<p>By Odeisel</p><p>The beauty of art is that your limitations can lift the limits of others’ experiences. Erykah Badu has always been an artist acutely aware of her identity musically. While her melody has evolved musically over the decade since her debut, she is rarely, if ever, outside herself vocally. She doesn’t venture outside of her range unless it’s for specific effect. Her choruses and vocal runs don’t really deviate from what you’ve always gotten from her. The difference comes with the lyrical depth and whatever aspect of her personality she wants to share.</p><p>On New Amerykah Part 2: Return of the Ankh, the rhythm is there in spades. The album is rich and layered with piano/key structure, guitar/bass pacing and loose vocal construction on the wings that snake in and out of the music. The songs alternate from verses that feel like extended chorus style runs like those present in “Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long,” to “Love,” which features a robotic intro that relents to a more traditional bassline-paced track buttressed by the same “Funky” sample from “Just Rhyming With Biz,” continues that style. The vocals are delivered in short, consistent bursts that don’t really piece together like a traditional song but it works.</p><p>The album opens with “20 Feet Tall” which finds her recovering from a breakup and regaining her confidence and self-worth. The title refers to the height of the walls her ex lover put up to keep her out as she questions what she did to push him away. As she gathers herself she rebuilds her self-esteem and that at her true height, she was tall enough to see over those walls.</p>
Trending
