Conversation With A Unicorn

Erykah Badu’s fans regard her as a quasi-mystical pseudo-sorceress. But she’s just a person, and she’ll make her next record when she’s good and ready.

- David Marchese

“I’M GATHERING IDEAS,” says Erykah Badu over dinner at a vegan restaurant in Manhattan. “I’m uploading.” Badu, in a baggy sweater, oversize eyeglasses, and giant fedora, is talking about why she hasn’t released an album of new material since 2010’s New Amerykah Part Two—and why she isn’t particularly concerned about it. “I’ll download new ideas at some point.” Her old ones are still making the rounds: The R&B singer’s debut album, 1997’s Baduizm, is tentatively slated for reissue as a set of vinyl 45s, and Badu, who will turn 47 in February, performs live around the world eight months out of every year. We spoke with her about what the next year might hold.

You’re one of the rare musicians who stay relevant with listeners younger than themselves. How much of that is because you’re good on social media?

If it’s anything, it’s that I understand where young people are coming from. I don’t try and fight it. What’s interesting to me about music and the younger generation is that what we hear on the radio is more about frequency and sound than words. People talk about “mumble rap,” but that’s because they don’t understand that the important thing is the vibration, not the words. The kids need vibrations, because their attention span is about three seconds.

How much has hip-hop changed in the two decades since Baduizm?