on & on: erykah badu turns 50

looking at the legacy of an iconoclast

somewhere in this world exists a video of me at six or seven years old dancing and singing along to Erykah Badu’s “Bag Lady.” it was during my family’s Halloween party in our basement in Chicago and i wore a cowgirl costume with a bunch of bags on my arms for emphasis. but it’d be years later, way into my adolescence, when i would fully understand what type of baggage Badu was referring to and why she warned to “pack light.”

born Erica Abi Wright, Badu is an alchemical wordsmith with indomitable personal style and a hypnotizing vocal range. people like Erykah are definitely living in the future — according to her current Instagram name, she’s approximately 17 years ahead. today, the unicorn celebrates her 50th earthly birthday.

not only is Badu a singer, she’s also a producer, actress, songwriter, philosopher, entrepreneur, DJ (Lo Down Loretta Brown) and the holder of endless aliases.

i have another distinct memory of the time i experienced her music live. a college friend gifted me a ticket to One Music Fest in 2013 and Badu was slated to perform a DJ set. to everyone’s surprise, her equipment was out of service and the performer sung an impromptu set of some of her greatest hits for the crowd. when she opened with “20 feet tall,” i was immersed in warmth and closed my eyes amongst the crowd to really feel the music (gosh, i really miss live music).

Badu is one artist whose work i’ve truly been able to grow up with. i find myself reveling in her new releases just as often as i revisit and develop a deeper understanding of her pre-existing work as we both age and grow.

when i first started writing this piece, i was inspired by a room on Clubhouse called “Flower Bomb Fridays” where the premise is to offer flowers to one specific artist by traveling through their catalog. each person who comes on stage picks a song that resonates with them (hoping that they’ve chosen the deepest cut/rarest feature or that they didn’t arrive too late to miss their top pick). in that respect, i’ve linked the tracks i would have picked the night they honored Erykah Badu throughout this piece.

happy birthday Ms. Badu. and happy weekend to you all. i’ll be back Monday with the february faves playlist and an introduction to March. (oh and if any family members have footage of that Halloween party, please send it my way.)