The Queen of Neo Soul, Erykah Badu built a Grammy-winning legacy from Baduizm and keeps evolving, now working with The Alchemist on new music.
MOODS · soulful · jazzy · introspective · sultry · cerebral · groove-laden · spiritual · eclectic · warm · poetic · hip-hop-inflected · retro-futurist
BIOGRAPHY
Born Erica Abi Wright in 1971, Erykah Badu changed the spelling of her name and adopted "Badu" from her favorite jazz scat sound. She studied theater at Grambling State University before leaving in 1993 to pursue music, having already freestyled on local radio by age 14 alongside artists like Roy Hargrove.
Her 1997 debut Baduizm, released after opening for D'Angelo led to a deal with Kedar Entertainment, went triple platinum and made her a face of the neo soul movement. Follow-ups like Mama's Gun and New Amerykah Part One earned critical acclaim, and she has won five Grammy Awards from twenty nominations, most recently for "3 A.M." with Rapsody. In 2025 she began work on Before The World Blows, a psychedelic neo-soul and alternative R&B album with The Alchemist, her first new album in fifteen years.
WHY THEY'RE COOL
Badu helped define neo soul's sound and attitude, fusing R&B, soul, and hip-hop into something distinctly her own from the moment Baduizm arrived in 1997. Her live album cemented signature moments like "Tyrone," while later records such as Mama's Gun and New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) showed continued critical growth, the latter debuting at number two on the Billboard 200. Five Grammy wins across nearly three decades, including a 2025 win for "3 A.M." with Rapsody, reflect a career built on consistent reinvention. Her new collaboration with The Alchemist signals she is still pushing her sound forward rather than resting on past acclaim.
GEORGE'S PLAYS
George has played this artist 3 times.
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