I'd heard of bit of chatter about the new Erykah Badu album and I must say - mostly negative. Scratch that... Most peeps just said it was "different", but I'm just telling you what I'm pretty sure they meant. With so few quality soul acts out there, I think people are almost scared to say what they really think when they've waited so long for a set by so called "Soul (or Hip-Hop) Royalty"

Let's start at the start then - the title - New Amerykah – Part One (4th World War).  It all sounds a little angst and ‘down with the system’ (whatever the system is). You could even label it a little bit aggressive and pressing play on the CD player doesn’t do anything to convince you the music is anything but.

How best to describe the music then… well if you had only heard New Amerykah – Part One (The Instrumentals) you would purchase this album and expect to hear men rapping rather than a lady singing, it is the epitome of “Hip-Hop Soul” whether you consider that a genre or just an adjective.

9th Wonder (of little Brother Fame) produces “Honey” which we have been listening to for months now.  When it dropped many assumed the album would pretty much follow the lines of this radio-friendly track, but they’ve most definitely thrown us a curve-ball here.  If I tell you that ‘”Honey” does not even feature as a named track on the album.  It is included with a promotional message for New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) simple entitled “Bonus Track”.  That may be the best way of highlighting the distance between the sound of the album and that promotional single.

[At this point – rather than write a separate review for the UK remixes of “Honey” - I’ll just insert it here in two words.  Not Good]

So what stands out? Well it all hits you square in the face alright.  I’ve read of lot of internet posts saying they are really feeling “The Healer”.  Where as most of my UK fam said things to the tune of ‘That track’s a bit eerie – don’t play it backwards’.  Hmmm.... Maybe that’s a UK / US water-divide thing.  Anyway, nice message, but nothing to it really.

More messages on “Soldier”, a track which (like so many others) sounds like it’s been designed with a rapper in mind and would most certainly benefit from a ‘Common’ (or alike) spittin’ bars on it.  Then there’s The Curtis Mayfield sampled “Master Teacher” and Roy Ayers’ “Amerykahn Promise” – pure funk on this album opener.

My track of the album though has to be “Telephone” which is apparently inspired by a conversation between Badu and Maureen Yancy (J Dilla’s mother) and features Badu’s vocals atop the music of Soulquarians’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and James Poyser.

So what’s the verdict?  Personally I think there’s a little too much unnecessary swearing on it, it’s rather disjointed and really quite angry too.  But the worst thing about it is I have felt myself TRYING to like it and I don’t think I should try to like any music.  Maybe I’ll add a paragraph or two to this review when the album has been around me for a few months… give it a chance to grow and all that.  Like I say above, it is “different” but I don’t use the word in the same vein as my associates I mentioned earlier.

If you wanna call it different you can. You wouldn’t be wrong.  But then again everything that has followed her triple-platinum “Baduizm” album has been ‘different’.  New Amerykah Part One would better be labelled ‘further development’ or ‘growth’.  New Amerykah Part Two : (Return of the Ankh) is on the way later this year we hear.  Expect more of the same “differentness”.

Words by The Soul Kitchen
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