seven venues

Dance—whether it’s in the style of modern, jazz, ballet, or even hip-hop—is release, and thereby freedom; freedom to shake one’s ass in spite of it all. I think of this as Erykah Badu—who is relaxing with her feet propped up against a back window of her tour bus, which she describes over the phone en route to Boston—explains to me how she loves to stop at nail salons in small-town Wal-Marts to get her feet soaked in a salt scrub after hours of dancing on stage.

So within the first minute of our conversation, the former Erica Wright, green-eyed songbird from Texas, has dispelled two preconceived notions that I had had of her: The first being that Erykah Badu would find nothing of value in anyone’s local Wal-Mart, and the second being that dance is not an essential part of her live performance. But then she reminds me that she spent time studying dance as a performing arts student, describing her current stage work as a mix of light ballet and modern (think Martha Graham).

When I first saw Ms. Badu in concert back in 2001, it was in support of her sophomore studio album, Mama’s Gun. And indeed her prowess was evident as she transfixed the audience with appropriately timed forays into serious dance, showing a fluidity of movement that only comes from study. Erykah challenged our polite conventions that night, removing her headwrap to reveal a gorgeously bald scalp during a pivotal moment of her anthem, "Cleva." She challenged us to think beyond our deeply rooted Southern crutch of Christianity—and not to convert, mind you, but rather to consider, at least, the virtues of nature worship and present day Egyptology.

And yet the success of Baduizm, her 1997 triple-platinum debut CD, and moreover the philosophy that it spawned, are largely due to Erykah’s subtlety of execution and diverse subject matter. As a Pisces she exists within natural duality, so her art, from the very beginning, reflected a strong Afrocentric, almost feminist aesthetic. However, it was balanced with sincere vulnerability and self-doubt, poignantly displayed in modern classics such as "Other Side of the Game," "Green Eyes" and even "Me," which appears on this year’s epic New Amerykah Part One (4th World War). She comes to Chrysler Hall this Friday in support of that album.

What inspired the concept of New Amerykah?

It wasn’t a concept from the beginning. It was a lot of songs that I was inspired to do because I got this big burst of creative energy, following a very long download process...It was a time to assess, be still, reinvent, recreate and renew. That took a long time I guess...When I came out of that period, I discovered that I had about 70-something songs that I began to categorize and generalize, format. I wanted to create a project...not just a collection of songs. As I began to put these songs together, like thoughts and like rhythms...they all fit.

That gave me the opportunity to also discover [that] there’re so many parts of you. None of them are the same, and all of them are very relevant. So I split them up into two pieces, New Amerykah Part One is the first piece, which is quite political in everyone’s opinion—mine is that it was just my assessment of what is going on right now. Part two is quite emotional, and it feels so good...so I call it New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh...The third piece is not a part of New Amerykah at all. It’s a period piece that flirts with the ’40s and ’60s, called Lowdown Loretta Brown.

Do you ever feel external pressure to write radio-friendly songs?

Yeah, I have that feeling, but it goes away after I put my headphones on and listen to what I’m doing really loud. My test is that if the hair stands up on the back of my neck, it’s right. And if it feels good, that means there’s a connection between me and everything around me that helped me come up with it. I don’t ever underestimate the audience’s ability to feel it...

Will you be re-launching the Sugar Water Festival?

Definitely. We were talking about it yesterday. Latifah is quite busy, and so is Jill, but we want to just put the brand out and send to other artists who are amazing and love what they do as much as we do, particularly catering to women’s needs and thoughts. We could do that in the spring of 2009, if we really put our heads together. You putting it in the air again is no coincidence.

You’ve headlined concerts numerous times here in Virginia. How do we rate as an audience for your work?

Very, very warm from the very beginning. I can always tell how an audience is gonna be, when I first walk out. They seemed very unexpecting. They didn’t expect anything. I can tell when people have preconceived notions about the performance. So very unexpecting, free and Southern.

What’s the biggest public misconception about Erykah Badu?
I have no idea... Sometimes in interviews, people may ask certain questions over and over. I don’t know if people really even know what to think or ask at this point.  Maybe at one point it was that I was a priestess or something else of that light, which is not necessarily a negative thing, but if you put a negative twist on it, anything can be negative.

So it’s not true that you’re able to put men under your spell with those beautiful green eyes of yours?
[Laughs] I don’t know. I hear people say that...Yeah, if that’s true, then I guess that’s good?