Hip-Hop is slow right now, but my iPod is busy. I got a chance to check out Ms. Badu’s latest release in the New Amerykah trilogy, New Amerykah Part 2: The Return Of The Ankh.
Let me preface this by saying that while I find it hard to find ANY artist with as dope a 3 CD debut as her first three offerings, I was not impressed with Part 1 of this series. I still haven’t caught onto it and I’ve been trying…hard. I seem to be the only person that wasn’t feeling it, and that’s fine, y’all know I’m usually on an island.
However, this shit right here….this shit right HEAR. Fatality! From the moment I pressed play till the moment I pressed play again, it was a fantastic ride back to civilization where I’m sure others will fall for this album and in love with Badu all over again (especially since most of us never stopped loving her.) I have a live CD where she talks about creating a moment and perfecting a moment; this album is the perfect combination of both. We all know about “Window Seat” so there’s nothing new I can tell you about that. The new shit right now is “Out My Mind, Just In Time”. It’s 10 minutes of Erykah going into a zone. Lyrically and musically, this is one of my top 10 Badu songs period. She shows us how silly she is with the interlude tiled “You Loving Me” follows it up with a great sample selection for “Fall In Love (Your Funeral)”.
She does sample noticeably more on this album than she has previously, but she also finds a way to make it sound brand new and original. For example, “Turn Me Away (Get Munny)” is one where you KNOW the hook, you know the vibe, however, she’s changed it up so you end up mindlessly singing along with no reservations. Trust me, this song has nothing to do with the song that originally used this beat.
Bottom Line:
I credit Badu with 3 classics already, and this may be a 4th. This entire CD is an experience and I can’t wait to book my own window seat to visit New Amerykah again.
