should have done a replay like with that tarika blue song on didntcha know.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 5 January 2009 22:27 (fifteen years ago) link
you mean the entirely diff song that featured her singing
― choom gangsta (deej), Monday, 5 January 2009 22:29 (fifteen years ago) link
either way, it would have been better. i dunno what to call erykahs version, its sort of a cover, but not quite.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, 5 January 2009 22:34 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah..."filler" is a pretty abstract concept in general, but when you're talking about an album that's the first in a series of 2 or 3 albums that the artist made in the same timeframe, it's an even more amorphous idea.
I didn't mean "filler" as in something callously inserted to fill time, but in the more colloquial (and less damning) sense of being weaker and probably included because an artist has fallen too in love with everything produced during a period of time to objectively edit it down to its strongest form (probably the basis for the vast, vast majority of multi album/3LP/2CD/etc. projects produced). Erykah's "weaker" is still stronger than 99.999% of anyone else going's "strongest," so it's not a huge complaint. It's just that a lot of the album felt next-level, and then the rest had that biding-time feeling of the majority of Worldwide Underground, the longer-than-LP-length release she caveated as being an EP (if I'm not mis-remembering).
As for "sampling" the RAMP track--that's really pushing the limits of "sampling," but I don't really have any beef with that. I just think what's meant to be funny or spooky or ominous in the vocals just sound. . . corny, and more than a little boring. Why have an "intro" that's longer than the proper opening track--especially when the opening track is so ace ("The Healer")? The sampled "coming to you loud and clear" bit at the beginning of the Healer would've been intro enough, imo. I guess I tend to be a less-is-more person in general--shorter albums that are pithy thrill me, so I feel more ripped off by longer albums that don't need to be longer--there's no value in having simply more music, unless someone just wants to tack it on after a long silence after the end of the best stuff.
The "sampling" issue of using an entire track--eh. Doing it's fine by me, but do something that justifies it. Everybody knows the best Daft Punk tracks are almost just the originals, but for me, the slight changes they make really do add something; whereas the "conductor" vocals add nothing to 'American Promise'.
Erykah should do a mix/compilation, though, of her inspirations/favorite stuff. . .
― Soundslike, Monday, 5 January 2009 22:51 (fifteen years ago) link
mark of a great album i guess. different people getting different things from it. i totally disagree tho, the narration on track 1 is great and provides one of the few really light-hearted comedic aspects of the work (but still v reverent and committed, to my ears and mind).
― Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:08 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm mad as hell about Stereolab's entire career.
― Dimension 5ive, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:10 (fifteen years ago) link
not the same thing and you know it
― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Monday, 5 January 2009 23:17 (fifteen years ago) link
oh snap wrong thread my bad
― Dimension 5ive, Monday, 5 January 2009 23:18 (fifteen years ago) link
^^^^^^^^would purchase for all my friends
― doggy1998: im only only 10 and i listen to music like this (stevie), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 00:39 (fifteen years ago) link
So I realize this is a naïve question, but are her previous albums like this? I had always just thought of her as a slightly better version of a Jill Scott-type neo-hippie-R&B singer, which is not my thing at all, but I LOVE this album. Does her previous work have the same kind of simultaneous hip hop/70s soul vibe to it? The only older songs of hers I remember hearing were the live version of Tyrone and Bag Lady, which was pretty good but it was always weird to me that it used that same guitar sample as the then-current Dr. Dre song.Also, was J Dilla directly involved in any of her music?
― Whitey on the Moon, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 05:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Time for some research, Whitey on the Moon.
― Dimension 5ive, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 05:20 (fifteen years ago) link
Also, was J Dilla directly involved in any of her music?
― Whitey on the Moon, Monday, January 5, 2009 11:01 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
not too much, only on one of her biggest grammy award nom'd singles -- but i expect those deep cuts are hard to google for
― choom gangsta (deej), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 05:56 (fifteen years ago) link
OK OK jeez I acknowledged that it was naïve. I just wanted to get some feedback on what you guys thought of her older stuff before I actually buy/download/conduct further research. And I apologize for not knowing who was "nom'd" for female vocal R&B performance or whatever Grammy in 2000.
― Whitey on the Moon, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 06:14 (fifteen years ago) link
nom'd nom'd nom'd
― choom gangsta (deej), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 06:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Baduism is neo-soul with hip-hop fringes - no rapping, no scratching, but the tight clip of the drums tells the tale. but it is very neo-soul (and brilliant).
Mama's Gun never goes as far as The Healer in the Hip-Hop direction, but the group who recorded it are the soulquarians (feat. Dilla), and it is an utterly sublime album, you need to hear it.
Worldwide Underground (is that the title of the EP?) is gonzo and brilliant, Danger is badass 70s funk meets Hip-Hop, while 'I want You' is like sultry water torture.
― doggy1998: im only only 10 and i listen to music like this (stevie), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:00 (fifteen years ago) link
the first verse of 'danger' sets that scene like BAM. so perfect.
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:10 (fifteen years ago) link
me and this babygon' be here all night longwalkin' this wood flooruntil my man gets homei'm at the front doori'm listenin' by the phonebut i'm gon' be herewith my make-up on
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 10:11 (fifteen years ago) link
her albums in order:mamas gunbaduizmworldwide undergroundthe new onethough i find it hard to really decide which is better of the last 3 there as they all have some really brilliant tracks. but basically mamas gun is impossibly classic.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 11:09 (fifteen years ago) link
All four are impossibly classic, so listen to them simultaneously.
― Eric H., Tuesday, 6 January 2009 12:16 (fifteen years ago) link
That said, I rank them as such:
4th World WarMama's GunBaduizmWorldwide Underground
― Eric H., Tuesday, 6 January 2009 12:17 (fifteen years ago) link
Part 2 comes out February 17th! Same day as The-Dream. Wish I had four ears.
― Owen Pallett, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 14:08 (fifteen years ago) link
oh noes the weight of expectancy (which i didn't have at all for Part 1). can it be better?
― Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 14:47 (fifteen years ago) link
A Badu-lovin', magazine-readin' friend told me that Erykah, in an interview, said the 2nd part was mostly uptempo stuff like The Healer. Honey was originally meant to be on Part 2 but was moved to Part 1 at the last minute, hence its "bonus track" vibe.
― Owen Pallett, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 15:06 (fifteen years ago) link
don't toy with my expectations now
― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 15:22 (fifteen years ago) link
uptempo stuff like The Healer
does not compute. but i welcome more beats like that. if that's true about 'Honey' then it's weird that it then also became the single (so perhaps there are other singles/radio jams on part 2?)
― Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 15:47 (fifteen years ago) link
at first i was like "wtf the healer is not uptempo" but it's pretty much the same tempo as "honey", it just has that slow burn vibe
― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 15:53 (fifteen years ago) link
An album full of "Healer"s?! As if I already didn't think the Nu AmErykah enterprise was already for-all-time material.
― Eric H., Tuesday, 6 January 2009 15:55 (fifteen years ago) link
of course you would say that your next album is all like the best song on your last album
― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 15:57 (fifteen years ago) link
She could say the next album is like the worst song on 4WW and I'd say the same thing.
― Eric H., Tuesday, 6 January 2009 16:09 (fifteen years ago) link
i'm kinda amazed that this album actually charted higher in many European countries than in the UK (e.g. #5 in Sweden! #10 in Switzerland! seems v random)
― Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 16:10 (fifteen years ago) link
*Cough*. Maybe it wasn't The Healer. I put on the record, we started talking about the new album, Alex said "an album of uptempo songs like this", and I don't remember if it was The Healer or Amerykahn Promise. This is important! Two very different songs. I'll ask him today at lunch.
― Owen Pallett, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 16:26 (fifteen years ago) link
if that's true about 'Honey' then it's weird that it then also became the single
not weird at all, obviously the thinking was "we need a single to sell this album, let's use that really obviously accessible song you were gonna hold for the next one". finally the weird single/bonus track status of "Honey" makes sense!
― some dude, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 16:34 (fifteen years ago) link
haha an album of amerykahn promises. IMAGINE!
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 16:42 (fifteen years ago) link
i never understood why 'the cell' wasn't considered an appropriate single, anyway. i think it's even more melodically immediate than 'honey'.
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 16:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Come to think of it, she's already had something like that -- an album of "Me"s. It's called Mama's Gun.
― Eric H., Tuesday, 6 January 2009 16:53 (fifteen years ago) link
it's ruffer and more 'minimal' which would rule it out for me as single material
the 'add a little lemon' line in 'Honey' actually bothers me a bit just because i thought 'wait is this still a cliched metaphor or are you literally singing a song about a foodstuff?'
Owen maybe you did mean Amerykahn Promise as that or The Cell are the fastest tracks
some dude a track originally intended for the second album becoming the first single off the first album seems unconventional or "weird" to me but whatever
― Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 17:03 (fifteen years ago) link
― lex pretend, Tuesday, January 6, 2009 11:42 AM (22 minutes ago)
^would buy
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 6 January 2009 17:07 (fifteen years ago) link
she said in an interview shes working with wajeed, jay electronica, madlib and basically other hip hop producers for pt 2. so it prob will be more like the healer. id like it to be more like master teacher pt 2, me, and telephone, but apparently part 3, or the third album shes done/been talking about is more mamas gun-sounding stuff, apparently more blues/jazz-based.
honey is an underrated song on this album.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 17:08 (fifteen years ago) link
MORE BALEARIC
― Timezilla vs Mechadistance (blueski), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 17:09 (fifteen years ago) link
O_O
― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 19:38 (fifteen years ago) link
I want this embedded IN MY BRANE
― Dimension 5ive, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 19:55 (fifteen years ago) link
:-O
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 6 January 2009 20:24 (fifteen years ago) link
I talked to my resident Baduphile. When NA1:4WW came out, Erykah had big plans. 'New Amerykah 2: Return Of The Ankh' was to come out summer 2008, she was also gonna make a record with 'band', Tin Machine-style. She was even gonna publish a magazine. These plans have been altered or set aside.
At the time, she said of NA2:ROTA that it was made independently of NA1:4WW. Conceptually and compositionally different. She said it was more deeply steeped in 70s funk. As the sole track from the ROTA sessions, we can imagine ROTA to be an entire album of "Honey"... which is the song Alex referenced me to.
Here's a Youtube of a song from the new album, from a VH1 performance. It is called "Annie Don't Wear No Panties"
― Owen Pallett, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 20:28 (fifteen years ago) link
"She was sittin' on the front pew/ Givin' Deacon Johns n em a good view"
XD XD XD
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 20:39 (fifteen years ago) link
fellas if u can't afford itthink u better videotape record it
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 6 January 2009 20:40 (fifteen years ago) link
also jesus HER HAIR IS INCREDIBLE
is that the clip where she calls out her sister at the end for singing a wrong note? i love that.
― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 20:41 (fifteen years ago) link
also jesus HER HAIR WIG IS INCREDIBLE
her chris dave is incredible
― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 20:43 (fifteen years ago) link
her body (and voice, obv) is incredible.
i luv badu.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 6 January 2009 21:00 (fifteen years ago) link