andshedontstop…

After Erykah Badu’s performance I was escorted to the lower level of the Manhattan Center in an area sectioned off for her meet & greet. Waiting with me were a few journalists and a handful of representatives from Miller. About 20 minutes later, Erykah walked into the area dressed in a black skirt and blazer suit, with white pinstripes, and a huge afro covering most of her petite but strikingly structured face…A line of people with Midwestern accents who probably worked for Miller formed a line as they all took individual photographs with Erykah. After the photos she made her way over to a tiny couch. I sat across from her on a even smaller chair. “Come over here,” she said to me. So I sat next to her and we talked…

Del: Tell me about BLIND?
Badu: Beautiful Love Incorporated Non-Profit Development.
It’s an organization that I’ve had for about six years now, we just got our non-profit status a year and a half ago. Every year our focus changes depending on what we want to do. This year we are focusing on putting the culture into the community in order to bring it back out again. We’re focusing on children, you know with the disaster, just about every charity refocused their business to Katrina and Rita. We are right down south so we had a lot of evacuees coming to Dallas. So we do a program every weekend for the children.

Del: How is motherhood coming along?
Badu: It’s my joy. I do it so naturally and eloquently and effortlessly.

Del: Okay, I remember when you were pregnant, I saw you perform at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. You must have been about 6 or 7 months, doing lots of rolls and somersaults, how did you do that?
Badu:(laughs) I just never stopped girl. I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to, but by the ninth month I cooled down a bit.

Del:I hear that you are into Holistic healing?
Badu:I do holistic healing and health. I’m in the process of getting my license for holistic consultation and prescribing. I grow my own herbs, dry them and bottle them. I’m learning from trial and error as I go along. With my first child I made some mistakes with the holistic stuff. Puma my daughter she’s my second child, they’re both vegan vegetarians, organic babies from birth, natural births at home. I guess I’ve grown into being a vegan vegetarian. I’ve been a vegetarian since high school, 1989.

Del:So what advice would you give those wanting to become vegetarians or vegans but are concerned about getting enough protein?
B12 kind of takes up a lot of the protein. The cows get it from the green vegetable so we can too. There are a lot of ways to get protein like from legumes, green vegetables some fruits. That’s the most important thing for vegetarians to get is the B12 and the protein.

Del: We never know what to expect from Ms. Badu when she’s on stage. How do you come up with what you are going to do?
Badu:I make it up when it happens. This was a spot date, so I haven’t done a show since Sugar Water. If I’m on a tour we pretty much follow a cycle of songs that work really well together. It’s bound to change because the next night the audience may not be feeling that same line up. It’s what the audience feels. I would consider myself a performance artists in lieu of a recording artist.

Del: What’s up with the next album?
Badu:It’s coming..Me soon come. (smiles) I’m juggling motherhood, and community activism and writing and teaching. It has to be what I like, feel like me, look like me. When I became a part of the music business I did because I loved what I did and I plan to continue to do that. I don’t want to be under a gun or pressure or live by a deadline because it goes by the lifeline and it’s done. I’m encouraged that the fans anticipate me, it makes me feel like the music is really worth doing, like it has a purpose.

Del: Your albums all have a unique style, one is so different from the next.
Badu:Most artists change from album to album sometimes because of the record labels agenda which is to sell units, it’s difficult for us to stick to that kind of thing. Unless you’re someone like Missy Elliot who has the hip hop game on lock were she’s innovative and creative in just about everything that she does and thinks of things really fast. And then some people are like me, whenever you feel it you do it. I hope that it’s welcomed and hopefully the audience’s ability to get it is never underestimated.

Del:One thing that I appreciate about your music is the arrangement and the songwriting. Are you hands on in all aspects of creating your music?
Badu:I write, and arrange all of my songs. It’s like painting a picture I do it all.

Del: Can I get a quick shot of you?
Badu: Sure

Del: Thank you very much
Badu: You’re welcome very much (smile)

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