After The Brillint Baduizm, The Brilliant Baduizm Live, The Brilliant Mama's Gun, The Brilliant Mama's Gun Live & The Brilliant Worldwide Underground you would be forgiven if i simply said That New AmErykah Part 1 (4th World War) was equally brilliant. But not to go a little deeper with an Erykah album isn't doing it justice. My justification is validated from the get go with the superbly funky Blaxploitation infused intro (i think) Amerykahn Promise. I say intro because there are no lead vocals on the track but it's such an infectous beat (& over 4 minutes long) that i couldn't help but love it. The Madlib produced The Healer just confirms to me that These 2 should do a whole album together (further evidence is provided below). Erykah is one Mainstream R n B artist who refuses to conform to trends & is willing to take her craft to new levels & send a positive message too. Too much of a rarity these days. While this worked to near perfection with Worldwide Underground, She doesn't hit the same heights with this one. She manages to go from the rather ponderous My People (again no real lead vocals) to the real nice Soldier, to the ''Lemme rewind that cause i'm not sure'' The Cell, & the brilliant Twinkle. But the standout by far & away has to be The Hump. This track sent me straight into Baduizm mode and convinced me without question that another classic still lives inside this lady somewhere. the way the arrangement switches up 2 thirds of the way through is genius & is the 1st time i think Erykah really lets it out on the album. Telephone, should also have the good people reaching the top shelf for some of that Baduizm goodness. The album then ends with the lead single(?) as a bonus track. My guess is that either it didn't fit in with the overall concept of the album or 9th has got it in his tracklisting for The Wonder Years. But the thing is, I'm comparing New AmErykah to the good lady's other albums. If i was to compare it to just about every other R n B release in the last few years, 99% of them still can't touch most of this album anyway. So it is a brilliant album. Just not as brilliant as her other albums. A definite addition for any true R n B collection. Bring on Part 2!!!p e a c e
A Lil something extra:
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