Baduizm

Baduizm is the debut album from Neo-Soul singer/songwriter/producer, Erykah Badu. The album is cited as one of the most iconic and reputable R&B albums of all time by many, and received praise and acclaim upon its release. It’s known as the album that established and cemented her as one of the leading artists of her genre.

It was released on February 11, 1997 by Kedar Records and Universal Records.

This album is responsible for some her most notable tracks, including “Tyrone”, “Next Lifetime”, and of course the classic “On & On”.

Baduizm went on to earn Badu numerous awards, including Best R&B Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards. The album itself charted at #2 on the Billboard charts and spent 58 consecutive weeks on the chart.

Erykah spoke on the process and effect of the record over a decade later during an interview with Billboard;

You know, Baduizm was already finished by the time I got a record deal. I went into the studio to either add to it or refine it and the first studio I went into was Battery Studios in Manhattan, NY. I was in one room, Wu-Tang was in one room, Common was in one room and Mos Def was in one room.

You can feel all this energy in the building. I was new and all the guys were giving me all this different advice like, “Don’t change nothing. Don’t let them change anything. You keep it pure like this. This is good. This is how it needs to be.” They were making sure that I wasn’t being taken advantage of by the label’s ideas, A&Rs and all that kind of stuff. I was really influenced by all of them heavily.