Published on Jan 5, 2001
Erykah Badu is an artist who continues to impress me.
Admittedly, I haven’t followed r&b as closely as I probably
should, so I won’t claim to have a superior knowledge of the scene
as it is today. But I do like what Badu is doing with her music.
Mama’s Gun, her second full-length outing (not including the
closet-cleaner
Heartache, released under her given name of Erykah Wright)
and first release since 1997’s
Live, proves that the success Badu had was absolutely no
fluke.
It’s easy now to sit back and hear how Badu influenced artists
like Macy Gray, or how Badu is embodying all of the positive
qualities of r&b/soul from the ’70s and early ’80s – things
people either didn’t see or didn’t know to look for when
Baduizm first hit the streets. But now, Badu is a more
mature artist, having gone through the end of a relationship and
having to deal with the success she faced right out of the gate.
There’s pain in some of these songs, but there’s also hope – and
the listener is taken on a spiritual re-awakening through
Mama’s Gun.
One of the most moving tracks for me is “In Love With You,” a
duet with Stephen Marley (who sounds hauntingly like his late
father) which captures the raw emotion between a man and a woman
powerfully and eloquently. Likewise, tracks such as “Kiss Me On My
Neck (Hesi)”, “Orange Moon” and “Time’s A Wastin” all demonstrate
the pure mastery that Badu has with this material.
A technique which doesn’t always work well – going from one song
to another with little or no segue – actually works to Badu’s
advantage on
Mama’s Gun. She doesn’t do this for the entire album, though
– and by focusing her attention on tracks like “My Life,” “…&
On” and “Cleva,” she helps to steer the focus of the listener to
some of the more powerful performances on the disc.
This isn’t to take away anything from the power of tracks like
“Green Eyes” (which touches on the ending of a long-time
relationship) or “A.D. 2000” (anyone wanna bet she doesn’t take as
much grief as Bruce Springsteen did for singing a song about Amadou
Diallo?). Frankly, each listener will probably find their own
emotional center on
Mama’s Gun, and mine just happened to fall in the first
third of the disc (as well as on “In Love With You”). Doesn’t mean
you’re wrong if you’re more moved by “A.D. 2000”.
Some people might have wondered what happened to Badu after the
success of
Baduizm.
Mama’s Gun is a disc that reminds people that Badu is still
here, and that the time taken to re-energize her life’s batteries
proved to be time well spent.