In this age of uncertainty, more and more people are looking for answers. From star signs to psychics, it’s easy to see the appeal of being forewarned. Or at least reassured that your life will amount to more than ‘a tall, dark and handsome stranger’…

In a similar way, fans often look to their icons for guidance, as role models and as leaders. So imagine if your idol could tune into your inner psyche and tell you what’s in store? Well, Erykah Badu’s fans have been enjoying this kind of close encounter with the singer as she has been giving palm readings via Twitter.

Dishing out both the mystical and the practical, Ms Badu undoubtedly shares a psychic connection with her fans…

Although the proverbial “tall dark man” does make an appearance…

Interestingly, Badu’s psychic dabbling was actually predicted by fellow chiromancer Tony Leggett. In a fan-requested video, Leggett made the following commentary on Erykah Badu’s own hands; “Interesting hands,” he mused. “She has psychic hands, with potential. Long fingers and long palms show that there’s a spiritual connection somewhere down the line.” Uncanny.

It looks as though Erykah is still riding those psychic vibrations, so if you fancy getting her opinion on your paws upload a photo to twitter asap to find out your fate.

Image: Fevatv

Novelty songs for films always tend to be some of the hidden gems in an artist’s catalog. Muse, Adele and Radiohead have all proven their worth on a slew of bold singles written to accompany the world of the big screen and now hip-hop royalty Erykah Badu and Nas are dipping their toes into the cinematic waters with their new single This Bitter Land, set to feature in the film The Land. 

The film itself is an independent production directed by Steven Caple Jr. with Nas serving as executive producer. Having premiered at the Sundance Music Festival earlier this year, the film is a coming-of-age story that follows a group of teenagers who become involved in a drug trading community. You can watch the trailer below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pNpHOCRhkA

The song itself opens with a whisper of mournful strings and is accompanied by Badu’s low and soulful vocals, immediately creating a sense of unease and perfectly capturing the atmosphere of the trailer. The entrance of Nas then sees the song begin to slowly progress, with the rapper dropping his verses over the same string combo while Badu provides her haunting backing vocals.

From there the song slowly ascends to its dynamic peak, allowing Badu to show off her incredible vocal control and power, before it abruptly falls away into the abyss. Listen to the song below.

https://soundcloud.com/massappealrecs/nas-erykah-badu-this-bitter-land?in=massappealrecs/sets/the-land-music-from-the-motion

The film is also set to feature new music from the likes of Ezzy, Machine Gun Kelly and a collection of other prominent names from the urban music community.

Image: Mass Appeal

In today’s instalment of Humans Doing Commendable Things To Help Out In Totally Fucked Situations, Erykah Badu will be donating $5 from each ticket sold for her upcoming performance at the Chene Park Amphitheater to a non-profit that endeavours to clear Detroit’s backlog of untested rape kits. The African American 490 Challenge raises funds to test the distressingly high number (11,341) of rape kits found abandoned in the Detroit Police Department (each kit costs $490 to process). Partnering with Right Productions, Badu will also donate all funds from her pre-show and VIP post-show receptions ($100 and $1000 per ticket respectively).

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, Michigan Women’s Foundation,  and the Detroit Crime Commission combined forces to create Enough SAID/AA490, which has so far tested 10,000 of the kits. It’s a rare instance of a public/private partnership that raises money for public use, and the collaboration’s efforts have found support across the community, having raises $250 000 of their $657 090 goal for the year.

In a statement to Detroit Free Press, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy stressed this was a big win. Worthy previously worked alone to fund the testing of the rape kits and find justice for those who filed them.  “This is a huge day for Enough SAID/AA490,” she said. “Everyone knows that Erykah Badu is a major, major talent in the music and song-writing industry. For her to lend her name, talent and time to this work is nothing short of a miracle. Justice for these forgotten sexual assault victims has been given a phenomenal assist.”

Kim Trent, the president of 490 Challenge, asserted her gratitude for Badu’s involvement. “It should come as no surprise that an artist with Erykah Badu’s impressive history of social consciousness would join forces with the black women leaders of Detroit to address this important social issue. We are very excited that she is lending her considerable talent to our cause.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CPCs7vVz6s]

Image: Treblezine

Read more: Bilal, Maxwell, Janelle Monae, Erykah Badu & many more honour Prince at BET Awards

Legendary songstress and the multi-talented Erykah Badu has broken her long-held silence on Kendrick Lamar’s mention of her in his and Kanye West’s No More Parties In LA, finally responding to the speculation of a Twitter user.

Lamar, in a guest spot on the 2015 smash hit, spits the line “Um, well cutie, I like your bougie bootie/Come Erykah Badu me/Hell, let’s make a movie”. The song was one of the standout tracks in West’s latest album The Life Of Pablo. Seems like quite innocuous wordplay on a record full of even more controversial lines, nevertheless Lamar’s name drop prompted rumours of a secret romance between himself and Badu.

You can listen out for the lyric in question below:

Lyric website Genius makes a tenuous attempt at connecting some of the dots in their annotation of the lyric, surmising Kendrick may be referencing Badu’s romantic connection to a string of other famous rap artists (Andre 3000, Jay Electronica and Common) as well as her acting career for the line about making a movie, though they stop short of suggesting the pair may be an item.

Badu says her and Lamar’s lone interaction was at the 2013 BET Awards when they performed together, and that there was nothing romantic at all between them. Tweeting a picture of her and Lamar holding hands on stage, she stated that there has not been any contact between them since. “Kendrick aint called me since y’all made up some shit about us being in the trailer makin out so he missed his award,” she wrote, flatly denying the rumour.

“Sound check, performance, photo opps, ghost. He was super shy,” she said when asked what happened.

This explanation, however, wasn’t enough for one user, who still clung to the belief that Badu was lying and used the lyric as their ‘evidence’. “Lies… why do Kendrick say “come and Erykah Badu me, well let’s make a movie” on No more parties in LA. y’all fucked,” they wrote.

Badu provided a classy response. She addressed the issue loudly and clearly, with the kind of sheer confidence she’s forged one of the brightest careers in hip-hop and RnB behind. “Let me educate u real fast lil mama. It’s not always betwixxx the thighs .. Sometimes it’s between the ears,” she Tweeted, following up with a sun emoji when they replied saying that they had learnt their lesson.

https://twitter.com/fatbellybella/status/749923481291067392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The lesson in question here is don’t cross Erykah Badu without sufficient evidence to back yourself up.

Image: Vulture

The BET Awards aired this week, and with it came many stunning performances, notably a string of phenomenal tributes to Prince, who died on April 21 this year. After a number of fairly contentious performances, notably the highly-criticised choice of Madonna to lead the performance at the Billboard Music wards, BET responded with a full selection of covers, essentially turning the entire night into one big tribute.

Many of the performances were not made available for full viewing outside the US, but the good news is that all full videos from the BET Awards are now here for your viewing pleasure.

First came Erykah Badu, The Roots and Bilal giving it their all with heartwrenching covers of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker and The Beautiful Ones.

Stevie Wonder and Tori Kelly then performed Take Me With You, before Jennifer Hudson wowed with a truly stunning rendition of Purple Rain. Hudson also paid tribute to Prince’s fashion choice by wearing a hooded outfit reminiscent of his outfit at the People’s Choice Awards in 2005.

Janelle Monae was next, and much like Hudson, she honoured the late star’s fashion choices as well as his music, delivering a medley of Delirious, Kiss, Pop Life, and I Would Die 4 U in assless chaps, in tribute of the famous yellow jumpsuit Prince wore back at the 1991 MTV VMAs.

Maxwell performed his own new song, Lake By The Ocean, as well as Prince’s Nothing Compares 2 U:

Finally, Sheila E led a huge medley, featuring many of Prince’s collaborators, including members of his last band the New Power Generation, backup singers Shelby Johnson, Liv Warield, Lynn Mabry and Elisa Fiorello, Prince’s ex-wife, dancer Mayte Garcia, Jerome Benton and more. Speaking to Billboard about the emotional performance, Sheila noted, “I knew it was going to be very emotional on the first day of rehearsal. We were sound checking all of the instruments, which takes about two-three hours for setup. By the time we all got together, I said a prayer and then I knew we were going to sit there and cry. It took about 45 minutes to an hour for us to pull it together.

“It was the first time we’d been together as a family since all this happened. Everyone is still in disbelief; there’s been no closure yet. Saying goodbye to him just hasn’t happened yet. It’s hard.”

Image: Time

The BET Awards took place today, and one of the main events throughout the proceedings has been its continuous Prince tribute; yes, instead of one powerhouse performance, the ceremony is delivering a full series of tributes from a wide array of artists including The Roots, Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Janelle Monae, Jennifer Hudson and more. Much like they did when Michael Jackson passed away (he died just days before the award’s 2009 airing), honouring the late legend continues through the entire night.

Dave Chappelle spoke about Prince just half an hour into the event. “On April 21, we got that news, and literally our hearts were broken,” he said. “I was 11 years old when Purple Rain came out, and by the time I was 20, Prince had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol… We miss him dearly. And tonight we celebrate the rich legacy of this remarkable genius, who we are all so proud of.”

The musical tributes then began with Erykah Badu and Bilal, who performed equally beautiful versions of The Ballad of Dorothy Parker and The Beautiful Ones respectively, backed by The Roots. Next, Tori Kelly joined Stevie Wonder on stage for Take Me With You, and Jennifer Hudson sent shivers down everyone’s spine with her take on Purple Rain. Maxwell sang Nothing Compares 2 U as well as his own recent single Lake By The Ocean, updated the first line of NC2u lyrics from, “It’s been seven hours and fifteen days” to sixty-six days, the time since Prince’s passing. Meanwhile Janelle Monae took the her medley of Kiss, Pop Life and I Would Die 4 U even further, honouring Prince’s infamous 1991 VMAs outfit with assless pants of her own. Hudson similarly honouring Prince’s outfits by donning a white hooded suit for Purple Rain. Finally, Prince’s long time collaborator, drummer Sheila E led a final ten-minute medley (which was reportedly set to have been led by D’Angelo, who didn’t end up performing) through Housequake, Erotic City (the first song she and Prince recorded together), Let’s Work, U Got the Look and many more.

Unfortunately BET has not yet made the full performances available for international viewers. For now, you can watch short snippets of the performances here. We’ll post full versions when made officially available:

Image: Kevin Winter/Getty

Image: Kevin Winter/Getty

https://twitter.com/RebLRocR/status/747244875570020352

 

https://twitter.com/juiceyki/status/747261116775014400

Image: Kevin Winter/Getty/BET

travel: the act or a means of journeying from one place to another

Wanderlust is a magnificent thing. A passion for travel is something that many proclaim, but more often than not it is the act of arriving or being in a new location that people enjoy the most. While most stories and photos come from the destination, there is a lot to be said for the act of travelling itself. Transformations and lessons most often come in the process of getting from A to B, or in the unplanned waiting late night in airports or sweaty, dirty bus stations. There is a certain meditative state that is reached in the places we go between the places we plan.

Sometimes the enjoyment of a location is heightened by the effort taken to get there: 12 hours on a bus, three plane rides, an overnight boat. The sand between your toes and the sun on your face is somehow more pure in these instances than if you just hopped on a one-hour flight that departed and arrived on schedule. Your shoulders might sag beneath the weight of your pack and your neck might cramp from the awkward angles of sleeping on benches, but you also might find comfort in the best companions a traveller can hope for. Provided you can locate a stray power point tucked behind a seat and charge your devices, a quality playlist of dependable tracks can get you through just about anything.

When my passport got stolen in Malaysia, or when the smell of boiling blood sausage made me gag at 2am at a roadside cafeteria in Thailand, or when the air-conditioner broke in the cramped mini-van on a forty degree day in Laos, or when my flight flashed down and down the screen with seemingly endless delays in the Philippines, there have been songs that have held the threads of my sanity together.

Wherever you might find yourself, waking or sleeping, lost or found, happy or sad, excited or homesick, here are some friends to accompany you along the way.

IMAGE: Wikimedia

Recently profiled for The New Yorker by Kalefa Sanneh, the Godmother of Soul herself, Erykah Badu discussed the new title she has added to her long list of professional roles. On top of releasing umpteen remixes and a mixtape, shitting on Iggy Azalea, appearing on the cover of the May issue of The Fader and being a social media extraordinaire, activist and doula (birthing attendant), Badu is now also the Music Supervisor for an upcoming animated series on Comedy Central called Legends of Chamberlain Heights.

Towards the end of the lengthy profile, achieved through intimate access to Badu and her life, Sanneh revealed that the musician has been “working on the music” for a new Comedy Central animated series called Legends of Chamberlain Heights, which is co-executive produced by her partner, Carl Jones (Black Dynamite, The Boondocks). As Sanneh points out, it was a particularly inspired move on the network’s part. Though Badu did have to interview alongside all other candidates (“I had to interview alongside all these other composers… Talked all kinds of shit. ‘Deadlines? No problem!’”), she provided Comedy Central with a unique opportunity. Rather than paying the exorbitant fees to license old recordings, it could simply hire a Grammy-winning, chart-topping singer to make some new ones.

Thus, Badu became one of the show’s biggest assets: “I’m acting as the conductor and the orchestra.” She said, explaining her role. “I have to look at the clips they send me and create all of the music from scratch, acquiring sounds and musicians along the way.” With the show set to debut with a 10-episode run later this year, it is already being optioned for a second season and is considered a “top priority for Comedy Central” according to Jones.

Co-created by former UCLA basketball players Quinn Hawking and Josiah Johnson, Legends of Chamberlain Heights tells the story of three friends who ride the pine of a high school basketball team in the fictional community of Chamberlain Heights. Jones, who notes that there are some tonal similarities between Legends of Chamberlain Heights and his previous work on The Boondocks, pointing out that not only do the characters sit on the bench on their basketball team, but that they also “kind of sit on the bench of life.”

Image: The New Yorker

Last Friday Kanye West surprised the music world with the release of track Real Friends, an early cut from upcoming album Swish. Fans rejoiced as this will be the start of a new chain of G.O.O.D. Fridays releases, where the altruistic Yeezy will share a new track each Friday in the lead up to the albums release on February 11. The promotional musical giveaways first sprang up in the lead up to the rapper’s 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and returned with announcements by Kim Kardashian on January 8th.

If new music from Yeezy wasn’t enough for you, the track has now been given the soul treatment by the legendary Erykah Badu. Her remix, titled Trill Friends: Badu Whodouni Rough Mix melds the West track with phrases from Whodini‘s 1984 track Friends.

She put the track up on her Soundcloud along with the caption:

JUST ride out to this… What up Yeezy? BADU MESSIN ROUND THIS MORNIN (really suppose be recording something else …) presently in the BADUDIO w/ ZACH WITNESS. From the forth coming mixtape, THIS $h!t TOO EASY.

The track is a killer piece of chill in its own right, and definitely worth a few spins. It follows on from her recent reworking of Drake’s Hotline Bling, which featured on her late 2015 mixtape But You Can’t Use My Phone.

Check out the latest piece of otherworldly goodness and get your trill on below.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/241605821″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=’450′ iframe=”true” /]

Queen of cool Erykah Badu returned with a new mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone late last month, and now she has opened up about the role that Drake and Hotline Bling had on its creation.

The viral video hit of the year has been responsible for many things. But beyond the endless sea of memes it generated and the dance movement it started, it is responsible for some good music too.

In a new interview with Pitchfork, Badu praised Drake and his chart-topping, media-dominating, meme-and-gif-spawning marketing goldmine for reinvigorating her musical aspirations. ‘‘It was Drake’s song that helped me reboot the music hard drive inside of me. Once I embodied that, I was off and running because I knew how to use the frequencies to fit my tastes.’’

Badu has always pushed the musical envelope in her sound, but after hearing Drake’s track with her son, Seven, she was enticed by the possibilities that digital recording had over her usual methods. ‘’New Amerykah Part One was a psychedelic trip, but it had an analog base. With But You Caint Use My Phone, I didn’t use any analog-based material, all digi.’’

Badu was also keen to point out that the new album was also inspired by her desire to be heard by a new generation of music lovers. ‘’People who say that music is dead or hip-hop is dead are refusing to evolve. And if you want to relate to a certain audience or generation, you have to speak their language. I truly believe that.’’

Her remixed version of Drake’s sleeper of a hit also sits alongside Hello, featuring a collaboration with her ex-husband Andre 3000. The Outkast rapper helped propel her newfound vision with a stirring verse of his own. Badu keen to credit him for his input, ”André went over to Zach’s house and put a verse to it—I was out of town—and they sent it to me over email. I was like, ‘You have totally annihilated the track! This is it!”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IkuA1H2nKg

Read more: Here’s why Hotline Bling wasn’t nominated for a Grammy.