If you haven’t figured it out by now this blog post will be featuring the vibrantly soulful R&B artist, Erykah Badu. She began her music career in 1996 and has been in the music game ever since. I remember growing up hearing Erykah’s catchy songs such as “On and On,” “Next Lifetime,” “Call Tyrone,” and much more. Overtime she has been categorized as the Queen of NeoSoul; a contemporary R&B music genre that is more soulful and tends to have deeper messages and meanings than R&B. Erykah Badu’s style of music is poetic, soulful, smooth, colorful, vibrant, eclectic, very original and authentic. In my opinion her music is what they call an aquired taste.
Recently in 2015, Erykah has released some new music in the form of a mixtape called “But You Caint Use My Phone.” If you are a Badu fan, you understand the reference of her mixtape title. One of her popular songs is titled “Tyrone“. In this song she expresses her frustration with her man who doesn’t want to spend time alone with her anymore. He’d much rather spend time with his male friends, one of them named Tyrone. So Erykah in this song is kicking her boyfriend to the curb and she suggests that he calls his friend Tyrone to come help him get his belongings. The last lines of this song is “You need to call Tyrone. Hold on, But you can’t use my phone.”
Erykah’s new mixtape embodies contemporary styles of music, but she still manages to be herself. Some of my favorite songs are “Phone down“, “U Don’t Have to Call“, and “Cell U Lar Device“. In “U don’t have to call” she put a spin on Usher’s 2001 hit song, and “Cell U Lar Device” is a remix to Drake’s “Hotline Bling”. So If you are an old fan or new fan of Erykah’s I highly recommend checking out her new mixtape. While you’re at it you mind as well go explore some of her older albums as well. I promise you will not be disappointed!
~Latoyah Sunday
Reconnecting With R&B 