Erykah Badu speaks to SOHH.com about her new album, Kahba.
Posted by T on November 15, 2007
Erykah Badu is bringing her unique brand of hip-hop to 2008 with the release of a new album. In this SOHH Exclusive, Badu ruminates on her new title, talks studio adventures with hip-hop beat “scientists,” and explains her plans to “heal” hip-hop.
“I dug deep down into the bottom of my hip-hop coin purse to find some of the freshest scientific, mathematical absurd geniuses that I could connect with because I was feeling pretty twisted myself,” Badu told SOHH.
“The scientists I was dealing with was J Dilla, Madlib, Sa-Ra, 9th Wonder, Kareem Riggins [and] Rashad Smith to name a few. All of these people have a reputation for being visionaries and knowing them well, I felt ‘Okay, now it’s time to put together a project that not only takes us to another place, another dimension, but highlights these sights.’ And that’s what I had in mind for this project that I’ve been tentatively calling KahBa.”
Since enthralling audiences with 1997’s Baduizm, Erykah Badu has reigned supreme by genre-straddling both hip-hop and soul. However, aside from a few guest features, Ms. Badu has not released any new material since her 2003 EP Worldwide Underground.
Badu’s new 9th Wonder-powered song “Honey” drops this month, and a new album will be in stores by her birthday, February 26, 2008. Derived from her name — Erykah Badu –KahBa also has significant meanings in Islam and Kemetic cultures.
“It has multiple meanings. You know how you come up with something and it means so many things? I always come up with a lot of sh*t because it has to mean something to me,” Badu explained.
Don’t get too attached though, Badu says she won’t finalize the title until the project is completely finished.
