In the nearly four years between albums, Erykah Badu, the self-proclaimed "analog girl in a digital world," had a lot going on.
Besides raising her two children - Seven, age 10, and Puma, age 3 - she invested in the arts community of her native South Dallas, renovating the Black Forest Theater there, where she performed as a child. She founded B.L.I.N.D. (Beautiful Love Incorporated Nonprofit Development), which focuses on social programs, and Control FreaQ, her own label and production house. She also became a licensed holistic health practitioner.
Of course, in the midst of all this activity, Badu, 37, still had music to make. Her label, Universal Motown, wanted a follow-up to Worldwide Underground, her 2003 gold seller, ASAP. Her fans wanted new music, too.
In February, Badu finally released New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War, an often-unsettling album bristling with elliptical, politically charged lyrics. "I wanted to have a responsible, conscious message, something exact and direct," says Badu, who plays Pier Six Concert Pavilion on Saturday night. "This is my perspective of what's happening to the underdog in America. It's just a testimony to what I've seen. This is a very winter kind of record. It's very mental."
The "mental" part can be applied to all of Badu's music. Even at her wittiest (remember "Booty" from 2000's Mama's Gun?), the artist is still profound. She has challenged fans and critics with multi-hued, esoteric lyrics and genre-blurring music since her 1997 debut, the Grammy-winning Baduizm. Her lyrics sometimes glimmer with gems: "If you want to feel me/better be divine/bring me water/for these flowers growing out my mind."
But for New Amerykah (its sequel, New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, is due out in July), Badu slightly changed her approach. In lieu of gathering musicians in a studio and jamming, she crafted much of the album on a laptop she received as a gift. Underground hip-hop producers - Sa-Ra, Madlib and 9th Wonder - e-mailed Badu tracks, which she tweaked on the computer.
"Being a full-time mom and teacher, it's a struggle to squeeze some creativity in," says Badu, who was in Detroit last week. "I found the freedom using Garage Band on my laptop. It gave me the ability to write the verses and record the vocals and background vocals. I was my own engineer. All it took was the headphones, and I recorded in the computer's mike."
