ERYKAH BADU FINALLY DROPPED AN ALBUM... YEP, LATE JUST LIKE HER DAMN SHOWS! 😭🕐

MS. URR-ICK-KA... COME TO THE FRONT OF THE CLASS, SIS-TUH.

Because Erykah Badu has finally blessed us with a brand-new full-length project after ELEVEN DAMN YEARS.

Her new collaborative album with legendary hip-hop producer The Alchemist, Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment, arrived August 28. It's her first full-length project since 2015's But You Caint Use My Phone mixtape and her first official studio album since New Amerykah Part Two in 2010. 

And as somebody who has been to SEVERAL Erykah Badu shows, I have one thing to say:

YEP.

LATE.

JUST LIKE HER DAMN CONCERTS. 😭😭😭

🕐 ERYKAH... MY TIME VALUABLE TOO, SIS-TUH!

Now I LOVE Erykah.

Don't start.

I have purchased tickets.

I have shown up.

I have sat my ass in those venues waiting.

And waiting.

And...

WAITING.

At a certain point I wasn't even sure I came to see Erykah Badu anymore.

I THOUGHT I WAS WAITING AT THE DAMN DMV.

😂😂😂

Ms. Badu, respectfully:

MY DAMN TIME VALUABLE TOO.

You can't have me sitting there at 8:00...

8:30...

9:00...

9:WHY-THE-PHOCK-IS-THE-DJ-STILL-PLAYING 45PM?!

And then stroll out like:

🎶 “Peace and blessings...”

PEACE AND BLESSINGS?!

B***H, I DONE LOST BOTH WAITING ON YOU! 😭

💿 AND APPARENTLY THE ALBUM WAS ON BADU TIME TOO

Badu says those long spaces between projects are part of her creative process. She described herself as an “ever-changing vessel” and explained that living, learning and gathering experiences gives her material to eventually turn into music.

Okay.

That's beautiful.

That's spiritual.

That's artistic.

THAT SHIT WAS STILL LATE. 😂

ELEVEN YEARS?!

Baby, you didn't gather experiences.

YOU COLLECTED A WHOLE DAMN DECADE.

Somebody started sixth grade after the last project and graduated COLLEGE waiting on this one.

🔥 BUT SHE DIDN'T COME BACK PLAYING

Here's why I'm gonna get off Erykah's neck for approximately four minutes.

She teamed up with The Alchemist, which is already an interesting combination.

The project was developed through sessions in Dallas and Los Angeles over roughly 18 months, and it brings Badu's beautifully weird, unpredictable musical brain together with Alchemist's hip-hop production.

The album also features collaborators including Steve Lacy, Thundercat, Westside Gunn and Kamasi Washington, among others.

Okay, Erykah.

NOW YOU COOKING.

You made us wait eleven years, but at least you didn't come back with some shit recorded on GarageBand Tuesday afternoon.

📱 AND ERYKAH GOT SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THESE DAMN PHONES

The project touches on motherhood, relationships, generational differences and technology.

One of its final songs, “Black Box,” deals with phone addiction and how deeply technology has embedded itself into everyday life.

And you know what?

SHE AIN'T WRONG.

We can't eat without photographing the food.

Can't go to a concert without recording the whole damn concert.

Can't argue without somebody hollering:

“HOLD ON, I'M GOING LIVE!”

We don't even remember phone numbers anymore.

If my phone dies, apparently I DON'T KNOW ANYBODY. 😭

👶🏾 AND BADU BEEN OUT HERE DOING A WHOLE OTHER JOB

While we were asking where the album was, Badu wasn't exactly sitting at home burning incense and staring at the moon.

She's been working as a birth doula, something she became certified to do in 2006, and later expanded that calling into end-of-life doula work. She views those experiences as connected to her art and her understanding of life's transitions.

Well DAMN.

Okay.

I'll give you that one.

SHE WAS OUT HERE HELPING PEOPLE COME INTO THE WORLD AND HELPING OTHERS LEAVE IT.

Meanwhile I'm standing outside the venue talking about:

“WHERE THE PHOCK IS ERYKAH?!”

😭😭😭

😂 BUT DON'T THINK YOU'RE COMPLETELY OFF THE HOOK

Because now we got the album.

I'm looking forward to it.

I'm listening.

I'm rooting for you.

But Erykah...

DO BETTER WITH THEM DAMN CLOCKS.

We love you.

We respect you.

You are one of the most distinctive artists of your generation.

You helped redefine what R&B could sound, look and FEEL like.

But baby...

TIME ZONES APPLY TO YOU TOO.

😂😂😂

If the ticket says 8 PM, I don't need you arriving when the ancestors whisper:

“NOW.”

🎤 730 BOOM BOTTOM LINE

Before the World Blows is here.

Eleven years after her last full-length project.

Sixteen years after her last official studio album.

Erykah Badu is still experimenting, still refusing to fit neatly inside anybody's musical box and still apparently operating on a clock manufactured exclusively for Erykah Badu.

And yes...

I'M LISTENING.

Because I can talk all this s**t and still know when Erykah gets in that pocket...

SHE GETS IN THAT MF POCKET.

So welcome back, 1st name Urr-Ick-Ka, last name Badu

Album late AF.

Probably worth the wait.

And if there's a tour...

I'll buy the ticket.

BUT I'M BRINGING A PILLOW, A CHARGER AND A DAMN LUNCH. 😭😂

DO BETTER. NOW LET'S GO.

730 BOOM RADIO

IT HITS DIFFERENT. EVERY TIME. BOOM! 💥