Erykah Badu: The Brave One

Now, after four years of relative quiet, Erykah is preparing for the release of her highly anticipated fifth album, New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War. She looks like a woman full of herself. Not arrogant. Full. Cup-runneth-over full. A woman with so much good stuff swirling inside, she can’t contain it.

On her daughter Puma’s father, rapper Tracy “The D.O.C.” Curry, 39, . . .
“Me and Doc fell in love,” she says, recounting their brief romance in 2003. “And, hey, we played the grown-folks game. He was not the one, but Puma came on through.”

On meeting Raphael Saadiq with singer Joi Gilliam-Gipp . . .
“I made tea,” she recalls, “the incense is burning, it smells like vegan cupcakes, I got strawberry oils going.” Raphael tasted his tea and would not give Lady Badu so much as a glance. Erykah took Joi aside and said, “Raphael don’t like me. I wanted to do a song with him.” Joi said, “Girl, Raphael heard that you ain’t supposed to look Erykah Badu directly in the eye.”

On her past loves . . .
“We were always reflections. When I met André, he had a head wrap on. And we swapped incense. Common was already eclectic in his rhyming and choice of hats and clothing.”

On her new man . . .
“I can say I met a man who’s so wonderful. He’s turning me into a grown woman, and you know I’m forever a princess,” she says. “We’re not going to blow him up. I don’t want nobody all up in his face talking about crochet pants.”

On motherhood . . .
“I’m a real good mother. And I make sure that the fathers are active. The queendom is in Dallas. Various times in the year, everybody’s there at once, and we all get along. Those are my brothers, I don’t get in their business, they don’t get in mine, but we’re very cognizant of what’s going on with our children.”

On getting her fair share . . .
“As a woman, it’s already difficult to push forward without looking a certain way, but now I don’t care how it looks,” she says. “I created this, I want credit for this. Money don’t come to people; money come to ideas. If I’ve got all the ideas, then I need some shares. That doesn’t mean I’ve lost any bit of my spiritual sense. But when I’m in a meeting, I’m about my paper.”