Label: Motown
Genre: Soul
Three years after the first part of her New Amerykah project, Miss Badu is back... it's the Return Of The Ankh. And what a return it is! I was eager to listen to this new LP as the previous one, 4th World War, was quite a leap forward for the soul sista, with an increased amount of electronic sounds and forays into new musical moods.
Taken from the same sessions as 4th World War, the songs from Return Of The Ankh have an overall lighter mood. It's the return of the brightest, funkiest side of the Bag Lady! Surrounded by her usual collaborators James Poyser and ?uestlove, and with the help of a new breed of talented producers who also worked on 4th World War (Madlib, Karriem Riggins, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra Creative Partners), Badu delivers an album which has "instant classic" written all over it.
One typical Badu track - Window Seat -, some heavy hip-hop beats (Umm Hmm, Fall In Love (Your Funeral)), a great cover of a classic Roy Ayers production (Turn Me Away, originally from Sylvia Striplin), some meditational trip music (Incense) and an epic three-piece closing track (Out My Mind, Just In Time)... It's all in there. There's even a Dilla beat (Love)!
Once again, Erykah Badu doesn't disappoint. Return Of The Ankh is a flawless album which will no doubt sit amongst other soul classics for decades to come. The artwork is amazing too! It's a real pleasure to see that this type of artist (true ones, that is :-) still exist and manage to release quality music on major labels that let them fully express themselves. Big up Motown on this! It's become too rare these days not to be mentioned.
Miss Badu is on tour this summer. Catch her live if you can, you won't regret it. And go buy this album, it's fantastic!
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