Erica Abi Wright, professionally as Erykah Badu, is a generational, American musician who creates Neo soul based music.
Her stage name ¨Erykah Badu¨ came from an Egyptian term, ¨Kah¨ which stands for ¨inner self,¨ and “Badu” from her favorite jazz-riff scat sound.
Badu grew up in a working, stubborn household with her mother Kollen Gipson, who was an actress at the time. Twenty six years later after her birth in January of 1997, Badu realeased her first ever single ¨On & On.¨
¨Erykah´s song, ¨20ft tall¨, taught me to let go of relationships that contribute to making me feel like an outsider at times¨ said sophomore Chase Hines.
Badu has an impactful influence on her listeners and the Neo soul side of the music industry, which contains artists such as Lauryn Hill, SZA, Ari Lennox and Frank Ocean.
Many of her songs speak about feminism, including “Cleva” and “Bag Lady.” Outside of her feminist approach, she also covers societal issues such as wars, police brutality and pollution.
Badu’s ambition and passion to enhance the ones who look up to her, led her to create a charity called ¨B.L.I.N.D,¨ which stands for “Beautiful, Love, Incorporated and Nonprofit Development.” She founded this charity to provide community driven development for youth through dance, music visual arts and theater.
