CD Review: New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War

Looking for a spiritual down-to- earth and up-into-space ride? It can be found in Erykah Badu. The sultry hip-hop queen delivers an album of grace and awareness on the back of everything old school and good.

The opening track “Amerykahn Promise,” a contract with the demonic voice of America itself, gives rise to the psychedelic funk of the 70’s. Meanwhile songs “The Cell” and “Twinkle” hold sinister tones, emphasizing the poor fates of life, through the use of eerie arrangements and a futuristic robot anthem of alien synthetic swells.

New Amerykah succeeds in not blending, but splicing the quasi sound of the present day earth and the unknown, apparently isolated, future. The album is also a search of self and those around us as expressed in “Master Teacher” and the melancholy rastafarian-gospel pleas of “That Hump.”

Including the lax Herbie Hancock jazz vibes in “Me” and “Telephone,” an ode to the late Dilla, New Amerykah lets no era go untouched in its quest to embody a cohesive album of life. Traveling between the good, the bad and the celebration of our spiritual lifetime, Badu leaves the listener with the sweet taste of “Honey,” an absolute feel-good jam for the heart.

This album is refreshing and mellow, even during its most trying times.

Songs to Listen To: Honey, Me, Telephone, The Healer
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