Diva's Sexy Originality Inspired by R&B Greats

One afternoon last fall, I happened upon Erykah Badu's debut video "On and On." Coming on late in Black Entertainment Television's "Planet Groove"--after an hour and half of rejects from the Mary J. Blige school of intonation and generic girl groups whose lyrics made the Spice Girls seem like Joni Mitchell--"On & On" was unlike anything I had seen or heard in awhile. A pastel-infused riff inspired by The Color Purple, I fell in love with the song's sweet sass, thoughtful hip-hop jazz-poetry. In the year of 'Lil Kim, Erykah was a refreshing surprise, reminiscent of Minnie Ripperton's '70s heart-break funk and Billie Holiday.

Early this year, people nationwide embraced the joys of Badu. Radio stations fixated on the latest X-Scape knock-off and started playing "On & On" in heavy rotation. On the strength of her critically acclaimed, multi-platinum debut album Baduizm, she headlined this year's "Smokin Grooves" tour. Badu was christened the sole female (Adrina Evans anyone?) in the neo-funk pantheon along with D'Angelo, Maxwell and Toni Rich. Her success showed '90s rhythm and blues could be smart, innovative and sexy.

Just as D'Angelo is not exactly Marvin Gaye for the '90s, Billie Holiday incarnate Badu isn't. Certainly there will never be another Billie Holiday. What Badu is, though, is a gifted lyricist and vocalist who has a great knowledge of African-American music history, as well as a desire to innovate. On her live album she not only evokes Billie Holiday, Chaka Kahn, Roy Ayres and Miles Davis, but she also demonstrates an amazing originality and octave range. Live is a jazzy portrait of a charming Southern gal as funk goddess. Posing on the cover as a very pregnant butterfly (Badu was expecting during the recording of the album), she comes into her own, leaving the impression that she is beautifully, sassily, definitively Erykah.

Taken from a recent New York concert, the Live album covers the best material from Baduizm, finding new life in its hits. Live begins with a rift on Miles' "So What" with background singers cooing "Badu." She goes quickly into a breezy rendition of "Rim Shot." "On & On" starts out as a fairly slow number, until midway through when Badu begins to rap. Using the beat from Lil Kim's hit-that-will-not-die, "Crush on You," she proves herself to be an above-average emcee with such lines as "You can read about Badu in your hip-hop Times."

At the beginning of "Apple Tree," she coos, "I can't control the soul flowin' in me," going on to prove it with scat refrains culminating in a call-and-response exchange with the audience. In "Apple Tree" as well as throughout Live, Badu lets her Southern accent creep beautifully into her phrasing, turning a there into "thur" and a can't into a lingering "caint."

Almost all artists, as if subject to some unwritten law, do covers and Badu is no exception. However, the covers included on Live are not tepid re-workings that ultimately ruin their classic sources. Badu's rendition of Chaka Kahn's "Stay" is one of the best songs on the album. With her back-up band wrenching every bit of swagger and boom, Badu goes from a husky scat to a sonic howl that sounds like Mariah Carey after a massive infusion of soul. She does a medley of "Boogie Nights," "All Night" and "Jamaica Funk" that will bring a smile to lovers of '70s funk everywhere.

The two tracks ending the album are by themselves worth the price of the CD. "Now keep in mind, I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit," Badu says before introducing "Tyrone," the only previously unreleased track on the album. She has nothing to worry about. "Tyrone" is four minutes of slinky feminist blues that is sure to be the R&B song of early 1998. A conversation with a selfish lover who's more interested in hanging out with his buddies (including the aforementioned Tyrone) than Badu, the track takes Mary J. Blige's "Not Gonna Cry" to a subtle, more soulful level. Coincidentally, the song's refrain borrows Angela Bassett's immortal "get yo' shit" line in Waiting to Exhale. However the studio version, the only non-live track on the album, seems almost comatose in comparison to the original.

Badu's 12-minute rendition of the hit "Next Lifetime" comes close to perfection, finding new heartache, wisdom and charm in the hit. Sounding like Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, the song climaxes first in a soulful whirl that is followed by Badu's backup singers scatting into heaven. "I'll be the moon shine on you/I'll be the womb give you fruit/I'll be heaven love me right/I'll be divine give you light," Badu sings at the end. Here, as on the entire album, she proves that although she is not the second coming of Billie Holiday, Erykah "God Damn it I'm gonna sing my song" Badu is the second coming of sincere, original R&B.