

Badu won four awards at the ceremony: ‘R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year’ (for ‘Baduizm’) ‘Best R&B/Soul Album (Female)’ (for ‘Baduizm’) ‘Best R&B/Soul Single (Female)’ (for ‘On and On’) and ‘Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist’.

So we were sampling really obscure jazz and soul records and stuff like that because that’s what I was influenced by growing up.”Īmerican singer-songwriter Erykah Badu wearing a yellow headwrap attends the 12th Annual Soul Train Music Awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, 27th February 1998. And A Tribe Called Quest had already laid their foundation and influence in hip-hop. Nas had just come out, the Notorious B.I.G. “We were really, really influenced heavily by ’90s hip-hop. “We developed a sound and style,” says Badu. Her cousin, Robert “Free” Bradford started sending her cassette tapes of beats that he was making, and one of them inspired her to write “Appletree.” With Bradford on production, the two continued to work on what would become the Baduizm demo back in their hometown of Dallas, turning a bedroom in their grandmother’s house into a studio. The road to that queendom - and the crowning achievement of Baduizm - started while Badu was studying theater at Grambling State University in Louisiana. Recording Industry Association of America.The groundbreaking, Grammy Award-winning Baduizm almost magically transformed Badu into an R&B priestess and pioneer representing the ladies in the neo-soul movement that had been propelled by D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar in 1995 and Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite in 1996.

#Erykah badu baduizm album cover professional
Reception Professional ratings Review scores Baduizm was certified three times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, Gold by the British Phonographic Industry and the Canadian Recording Industry Association.īadu recorded the live album while pregnant with son Seven, and the release of the recording coincided with his birth.

Her particular style of singing drew many comparisons to Billie Holiday. Baduizm 's commercial and critical success helped establish Badu as one of the emerging neo soul genre's leading artists. The album was met with critical and commercial success, debuting at number two on the Billboard charts and number one on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. After she signed to Universal Records, Badu released her debut studio album Baduizm, in early 1997.
