Miles Marshall Lewis, Writer, journalist, author of Rolling Stone's original Baduizm review in 1997 and an early profile on Badu in The Source magazine Tim Latham, Mix engineer ('Appletree,' 'Otherside of the Game,' 'Sometimes,' 'Next Lifetime,' 'Certainly,' '4 Leaf Clover') Kedar Massenburg, Executive producer, head of Kedar Entertainment, D'Angelo's manager, responsible for coining the term 'neo-soul'īob Power, Producer, mix engineer, instrumentalist, worked extensively with A Tribe Called Quest ('On & On,' 'Drama') Madukwu Chinwah, Co-writer/producer ('Rimshot,' 'Certainly') Artists from Common to India.Arie to Lauryn Hill were drawn into Badu's artistic orbit, creating a bona fide movement that had both commercial and aesthetic consequences through the mid-aughts. Perhaps most importantly, thanks to Erykah (and collaborators The Roots, whose ensemble-driven hip-hop would break into the mainstream a few years later with Things Fall Apart), a whole generation of R&B fans learned the power of going back to basics, laying the groundwork for a revivalist trend in both R&B and jazz that inspired its own controversial moniker: neo-soul. Badu's debut album, released jointly by Kedar Entertainment and Universal, would sell 159,000 copies in its first week of release - on its way to 2.8 million total in sales to date, according to Nielsen Music. 1 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, where it would remain for four weeks (soon after, it peaked at no. 11, 1997, she was a couple weeks shy of her 26th birthday, having spent the previous year recording the album and refining her live show as a Brooklyn émigré (this was when artists and not investment bankers formed the core population of Fort Greene). 11 marks the 20th anniversary of Baduizm, the instant classic that housed 'On' and cemented Badu's status as one of the most innovative musicians of her generation. All that before Badu, who has since become a pillar of contemporary R&B, even opens her mouth.įeb. It's tough to come up with more iconic opening phrases than the one that introduces Erykah Badu's 1996 debut single, 'On & On' - a riff that instantly established the Dallas singer and songwriter born Erica Abi Wright as simultaneously grounded and singularly talented, seductive and spiritual.

Kick, kick, kick, ki-kick, ki-kick, kick, click.

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