After wetting our appetite with the brilliant single ‘Honey’ Erykah Badu’s much anticipated 4th studio album is finally here. Ms Badu’s music has always been innovative and on ‘New Amerykah’ she pushes the neo soul boundaries further with the help of The Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Madlib, 9th Wonder (Little Brother) and James Poyser on production duties. The set opens with ‘Amerykahn Promise’ which is essentially Erykah’s remix/replay of Ramp’s ‘The American Promise’ and ends with ‘Honey’, included here as a bonus track. In between we’re treated to killer tracks such as ‘Soldier’ and ‘Master Teacher’, two low slung bumpers, the Roy Ayers influenced ‘The Cell’, ‘Me’, a dreamy cut with subtle trumpet undercurrents from Roy Hargrove and the gorgeous ‘Telephone’. ‘New Amerykah Pt.2’ is due later this year!
