Worldwide Under

Erykah Badu: the woman responsible for all those ponderous hairstyles, Common’s Electric Circus, peace sign after peace sign and, most significantly, the decorative progression of one-time flame Andre “Ice Cold” 3000. Since her breakout hits “Tyrone” and “On and On,” Badu has remained primarily behind the scenes, following up with some great cameos, pitiable singles and a passable sophomore album. She’s back again, 10 tracks clocking in at 50 minutes in what Motown insists is Badu’s third studio album. She disagrees, calling Worldwide Underground an EP - quite funny, considering the origins of EPs, but enough with the semantics. 

Over the past decade, soul music has been unimpressive, serving primarily as tacky love sentiments. In her chosen genre, Badu has not only more ambition than most of her cohorts but also much, much more god-given talent and grace. Underground continues down Badu’s afrocentric-meets-progressive soul path, each track (aside from the two interludes) exploring a new destination and resulting in new levels of complexity. If nothing else, the queen is still moving.

Clearly, Badu is one of the R&B’s top dogs, but is she at the top of her game on Underground? Nah, not entirely anyhow. Badu’s Billie Holiday-esque vocals are still nothing short of wondrous. Musically, however, Badu still has quite a ways to go. The EP/LP hints at soul, hip-hop, pop, rock and jazz but fails to mesh genres successfully. Underground displays Badu’s ambitions better than ever yet come across as a amassing of great ideas thrown together and rushed into release before being thoroughly realized.

Accolades to Badu for following her heart and keeping her artistic integrity. It just hurts to hear her past hits and know that she’s still capable of making songs with power. After hearing the newest Common and Outkast albums, it seems the tables have turned. Maybe it’s time for her men to pay back the enlightenment she once helped them find.      7/10

Written by G. William Locke