Return of the Ankh: New Amerykah Part 2

For fans of Erykah Badu it has been a long wait since the release of Part one of her two part New Amerykah series. Contrary to popular opinion both New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War and Part Two: Return of the Ankh were recoded at the same time. Badu has stated that the two parts are meant as a left brain right brain comparison. With part one Badu was in an intellectual state looking out at the world around her however, with part two she turns to her inner emotions and looks at what is going on inside of her. The album was released on March 30th and I picked up the album the day it came out. Now I know that I mentioned in my last post that I am in the midst of a self imposed album buying ban, but I already bought Part two of the New Amerykah series as soon as she announced there would be a Part Two (which she did in Part One).

For my inaugural listen I played part one first and then transitioned into the new album. It felt as if I had jumped into a tiny spaceship, flew into Erykah's head and made a rotation from the left brain to the right where I could see and examine what she was thinking and feeling. The two albums really feel as if they were crafted from the same place, which they were. Part one is extremely layered and busy, but that is what makes it so successful. Part one ends with the emotional Telephone, which acts as a set up for the contrasting minimalism of Part Two. Part Two begins with the surprisingly simple 20 Feet tall which announces the transition into new territory. In a day where downloadable tracks rule album oriented music is less and less common. Return of the Ankh really feels like an album where the sum of the parts are needed to make the whole. Many of the same producers who contributed to Part One are featured on Part Two as well. While I love the whole album I will post some of my favourite tracks. Many of my favourites were produced by Madlib and Shafiq.

This is a track produced by Shafiq. I can't get enough of Shafiq's creativity. The two of them work so well together.

Good Combo Ex-Beatle and Badu. (This track samples a Paul McCartney Track)

This Madlib produced track feels like she is at home alone singing along to the radio. Surprisingly intimate.

Finally to show why I feel Erykah Badu is so far a head of others out there I will compare a Badu track to an Alicia Keys track. Now don't take this as a critique on Alicia Keys (I like a lot of her music) . They both sample the same song but the result is so different.

I know this is a really long post. Sorry, but I really like Erykah Badu and feel that this album is worth the length. To finish here is a short video of Badu talking about her New Amerykah series.