me to get in her head for a minute but then would the song mean the same thing for me if I was spoon-fed her thoughts… probably not.

That brings me to New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, her newest release available today. I am hyped, as always, and I already downloaded it. I have yet to be disappointed by anything Erykah has produced and even though Part One was a little dark, its message hard to swallow, I was and still am enlightened… her music makes me think and jam…

One of the things that I admire is that Erykah pushes the envelope… the political, the cultural, the emotional… if you have ever seen her interviews, she’s hilarious and to see her live is an awesomely, spiritual experience.

Window Seat… her newest release… the one that’s played on the radio, probably the only one that will be played on the radio… If Erykah is more than a radio artist, it is simply because of her fan base.  While most mainstream artist get tons of airplay, most soul artist do not.

The controversial, uncut, video of Window Seat has also been released and it is posted below. This video, along with her body of work is bound to be misinterpreted, mis-taken and most of all, it's bound to make you think..

after the rain

I love the rain... even when it's coming down in sheets as it did the other night... there is something so calming, soothing about rain. It makes me want to stay low-key and silent, and it doesn't help that my body seems to hurt when the atmosphere changes and I know rain is in the forecast. I am almost forced to slow down and retreat. I have learned to appreciate rain. It moisturizes the air and brings nourishment to the earth. And then after the rain, the sun shines again. The skies are clearer, the air is lighter, you can breathe easier.

And that's how I'm feeling right now... I can breathe easier.

For the brief time that I was away from blogging, I felt like I was wearing a poncho and heavy behind rain boots because it was raining all the time... sporadic rain, sometimes a downpour, sometimes a drizzle and when it wasn't raining, it was just gray. I have finally carved out some time so that my creative side can thrive, once again.

I felt like I should done better for myself to prepare for the rain. I knew what season it was in my life, I knew what to expect yet I failed to prepare myself and instead I burned out. Well now I am on the mend. Rain is necessary and rain is inevitable but it doesn't have to be so hard to endure. I have learned that lesson.

Rain by SWV... one of my favorite songs