After her previous albums it seemed that people unanimously agreed that Erykah Badu was the queen of neo-soul music and was not to be questioned. However, she quickly grew tired of that moniker and wished to do something more than neo soul. The result of that was the album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War). Badu sought to solidify herself as one of the most outspoken and socially conscious artist of all time. She received criticism for it such as "It's a political record covering topics that have already been discussed ad nauseam"
Majority of the production for the album was done by Badu and later edited by other producers. It's not impressive that she pulled something like that off, it's crazy that she did it with garage band, yes the free computer program. Tracks that she didn't have a hand in producing came from people like Questlove and Madlib. She also recorded vocals for the album at her home that featured her kids playing and crying in the back. Eventually she went on to record new vocals at a studio but refused to let them be edited. It's no secret that artist have their vocals edited but Badu just wouldn't let that happen because she felt it was important to the album.
Admittedly the album is all over the place. In her effort to shake the Queen of Neo-Soul moniker she created an album that couldn't fit into any genre. An example would be the song "Twinkle," nobody can even attempt to put a genre on the track. It's a cacophony of instruments, special and sound effects. There's some funk, some hip hop and of course the soul music she's known for. She uses a variety of different vocal techniques throughout the album. She sings of course, but begins to rap on other tracks. One thing that stands out is the frequent use of scat singing on tracks. Another thing that stands out is it's her first album with no guest features since Baduizm, showing that she wanted to get back to just being Badu.
The content of the album is dark and gritty. The only high point is the last track "Honey," it's a love song, the light in the midst of a dark abyss. The album even starts with "Amerykahn Dream," which makes a point to let us know that the American Dream has long been dead,especially for black America. Instead she points all the things that America told people they could have but never delivered on.
"Soldier," is probably the heaviest track on the album. While she points out that black on black crime is bad. She also points out it's a made up stigma because nobody talks about white on white crime. Dick Gregory famously stated "Of course there's black on black crime, people kill where they live... There's white on white crime too. Nobody is going to drive an hour away to kill somebody," this is the musical version of that quote. She doesn't just talk about black on black crime either. She points out the mass corruption of police forces across the country as well as the government's poor to absent response to Hurricane Katrina.
It's followed by "The Cell," which tells a story of a girl named Brenda in a city. It looks at the problems of drugs, poverty and crime in the city that leads to urban decay. Brenda becomes desperate to escape all these things but eventually fails. It's more of what we've been looking at in other albums. Nobody wants to be in these things, we all try to escape it but not everyone makes it out. Those who don't either die, play the game or simply survive.
"Master Teacher," is a song that searches for an identity as black people in America. We obviously don't fit into the society that has built but we still need to find a place and role for ourselves. At one point in the song a speaker ask her "What if it were no niggas, only master teachers?" Demonstrating that the identity of black people spans from the spiritual and religious to masters of knowledge. We just have to find our spot. She urges people to "stay woke," no matter what. In other words keep searching for answers no matter what's going on.
It's a strange album that features sounds from all over the place, and Badu doing strange vocal stylings at some points. The album paints a picture that there's hope out there but it's a rare and so miniscule that even if you find it you basically still have nothing. The album is depressing, there's no way around it. Even with all that, you can't help but connect to the album. Erykah Badu once said "I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit," well New Amerykah is her showing she's sensitive to America's treatment of black people too.
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You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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