Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part 2: The Return Of The Ankh [Review]

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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.

41halfstars

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Saule Wright
The Black Alex P. Keaton
Saule Wright *the "e" is silent* is a chill cat that loves his Hip-Hop and R&B music. At times, he may throw in a few extra words here and there in his reviews, but he makes an effort to comment on the track, the lyrics, and other elements in each song when doing nappyafro's legendary track by track process. If he's not wandering around nappyafro.com trying to spark conversation, you'll find him either on soulections.com or twitter doing the same. Respected by many, disrespected by many, and respectful of both.
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12 Comments

  1. Definitely gotta check this album out and see if your review holds weight Saule. But since it’s Erykah Badu and I’m familiar with her track record I think you talk a good game with that 4.5 score. I was impressed with her previous album so this one should be just as good if not better than that one. This comment to be continued…

    Reply

  2. Hm, I just might check the album out. I wonder where that promo single with Wayne went though, Jump In The Air (Stay There), I heard that and that was a pretty nice song. Time to DL it, there’s been a lot of R&B out lately.

    Reply

      1. That’s a shame, Waynes name could’ve moved some more units easily. Wayne puts a pretty entertaining (Although he’s not saying way too much) preformance upon here, but I really like the percussion, it’s simple and bangin. I think the only reason it wouldn’t have been on the album is because that the tone is too much compared to the other songs

        I wikipediaed the album for a little bit and found out some pretty damn good producers are doing this, notably 9th Wonder on 20 Feet Tall, J Dilla (r.I.P) for Love, and also Madlib for Strawberry Incense, and Umm Hmm. I think ?uestlove also helped too with this.

        Pretty obvious sample for the (Get Munny) track also. I know there’s a sample on Fall In Love, but i forgot what it was. The piano sounds mad famiilar.

        All, in all I can definitely thank Saule for giving the ok to DL this album, because I was quite skeptical (And I don’t really like the album cover, but that’s just me) about this album, since I’m not into the overtly-political rapping, but I found out, this is definitely not the case, unlike New Amerykah Part 1. It’s a breezy listen, and it’s defintely something you can put into the background while doing some homework / whatever, or just listen to indepth. That was her intention too.

        Picks: It’s pretty short, so just listen to all of it. Cop the wayne track too, it makes it a little better.

        Rating: 4 / 5
        I think 4.5 is a little too much, but I respect your opinion.

        Reply

        1. Yeah Chew, the sample on “Fall In Love (Your Funeral)” is “Intimate Friends” by Eddie Kendricks. It’s been used quite a bit: “Unbreakable” (Alicia Keys), “Another Summer” (213), “A Penny For My Thoughts” (Common), “Goin’ In For Life” (Drake… Basically 213’s instrumental). Right now though it’s my favorite track on the album just from the sample alone. But I gotta take the time to listen to the rest of the album as you give a pretty on point observation as well.

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