Erykah Badu’s Baduizm not only stamped neo-soul’s validity but foreshadowed its staying power decades after its invention.
The year is 1997, and the leading women in R&B were in two lanes: the heart-wrenching musings of the around the way girl in the key of Faith Evans and Mary J. Blige, and the striking vocal prowess that leapt from the likes of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. With perfectly coiffed tresses and stylish ensembles from luxury fashion designers, the standard would soon be met with its celestial antithesis, brought about by a petite young lady from Dallas, Texas, who would become known as Erykah Badu. Adorned in tall head wraps, kemetic jewelry and distinctive African-inspired garb, Badu stood out aesthetically and musically from her contemporaries. Mysterious yet inviting, Badu properly introduced herself on her debut album Baduizm, a project that beautifully blended enigmatic cerebral lyrics, subtle jazz intonations, and hip-hop sensibilities to create something that modernized soul music in a refreshing way, helping give birth to the sub-genre neo-soul.

Trademarked by Kedar Massenburg — the former president of Motown Records who discovered and signed Badu to his label, Kedar Records — in the late ‘90s, neo-soul was created as a promotional tool amid the rising success of artists like Maxwell, Lauryn Hill, and D’Angelo (who was managed by Massenburg), whose debut album Brown Sugar solidified the sub-genre. But it was Badu’s Baduizm that not only stamped its validity but foreshadowed its staying power decades after its invention.

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