The Breakfast Club - Best Of Full Interview: Erykah Badu Speaks On Her Iconic Fashion Sense, Social Media's Affect On Art, New Music + More

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

Best of 2024 - Recorded October 2024 - Erykah Badu Speaks On Her Iconic Fashion Sense, Social Media's Affect On Art, New Music. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Jess is on maternity leave. So Laura LaRosa is filling in, and we got

a special guest in the building. The icon living. Yes, Miss Erica Badu. Welcome back. Peace, peace, peace. How you feeling? How you feeling? Exquisite.

There you go. All right. Well, I don't know if you noticed, last time you were here, the art wasn't up. But do you see the art now? Lookquisite. There you go. All right. Well, I don't know if you noticed last time you were here, the art wasn't up, but do you see the art now? Look how you centered though. Look what y'all are doing. You got queen mother blessing the whole room. That's right.

Well, I gotta pull out the pussy then. What? You got badu pussy on there? Here's my purse. You got the incense? I got it. I've been burning them incense since you dropped them. She says she need the pussy. She says she need the pussy.

She says she need the pussy. I saw y'all two together at the awards yesterday. Congratulations on that too. Congratulations on receiving the CFDA Fashion Icon Award. Oh, thank you very, very much. I have no idea what that means, but I feel like you deserve all the awards. So congrats.

They say, I found out it's the Oscar of Fashion. Really? Yeah. So that award means a lot to people in the fashion industry. And thank you, Sid. And to us as artists as well, creators who are I love artists as well. Trying to evolve our culture.

Okay. So that means a lot to be recognized. It's always felt like you had an effortless style. Do you really put a lot of thought into how you dress? Sometimes. Okay. Sometimes I do, and sometimes it's just grace. Blow that?

It just happens. Pause. Yeah. There you go. You're not supposed to blow out incense. The old goo-goos don't like that. Why're not supposed to blow out incense. The old goo-goos don't like that. Why you tell me to blow it out? I'm joking.

I'm kidding. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. I'm just trying to say it's not me. The fire alarm is about to go off. It ain't on me. We got so much of this at the house. Y'all do?

Yeah, when you first put it out a couple years ago, after the movie. Now you said during your speech that this was an award that you wanted for a long time. Was that true for that long? Absolutely. You said as a child? Absolutely, since, you know, I didn't even know that you could get an award for that, but just wanted to be recognized for the canvas that I create when I go out. I mean, it's really important to me.

It's my therapy. You know, I can't leave without having my, like I said in the speech, shit together. You know, it's just something that came with my head. You know, it's a nagging thing, you know, make sure your shit is together. And sometimes when I don't try really hard, it sometimes gracefully comes together. I guess maybe because of my attention. The fashion gods gave me the keys out here in these streets.

You get it from your mom, grandma, pops? Definitely my mom. Okay. Yeah, definitely Colleen Wright. They used to call her Twiggy in high school after the model because she was just so original. She had bleached her hair white. She was a really skinny kid with big eyes.

She was really creative. And how difficult is it for you to have so much of a fashion sense, right? Because you travel a lot. How much luggage do you have to carry? How much do you go shopping? You seen my luggage? I know, that's what I'm saying. You carry a lot. How much luggage do you have to carry? How much do you go shopping? You've seen my luggage. I know, that's what I'm saying.

You carry a lot of freaking luggage. Like your, her luggage has her own bus. Wow. Well, I'll explain that. I'm here for it. When you're your own stylist, and your own makeup person, and your own hair person,

and then I do the band's wardrobe, and you know they're just instruments and all kinds of things so I carry a production so I like to see the vision all the way through and have my hands in it there's a word for that an artist who has their hands in every aspect of the work of the vision. It's called a Auteur, I think, A-U-T-O-I-R, Auteur. And that's, they describe it as an artist or a visionary who has an idea and has to see it all the way through in each department

because they have the ability to do that. Mm-hmm. So you write a song and you know what the video gonna look like, you know what you're gonna wear. Yeah. Okay. Wow. You talked last night about your best friend who accompanied you to the awards. Alfredo.

Alfredo, him introducing you to a lot of the fashion houses and stuff like that. Were fashion houses always like open and like rushing to support you and all of your creative ideas or did you have that, was there a fight? Cause a lot of artists talk about it being a fight trying to get into the couture houses. You know, it was, I was out since 1997 and social media was really the opening

to a lot of these relationships because they could now directly get to the artists where they probably didn't know how to get to the ones that they wanted to feature before. But the first person that reached out to me was Tom Ford. Tom Ford wanted me to do a perfume at White Patchouli, which was his natural incense flavors. What year was this?

This was 2002, maybe. Oh, OK. 2002. Yeah, so that's Tom Ford. And Tom Ford's from Texas as well, so we kind of formed a bond. And I guess as I evolved my style other houses or artists because it's really the creative director yes the person he is the he is the house at the

time because his vision is trusted most and they started you know kind of paying attention to you know the good the godiness or the freeness or the hobo sheepness it's been called all kinds of things. But yeah, they caught notice. Next was Roberto Ticci. And he was the creative director of Givenchy at the time. And that was my first full campaign. And he let me co-style with him

and put things together. And I think it just, after that I was kinda, you know, I was on the radar for certain things. Definitely the page to go to if you wanna know what's next. Right. Yeah. And how do you pick, like last night you were in Tom Brown or the other day at CFDA Awards you were in Tom Brown.

How do you pick which designers and which houses now you wanna Browne, or the other day at CFDA Awards you were in Thom Browne, how do you pick which designers in which houses now you wanna work with, because I'm sure they're all banging. You can do anything you want now. Right, I picked Thom specifically for this event because he's the chairman of the event. Yes. And he's also a very, very good friend of mine. And his art is just so amazing,

so I thought since I was being honored, I would also honor him by wearing one of his pieces. And I chose one from Runway. And a really beautiful architectural shape, real pretty. And I said, but I need something futuristic, ancient to go on top. And I saw this AI, I think he saw this post this morning,

I'm not sure, but I saw this AI rendering of this headpiece and I reached out to the person and I told him this is really beautiful. I would love to challenge a designer to bring this to life in the 5D world, 4D world. And he said, okay. So I called a friend, Chris Habana, who does a lot of crafting and amazing jeweler. And he said yes, and he had three days, and he pulled a team together, and they did some, what do you call it, some. Renderings.

Yeah, they did some. Put it in a machine, it's plastic, you can make a gun with it, you can make a house with it now. Oh, 3D printing. 3D printing, right. Yeah, they did some 3D printing to try to really, it's amazing, it's amazing. It's amazing.

Do you remember where you were at when you got the call that you was getting to see FDA? I was at home and my agency forwarded me the email. I was like, wow, okay, it's good stuff. Did you immediately know what you was going with? Did you see that vision? Absolutely not. Okay? Absolutely not. Okay.

Absolutely not. This thing was three weeks away. Yeah. I didn't know what I was gonna wear tomorrow. At that time. You've done capsules before with people and collaborated. Have you ever thought about just straight out? I don't like how you trying to talk low and soft

just cause Erica bought you. Cause she is. You don't even talk like that. You know what I'm saying? Like you know every time I come up I can feel it. You don't even talk like that. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know every time I hear you talk like that. I gotta calm down a bit. Every time she comes up to me I do that though. I don't know why.

I wanna be in the vibe. She puts you in the vibe. Yes. But I was gonna ask, you know. I will never blow the instant again either. When it comes, you ever thought about doing your whole line? Like a full clothing line for Erika Badu from Ruta to Tuta and everything in between.

I have thought about that. I had a chance to practice that with Marnie and Francesco Rizzo. We did a collab, Marnie and Badu, last year. A lot of things happened for me in fashion last year. Right. You know, there was the last two years. It was my first fashion week.

So that's when I really started to catch the bug. And I met Francesco because we went to the Met Ball together. And we drew up some things and talked about some things and had a capsule line that came out. And these sleeves are part of it. Mm-hmm. The collab was everywhere. It was?

Yes, everybody was in y'all collab in Marnie. That was your first fashion week? Yes. Like you attending or like what do you mean by that? Yeah, it was my first fashion week in 2023, yeah. Wow. My first. And that was, so during that time, that collab is when you.

No, 22. Is that collab, the collab when you got to work with your daughter Puma too, with Marnie? Or was it a different? Yes. Okay. Yes. And how did that feel because like, okay,

we see LeBron and Bronnie on the court and they're like, you know, but like this is your lane and now your daughter's coming into it and y'all are working with a fashion house. How did you feel just doing that with her? It was surreal. It was a dream, you know, because Puma is such an individual person that I didn't know what direction she wanted to go in.

And I still don't, you know, she's, she's 20, so she's kind of finding her way. And sometimes, uh, when your kid is an artist, they don't want to follow your shadow. They want to find their own thing. But she was cool with supporting me and standing beside me. And she was like, mom, I don't care. This is for you. I don't feel like nobody can dress like you if they tried. Yeah, well yeah, like what happened with the line?

Cause you- What they got to do, what we talking about? Cause even, I feel like a lot, I feel like everything you do is spirit art. Even down to your fashion. Yeah, man. So I don't know if you don't embody that spirit, I don't even know how that would even.

Charlamagne, you are such a wise person. You really are. Ever since I met you, you tap into things so well. Yeah, I approach everything the same way. It's a feeling, I feel it. Yeah. So would you do your own line? Do you wanna do your line?

Or that's not something that's in your culture right now? Absolutely. Would you have the time for it? Oh, yeah, I would make time. I would make time. This is my last fashion question. She got awarded with a fashion award this week. All right, I didn't know.

I didn't know if you wanted to get to other stuff. I've been trying to get this award since I was six. Okay, because look, I'm locked and loaded over here. Ask me everything. I've been playing with paper dolls, trying to make sure that people, you know, really appreciate my work. It's kind of like putting your picture on the refrigerator

so your mom sees it. And you never expect your mom to say nothing bad. So it's such a shock every time. It's always new when people are disrespectful and mean. And all the- You put disrespectful and mean to you? Oh hell yeah. Who?

I'll fuck them up. Who? I told somebody that the other day, didn't I tell somebody that the other day? I feel like you gotta feel like you going against the gods to do that to you. I mean they try it, you know what I'm saying? But I'm anointed and protected and I don't have a heart.

So they can't, you know, they can't penetrate me. What you mean you don't have a heart, so they can't penetrate me. What you mean you don't have a heart? I'm joking. Oh. This is like. I don't care about this. Put that pen and paper up, you don't have to take notes about this.

I saw online, you were doing some interviews just after their words and you were in some Jordans? Yes. Were those, that was a Jordan Virgil collab? No it wasn't. No, okay, that's not true then. Cause they were saying it was like an unreleased collab. It was an unreleased one, but it wasn't Virgil.

It was Shoe Surgeon. Got you, okay. Yeah. People just give you, like how do you get your hands on, people online going crazy over the collab. And they were trying to figure out where, like how you even got the shoes. Right.

Showed up at my door one day. Yo. Yo. I was like, yo. All my fashion blog pages are literally trying to figure out. Yes. Shoes. Y'all zoomed in on everything?

I zoomed in. Because I'm like, I don't even see any of Virgil's like, you know he has the things that he does, when you know it's him. I'm like, I don't even see any of Virgil's like, you know he has the things that he does, when you know it's him. I'm like, I don't see none of that. The shoe surgery get busy. Yeah. Yeah.

Yes, go ahead. Yeah. Maybe, I'm not gonna say nothing about that. What? Nothing. What, what, what? Damn. How'd you feel about that? It was my first time, so I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking. I'm trying to throw off the audience so they don't know what I was to told you.

Oh, because I was sitting here like wanting to hear your answer. I don't know what you just said. Oh, no, we'll tell y'all another time when the news come out. That's right. That's right. Now you've always been an artist that's sensitive about your shit.

You told us that a long time ago, but you said in your speech at CFDA that it's scary being an artist in the social media era. So how has social media made that critique worse, I guess? Yeah, it is scary. I mean, I've heard my own kids be afraid to express and share their art. Erica Badu kids scared to share their art

and express themselves because the audience is so vicious at this point and they have such a huge appetite for blood. And they want people to be disciplined and humbled and punished for their success almost. It's what it seems like. So that's why a lot of kids are afraid to share their work or share their art or feel like they have to come at it with some kind of armor on.

And that armor doesn't allow for the art feel like they have to come at it with some kind of armor on and that armor doesn't allow for the art to truly express itself in my opinion. So it's a scary time for art. We didn't have to do that. We didn't have to deal with that. You know, you heard the few little comments and things, but those weren't strong enough to penetrate a strong person.

But these things are now, because when people come at you in numbers, you know, we've talked about groupthink so many times. It's what, it was a prediction that I made with Windowseat in 2010. Groupthink would overshadow art. And it is, right now. Yes, because people can.

People can. I think it's very smart to get at the channels I think it's very smart to get at the channels and even the whole... Instead of getting at the bloggers and the people, we see artists penalizing the channels themselves. And I think that's the smart thing, because that's what has to change. If that doesn't, if there's no place to do that, then it won't be done.

I agree. Will it get back to that ever, you think? You think it'll ever get back to where people feel comfortable releasing music or not hesitant because of the amount of people that go at them? I mean, we see it in everything, comedy, we see it in movies, we see it in just regular conversation. People are afraid to be quote unquote canceled.

Yeah, it's kinda like if it's feeding season, you know, you're a little bit more cautious to go outside. You know, squirrels are not gonna try to run free and not be cautious when it's lion season, you know? So it's lion season. It might get back to it if we really want kindness, kindness seems kind of boring to people. That's right. You know what I'm saying? It's kind of boring.

People don't feel that there could be some kind of dopamine release from being kind or being right. Does that make you hesitant to release music? No, not me, but. You haven't dropped in 14 years. 14 years? It's been 14, 2010, New America too. 2015.

Oh, 2015? When was the next time you did I Can Make You Put Your Phone Down? Yeah, 2015. Well, that's 10 years. Oh, okay, the um. 10 years. That was the hotline bling. Yeah, Yeah, 2015. Well that's 10 years. Oh, okay. 10 years. That was the hotline bling.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. With the album, you ain't put out an album since. Well, one reason I don't have to is because I am a performance artist. And I've been doing that constantly for the last 30 years, eight months out of the year. All year round I do it. That's what I love to do. 30 years, eight months out of the year. All year round I do it.

So that's what I love to do. I only put out albums when I have something to say. Like I have something, yeah, something pressing to say or push out. But I'm, I am, I have more than enough space to get my art out on stage. So it's not totally necessary to put an album for me. I would just love to see the, like the vision of God has shown you. Cause like, if you look at your catalog, right? Your catalog literally has predicted where we are now.

If I can only imagine the stuff you're creating right now, how far into the future you seeing things? Me too. I mean, I'm writing right now. I got a project coming out soon. A full album? Wow. But I can't tell y'all.

How soon? Niggas be biting. I just got goosebumps. So how soon? It's gon' be soon, soon. Like by the end of the year soon. So how soon? It's gonna be soon, soon. Like by end of the year soon or next year soon? We'll see. Yeah.

It's an important one. It's a collab album. Oh, you want another artist? You not gonna say who are you. You can't Andre 3000 a rap again. He's a guy. Do I think he'll rap again? I'd say is this gonna be the collab album that gets him to rap again?

And also you can answer, do you think he'll rap again? And why would you say is this gonna be the collab album? Because you're assuming that it's him. Yeah, I am. I'm asking. You can assume whatever you want, but I don't know. I mean, I don't know.

I don't think he has to. He's speaking with that instrument. It's the same thing. It emits the same kind of thing. Yeah, the way he make us feel, Wayne. With bombs over Baghdad is the way he makes people who are ready for that feel. It's the same thing.

It's his energy. It's his air, it's his wind. I feel it. That's the rap, you know, to me. He rappin' to me. That's true. I went to go see the new Blue Sun tour when he performed in Brooklyn.

And I felt very fulfilled. Me too. Very fulfilled after it was over. I felt fulfilled because he was fulfilled. He was happy. He was doing what he wanted to do at his own pace. There was no urgency, you know, to be right. He was happy with making mistakes.

It was cool. I really enjoyed it and I love improv. So I was happy he had a chance to get up there and express himself because I don't know if you understand it, we have to do this. Or we may be sick or something. Artists who use their art as therapy or use their art as a coping mechanism.

You know, helps me with all the things that are off balance. I have to do that. So seeing him being able to do that, because I'm assuming that he may feel the same way I do, it's just such a blessing to have that platform to do it. I can see why y'all are twin flames too, because he was on stage and it was one part of the show where he just started going,

I don't know what I'm doing, making all kinds of noises and the crowd was answering him back and then he goes, I wasn't saying shit. I was just talking with y'all. Last night he, I keep saying last night, I don't know what day this is coming up, but he presented you with your CFDA Fashion Icon Award

on the way that like, I know you reached out to him to have him present to you, and you guys had a conversation, he was saying. I did, well, it was a kind of tricky thing. I actually reached out to Tiana Taylor, because I think she's next. Wow, okay. Yeah, I think she has a really good grasp

on art and fashion, functional art. I'm really impressed and inspired by her. But I asked her, and I'd asked Andre before, but he didn't respond. And then they came back and told me after I asked Tiana that Andre said yes. And I had to figure out how to maneuver that. You know, because that meant a lot to her.

So I'm gonna tell her, I love you so very much and I'm so happy that we're friends. And I hope that that did not bring a wedge between us in any way. But that's Andre 3000, girl. Your best friend. You gotta talk to people to get to him? No.

Oh, you just said they came back. My sister told me that he was fine. Got you, got you. No, no. Well, sometimes. Depends how busy he is. I'll follow proper protocol if I have to. Yeah.

How do you handle the challenge of balancing like your personal expression with the expectations that your fans in the music industry might place on Erykah Badu? Erykah Badu what? How do you handle the challenge of balancing like the personal expression with the expectation the fans may have?

Like they might expect you to show up a certain way all the time. That's fun. It's part of the art because this career is an art. It's what it is. There's an art of longevity, there's an art of conceptualizing, there's an art of building a persona, there's an art of knowing when. There's an art of building a persona.

There's an art of knowing when to divvy the art out, knowing when to pull back. It's all an art. So what the people feel and think are very, very important. It's a major part of it because they decide who and what you are. I like to surprise them. I like to give them what they did not know

they may have wanted from me. Because I hope that I'm doing whatever I'm doing presently as well as I was doing what I was doing in the past. As an artist, when did you realize that you didn't say, that you didn't give a fuck and you said, you're gonna do what you wanna do? You're gonna put out what you wanna put out. You don't necessarily have to fit in the box

of every artist. You don't have to follow the platform and say, this is it, take it, leave it. When did you get to that point? In the contract negotiation in 1997, 95. Was never a fail? No, I mean, I didn't have to do it, and they didn't have to do it, you know, and they didn't have to do it.

You know, I figured it was a partnership and I was doing the record label a favor. I knew who I was. I knew what I was getting ready to do. I had a mission and nothing was going to infiltrate it, not even my own fear and doubts. And I'm still on mission. Best work is still in me and I have not accomplished whatever that is yet because there's still this feeling of abuse and greenness and growth. When did you realize you was on Divine Assignment in your life? A little. Yeah I always thought I was very very special.

Yeah, I always thought I was very, very special. Very anointed or narcissistic one, because I just believed it. I always have. Nobody can tell me that it's not true. That I have a mission and I am anointed and I am special. And I am blessed. And that's why I choose service over anything because I know things come easier to me than they were to someone else.

So I already know. When you look at other artists, what I was saying, names, do you see it in them like they're selling themselves out? I know they're different. Do you see that in a lot of artists? Like they're selling themselves out for a check or selling themselves out for a label where you see they can go something different. Do you see that a lot? Envy, I don't know. I don't ever look at that. Yeah, selling themselves out for it.

I don't know. People do what they have to do, you know, and it's not a race. We don't all have to be at the same understanding at the same time. You know, everybody, all artists don't all have to be at the same understanding at the same time. Everybody, all artists don't have to be responsible for your kids. Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, people doing what they have to do. I remember needing money too, and doing things. Strange things with a piece of change. Like performing in venues I didn't wanna perform in.

Yeah. So I don't know, I can't judge that. What do you think about that? I think sometimes they gotta realize their assignment. And I think we all go through that sometimes. Realize why we're there. What made me think about it is when J. Cole jumped into that beef, he came back and said, this is not for me.

And, you know, press people, itched on him and said this, that, and the other, but that was his assignment, and you can't be mad at his assignment. Even me as a fan was kinda mad. Well, he was on a mission, right? He was on a mission. He realized it.

I understand that. Sometimes I believe that being on a mission or your assignment is not always to do something heavenly and great and good. Sometimes it's to create some chaos so that you may shake things up. Fertilizer is put into a pot to disturb the roots. It's poisoning them so they have to move. So yeah, you can't really judge it. You don't know what somebody's mission is.

Cause it all counts, it's all a matter. And you don't know what journey God got them on. That's right. I mean, you don't get Malcolm X without Malcolm Little. That's right. You don't get Eric Boudou without, I'm trying to think of a street name. You gonna get Eric Abadou without Butchie Knife Betty.

There you go. Butchie Knife Betty. That's my new moniker, everybody. When you said that you knew you was of service, did you know what that was gonna look like? Did you know it was gonna be music? Actually, I didn't not, but I don't consider that the service.

I consider music my privilege, because I'm using the audience as therapists. A thousand million therapists to get my idea of my thing out. Services are the things that I don't charge money for, that I do because I feel like it's the right thing, not because of a promise of heaven or accolades or a trophy, just because of integrity and the connection between two people.

When people hear this, they don't believe that. They, nobody believes that. And it's so strange to me that people don't believe that that kind of human can exist. You know, they don't believe that. I wonder why. Maybe it is strange. Is it strange that I don't need anything back?

Or I don't ask for anything when I pray? Is it strange? I don't need anything back. Or I don't ask for anything when I pray. Is it strange? I don't think so. No, because I think to me prayer is for gratitude. I find myself when I'm praying, I'm just saying thank you. And I guess coming from where I come from, a dirt road in Mossconn, South Carolina, I've always felt good. I feel like whatever God has given me in that moment is what I'm supposed to have, and I'm grateful for that.

Yeah. It seems like it's becoming more of a general consensus that we don't need anything. We're realizing that, that we don't need anything. And the biggest gift we probably need is peace of mind. And I'm rewarded with peace of mind when I do service for others, for free, for nothing, just because. It's the right thing to do.

Peace of mind, that's what the green juice is for. It's what the yoga is for, it's what the music is for, what the singing is for, what the money is for, what the bitches is for, what the singing is for, the money is for, the bitches is for. One point, two kids and husband and house and cars for, we are looking for peace of mind. And that's how I get mine the most, service. Do people take advantage of that though, sometimes?

Absolutely, absolutely. But that's none of my business. Yeah. Absolutely, Absolutely. But that's none of my business. Absolutely. Yeah. Were there points, like Bag Lady, I was saying earlier in the room, that I remember when Bag Lady for me started hitting differently and I was listening to it and was like, ooh, I get it now.

When I was younger, I was just listening to it because it was played in my house and I loved the song, but I literally remember that feeling. For you, were there points in your life where you had to be like, ooh, I was just listening to it because it was played in my house and I loved the song, but I literally remember that feeling. For you, were there points in your life where you had to be like, ooh, I get it, like I feel it, Baglady, or like was this song of service for someone else? You mean feeling my own song?

You're feeling your own, just, even before Baglady was created, maybe there was a time in your life that, you know, created or inspired the song. When did you get out of the bag lady phase? And what did that feel like for you? What were the bags? Lauren's trying to say she has a lot of baggage.

So she's trying to see if did you have a lot too, or was it just a song? What I'm saying is, what I realized is, number one, with my mom, I always, I never understood why she couldn't be happy about certain things. And then I got older and I'm like, man, you carrying so much stuff.

I tell her all the time, like, just let that go. Like, we can handle that. So in my own- Recently a couple of men have told Lauren that- That she needs to heal. She needs to heal. We are not doing this with Queen by the way. Couple of men did that to Lauren.

They said, I'll spend a block, but you need to heal. You need to work on yourself. Who said this to you? First of all, the two people that said it to me, they ain't even, they probably can't even spell heal. So what y'all think about the two guys that said it to her? They right. I think they right.

Was she on a journey? I told her that was her. She's on a journey and the two men that you respect. One of them I respect. Told you that you need to work on yourself. Yes. As an insult or as encouragement and love? The second one I think it was an insult and deflecting.

The first one I think it was. It's all about the intention. Yeah, the first one I think it was a insult and deflecting. The first one I think it was. It's all about the intention. Yeah, the first one I think it was like, he really cares. Like that's why when he said it, I was like, okay. I hear you and I'm in a point in my life now where I can do the accountability. So does he need to work on himself as well? Yes, he does.

Does he know? Yes, he does. Okay, cool. Second one, really know. Like it's. He really know he gotta work on his self. Oh, I don't even wanna do that anymore. It's bad, but I ask that because I just feel like

as I got older and realized how much you do care, especially emotionally sometimes, it weighs into other things and it closes doors or it cuts off relationships, or you just miss out on good things. Every time I listen to that song, I'm like, man, how did she know that people was gonna need this? I don't know.

I was writing what I felt in my heart. And I did hear it later, and I'm talking to myself, my future self. Where were you at that time in your life when you were talking to your future self? What was the transition you were trying to make? I think I was transitioning out of a relationship where I was not happy about it.

Yeah, and realizing that I had to leave some things behind, some parts of me behind. So it felt like a funeral of sorts, you know? Like, because you have a part, you have to die. Every time you evolve, you gotta leave it back there. You want it because it's familiar. And a lot of times we like to resort to the familiar, even if it's toxic.

So you have to leave that corpse, that beautiful old you has to be left and you have to walk forward and not look back. That's the hardest part, not leaving the people, but it's leaving your old ways and you have to walk forward and not look back. That's the hardest part, not leaving the people, but it's leaving your always and you. Yeah. That's a lot of discipline. It is, it is.

When did you get to the point where you knew you had, when did you get to the point where you loved every version of yourself though? I don't know when that happened, but I definitely do. Yeah, I look forward to waking up and getting to do things, getting to experience, getting to test out my kindness. I pray for kindness. I was like, I want to practice kindness.

My last big, whatever, meltdown, we going through, 2020 or somewhere. I just wanna practice kindness. Two or three days later, I went to the airport. My ticket was wrong. My bags got put somewhere else. They were left on the tarmac of all bags mine. The lady was talking to me crazy, asked me, this is first class, you can't put your,

you know, that whole routine. It was everything that was hard. So I was assuming that the creator was saying, well, here, practice on this. If you want to practice kindness, practice. Here, I'll give you some things to practice on, because you just don't get to beat that. How did that work out?

Worked out great. Some parts. When the last time mama wanted to pull out a gun though? At the airport. At the airport. Yeah. Yeah. But I just settled for having my fist balled up like Arthur.

And yeah, I got through it, cause I kind of, it took me a little bit to realize what was happening like wait a minute Okay, I see what I see what this is. I see what this is, you know and Yeah, I don't see you getting outside of your vibe your zone I what you will vibe you think I got I'm your Eric about you. Tell me about it I don't but every time I see you, you just seem mellow, chill, and at peace. I don't.

This is the place to be, mellow, chill, and at peace. There's no reason in here to be any other kind of way. If anybody else comes on y'all show without this, call me, just shine a light on that. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Call me, just shine a light on that. You're also playing Lucille in the Netflix movie The Piano Lesson. Were you a fan of the play? Absolutely.

I went to HBCU, Grand Lake State University. I was a theater major. I was a desvian. So we did a lot of August Wilson material, Lorraine Hansberry, a myriad of Black artists, playwrights, but we did do that play as well. And Lucille's part is very tiny, you know. But the most important role I played was composing music for the movie.

Malcolm Washington, who is Denzel's son, is directing. And he called me and asked if I would put together some music for it. And I called my very good friend Daniel Jones, God rest his soul, safe journey Daniel Jones. He came and put some beautiful pieces together, 1930s, and I wrote lyrics over them. And they're used in the movie, the piano lesson. I mean on Netflix. So before we get this collaboration album,

I think November 8th, right? November 8th. So before we get this collaboration album, I think November 8th, right? November 8th. So before we get this collaboration album, we getting original music on this soundtrack? Yes. Ooh. Yeah. 1920s, 30s, so there's a choir taste.

Period piece type. Period piece type. Does acting feel like restricted to you? Does it feel like restricted to you? Does it feel like it's restricting you in any way? No, it just feels like work. Okay. Yeah.

Touring and music doesn't feel like work. But acting does feel like work. I can't even see you on the set. It feel like you don't seem like the hurry up and wait type. Like you wanna be doing something. Yeah, I do. I got something. I'm gonna bring an easel and some paint.

I really miss my kids being little. That really took up a lot of my play time. I just wanna play all the time. Make something, play, paint, do something. I have to carry everything with me to make that happen. Like if I'm working on a movie set, because there are long hours. And I should be reading over my lines,

but I always wait and do it the last minute. Yeah. But no, I don't really dig that too much, being an actor in a film. I like theater though. I think that's a wonderful place. I like the immediate connection between you and the audience. And you only get like one take to do it

when you're on that stage. Yeah, that's it. It was live. That's what's beautiful about it. And one stop. Denzel, he's producing the piano lesson, right? Yes. Was he involved?

Like, was he? He was around, but he stepped back and let his children work. Yeah. What do you learn from your children now, now that they've grown? Ah, so many things. Like I told you guys, they are definitely improvements on my design.

Puma is at a place now at 20, I was 30 before I was at her level of understanding and emotional intelligence and compassion for people, integrity, discipline. I was still a child kind of, 20. I learned a lot from them. And they aren't very judgmental, you know. So they just kind of go along with whatever I do. We never had rules, it was just do what I say. And they did that and watched me.

You know, I never hid anything from them. So, yeah, they're having their turn at showing me and teaching me patience and severity. Mama, you gotta say what you feel, feel what you say. Tell that nigga, that's Mars. They telling you that? That's Jay Electronica, little girl. Mars.

Yeah, they will. They'll tell me, you can only be so kind now. Yeah, they will. They'll tell me, you can only be so kind now. Da da da da da. And our favorite saying is a Kabbalistic saying that severity without mercy is cruelty. Mercy without severity is weakness. So we try to walk that line.

You know, kindness isn't only being, you know, appearing nice, kindness is also telling somebody to beat it. That's right. And you can't do yourself. Could you still, could you write an ode to hip hop now in 2024, like based off this era of music? Would hip hop be the love of your life right now?

It still is, always. Okay. You only have one love. You're lucky just to have just one love. Who am I quoting? One love, one love. Houdini. Houdini, yeah. And who did it over?

Nas. Nas. Yeah, I was just trying to see if it was some B-boys and B-boys in New York. That one New York, that's my... I'm saying, I'm saying. Y'all were looking to be like, why you asking that? That's simple arithmetic. I'll do what it was.

Yeah. How the relationship evolved though, or changed? Because relationships changed. Between me and hip hop? Yeah. It has not because hip hop is still here, it's recorded. It can never go away, nobody can take it away. It has been recorded in time.

Hip hop will be televised. It is down, I can access it at any point in time, so it is there. Yeah, so I feel the same way. How do you feel about people having a conversation now about it being like the third like most popular genre behind Latin music I think in country music? Like how do you feel about that? Hip-hop? Yes, hip-hop at one point. Go ahead. No it's not third, it's first. I'm talking about all over the planet, everywhere I go. Gaza, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Africa, Mexico, everywhere I go.

We are praying to different gods, different names of God, but everybody is nodding their heads in agreeance to the one kicking the snare. Hip hop is like, it's the religion. It's how, it's what brings us all together. The whole world. Yeah, nah, hip hop is the biggest. They know that. Oh, they talking about?

Sales. Sales, sales, sales, sales, not culture, sales. Okay, okay. I feel like culture wise, they wouldn't even be able to understand it to rank it, but. What made J Dilla so brilliant? We gonna get you out of here. What made him so brilliant?

What made him so brilliant? His approach to music was authenticity. He was authentic. That's what made him different. He had a metronome and he was true to it. He didn't never use the quantization button. He never quantized. It was always his inner metronome.

So the snares were live. Usually when we produce, we are using a kick and a snare button, and we push a button called quantizing, it puts it on the grid, on the two and the four. So it's the same all the time? Yes, which gives us a certain swing, depending on what feel you want.

But Dilla's feel was his feel because it was always live. Maybe a couple of quantized things, he had a little tricks here and there with the snares, but for the most part, he was very simple and unquantized. So for four minutes he would actually play the beat so the snares wouldn't necessarily be on the, Yeah.

Which is amazing, because it's feeling. Not necessarily. It's based off of feeling. All the time. Sometimes he would just play the kick and the snare live, or play the, yeah, kick and snare live and do the hi-hats live all the time. Gotcha. Or the shakers, because those are laying back.

So his beats laid back. I don't know how to explain it, but he had a laid back, he was on his own beat, rhythm. And he brought all of us to that place. I never knew that. Yeah, it was a certain hump that he had. Can't be explained. But that's what made him so special.

can't be explained, but that's what made him so special, and his choices and samples, and his collection of music. He was a historian. He was also very, you have to be mathematical, but I told stories before how when I opened this refrigerator, all the Coke cans would be lined up, like so symmetrical. I wouldn't wanna get one, you know.

But I don't drink Coke no way. But you know, I had to make that clear. As you sip in your green juice. It's people. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That'd be another. People crazy.

That's another endorsement. Now I seen the beehive chase you a little bit for a little bit. Where's the beehive now? I don't even see it. Is it on Twitter? Where? I ain't seen the beehive in a long time.

And I love bees. They don't know I like it. Mm-hmm. I love these guys, it's a long time. And I love these. They don't know I like it. I love these. And I told them. Yeah. We ain't seen them lately though, have y'all? Mm-mm. I ain't seen them, you ain't seen them.

They gonna tell me up. Yeah, you gonna see them tomorrow. See them tomorrow. I like the tweet when you said, Jay, you gonna let this woman in these beads? Say something, Jay. You gonna let this woman in these beads do it to me? Say something.

I don't know why people take things so serious. It's just my sense of humor. That's right. I love Jay. When you saw the cover though, knowing that there is the inspiration, like do those inspiration moments, are you feeling like, oh my God,

they saw what I was trying to do, they love it, they still doing it? Yeah. Or do you feel like, oh that was mine? Like, don't bite. I have to be very careful with this because my children are watching me and that generation is watching.

And as much as we love our art, it doesn't belong to us once it goes out in the world. However, though you can't, you can't manage what people are going to do with the art. You can't manage whether people are going to do with the art. You can't manage whether they're going to duplicate it or do another interpretation of it or just enjoy it or use it as an inspiration. You can't manage that,

but you don't have to remain silent about it. Yeah. If it makes you feel the way, you should say something about it. Yeah, if it makes you feel the way, you should say something about it. But outside of that, there are a lot of artists that get there, you can tell, their style, their approach, everything from you,

and you do see that. Does that bother you, or do you look at it like, I put my art out there and it is what it is? Or do you mind, only if they don't show you respect and love and say, well, it came from here? As I mature more, I have less of a need to own something. And the more I let go of it, the more I am acknowledged. Isn't that something?

The more I let go of the need of that, then you get a call to say, hey, we want to give you an award. That's how the universe works in my world. So I saw that and I was very proud of that award and proud of that moment because I had let go of some things that were no longer evolving me thinking. And then there it comes.

They give it to you because I became it. They don't give you what you want, they give you what you are. Yeah. That's a ball, y'all heard that one? Mm-hmm. Wow. My last question, I feel like everything you do is spirit art, like I said earlier.

Is it even possible for you to do any type of art without Divine Energy being involved? I don't think so. Even if I'm not aware of it, it's always involved. Yeah, something, there's something. I know what it is, but there's something we floatin' on that's giving us life, you know, choices of some sort. Yeah, you know, we're born. giving us life, choices of some sort.

Yeah, you know, we're born. We're told, you know, once we're born, you know, our religion was here already, what we're supposed to believe in, the tribe, the ways, the hunting ways, what we worship, how we worship, how we learn, how we cook, how we dress. There's a tribe and you learn that. Hopefully you go outside of that once you are of age to explore other things because you want to see if that is true. You know, then you explore even further.

You want to go outside of that and see how you feel being entangled with another person, another human. And then after that, you go like entangled entangled entanglement. Entanglement is when two cells meet and become something. Yeah, so you become entangled with another human in the next phase of your life. Then hopefully you learn that and learn some boundaries and then now you're an individual human

who's creative in spirit. And then you have to learn how to walk in that humanness in that spiritualness I don't know what I was saying or how we got to this because I was asking you is it possible for you to make art without that divine in it? No not not for me because I believe that I believe that Do you think it's possible to do anything without divine? Not anything meaningful. Not anything meaningful. Yeah.

So you think or you feel that there's an opposite of divine? Yes. Yes. Yes. I feel like there is just, I think that you have your divine and then you just have, you're human, right? So we're all spiritual beings living in human existence. So you can do all types of things in the human existence.

And you may think they feel good in the moment and they may just, but it's not lasting. It's not fulfilling. You know when you're doing something divine. You know when God has his hand on it. Oh, absolutely. And you don't have to do much. It just, you just show up and do what you do

and everything around you just move. That's how music and performing is to me. It's the only thing in my life that is like that. Wow. Yeah, when I get up there I'm not wrong. I'm not too skinny, I'm not too ugly, I'm not too anything. Everything is right.

You got some shows coming up. I do. Marilyn, this weekend. Yes, DC, first and second. Brazil on the sixth. That's right. And San Francisco on the 16th. Yep.

And also you can check out baduworldmarket.com if you wanna get all types of things like the Funko Pongos. We ordered the Funko Pongos. Everything is always sold out on there. I know. I've been waiting, even since. We don't realize how big the fan base is, the reach is. But it's amazing for me.

There's no point in the email list because it's always sold out. I bought you guys some Funko. Oh. I have a gift for you too. You do? Y'all got to put it open if you want to see it. What is it?

Thank you so much. Oh, this is the figure that you created, right? Yeah, this is the Funko Pop. The Funko Pop. And this is the Funko Pop is this collective. Look at this. Look at this email. Look at this.

I forwarded this to my wife. I like this, she sent me back this morning. It's so cute. Now we got one. There you go. So they're a pop culture vinyl toy collective. And they specialize in artists or icons. Not many of them. Yeah. They specialize in not doing it. Not many of mine.

Yeah. They specialize in not doing it. We need to put a shelf up there. Put one up there on that shelf. Yeah, I want to show my camera. He'll get it before me. My girl ain't gonna let me. Okay, okay.

And she's cute. Yes. J Master J, J Master J. So this first one they did is the call Tyrone video. So that we, I actually reached out to Funko to do this because I thought it was important for my kids to have these. They love Funkos. That's dope. And I surprised them one day and said, I have a Funko.

That's so dope. Like your own Funko, you? Yeah. It's me, you. Yeah, were you? This's me you. Yeah. Well you? This is beautiful. That's dope.

Well thank you again for joining us. We always appreciate you. Absolutely. I appreciate you too. No we do. Definitely do. No we love you, value you, appreciate you. I literally just told somebody last week, I said I don't play about Eric about dude.

Ha. We wasn't having a conversation. I'm not gonna play about y'all man either or Envy. There you go. At all. And I don't play about you about to do. Ha, I'm not gonna play about Charlotte May either, or Envy. There you go. At all. And I'm gonna play about you either, sis. Thank you. And if something happen, you call me.

I got you, I'm gonna call you. Yeah. Because Charlotte may be acting up in here, honestly, sometimes. That's not true. I don't believe that. Oh, well. I might need to comply.

I don't believe nothing like that. Don't do that. It be hard. Don't do that, sis. It be tough. He be tough. What? He is, what. It'd be tough. He'd be tough. What? He is, what?

That's not true. All you gotta do is just light some incense. He'll calm down. Now we got the Badu pussy in here. Maybe he'll relax. Everybody gonna relax. I got this at the house. Everybody gonna relax.

Yes. Thank you, though. Yeah, within a 30 mile radius. Everybody gonna be relaxed. I appreciate y'all always supporting me. Thank you. This Erika Badu. Sister. It's the Breakfast Club. supporting me. Thank you. Erica Badu. Sister.

It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Thank you. Good morning.