I remember vividly when I first heard Erykah Badu. I was at practice and Q93 played "On & On." From the first listen, I was a fan. Erykah didn't sound like anyone else on the radio. When I first saw her, she didn't look like anyone else either. She had a sound, tone, message that was all her own. You could tell this after one listen to her debut cd "Baduizm." I remember pressing play and never skipping a song. It was musically perfection. Every song made me feel something different and new. I was hooked. I listened to it over and over. It was my favorite things to play. My friend's were as excited about it as I was. We were digging this new sound called "neo-soul." It felt like us. We claimed it as our own. That meant that Erykah was ours.
"Baduizm" was released the middle of my senior year of high school. So, her music was the soundtrack to the best year of my high school career. The singles were perfect. The unreleased tracks were just as great. The reason I have deemed this cd classic is that 15 years later it's still relevant. I can and do still play it. I am sure 15 years from now when I'm playing it for my kids, it will still be timeless. And, that they will love it like I do. "Baduizm" signifies a new era in soul music. Erykah changed so many things. Classic music does that.
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