Erykah Badu

Much more musically interesting than her previous releases, Mama's Gun is Badu's most mature release to date. The subjects are socially focused, the beats and production are extremely sophisticated, and she manages to tread a newly drawn line between pop musician and jazz-hop diva. "Dincha Know" and "Bag Lady" are standouts.

They would be the reigning couple of black music if only they were still together. Erykah
Badu and OutKast's Andre 3000, who were a pair for the three years leading up to 1999,
have created two of the most astounding albums of 2000: Erykah's second studio release,
Mama's Gun, and OutKast's Stankonia, which Andre made with his partner, Big Boi. They
talk to each other on these discs: Andre in "Ms. Jackson," apologizing for breaki... More >

Ms. Badu-to-you could have ridden her photogenic witchy-rootsy ambience/attitude down a flexigroove to iconicity. Instead she determined to rise up, doing for her songcraft what D'Angelo did for his funk. From "Here's my philosophy/We're living in a penitentiary" to "My eyes are green/Because I eat a lot of vegetables," she scores over and over on 14-tracks-in-72-minutes that miss maybe twice and only seem long-winded when she gives the flautist some. Maybe her sources are autobiographical, but she's here to inspire all black-identified women and the men who admire them. On "Cleva," she predicts you'll love her for her mind as her ninnies sag; on "Booty," she pulls more good stuff with her G.E.D. than you can with your Ph.D. And to prove how smart she is once and for all, she accentchuates her word power with structures, arrangements, hooks, the works. (Grade - A)