There was no way this was not going to end up somewhere on this list for me. Listened to it far too many times for it not to have a place at least somewhere. It’s not perfect, not by far. Some tracks go on for way too long, some tracks are boring, some are unnecessary. The Rick Ross version of Window Seat should have a place here. Jump Up In The Air should have been on here. What happened to the 12 different versions of Jump Up In The Air? But it is irrelevant because towering beyond all that is the fact that this is simply one of the weirdest records of the year and I love it for that.
One of the original appeals hip hop had for me back when I picked up my first De La Soul album on a whim all those years ago, was its unabashed strangeness, its off the wall tendencies that were missing from other genres. New Amerykah pt. 2 has that in spades. Biggie lyrics sung on loop in a maniacal manner, Madlib having a duet with harpist Kirsten Agnesta, 9th Wonder contributing a beatless beat. And at the centre of it all like a ringmaster at a circus, this wondrous, complex, enigma of a woman, Erykah Badu
Course it wouldn’t mean much if it didn’t absolutely knock, which it most certainly does. Rolling funk, Dilla boom-bap, and the cruising vibe of a track like Window Seat make a fantastic soundscape for Badu’s psyche. At the end of the day, this is one of the best albums of the year; it’s a journey into the mind of a soulful woman who has hip-hop pumping through her veins. It’s a beautiful thing.
Erykah Badu - Fall In Love (Your Funeral)
BONUS!
Erykah Badu - Jump Up In The Air (Ft. Lil Wayne)
