Among the great vocalists of contemporary black music, Erykah Badu is one of the architects of the movement for the renewal of classic soul, although, unusually, her voice is not very much like those normally associated with the genre.She is frequently compared to Billie Holiday, but whether or not she is his successor should not be argued about, as it is obvious that her style of singing comes straight from jazz and classic soul, which she fuses with hip hop and r&b, giving an extraordinary grade of originality to her music.Among other factors, this is why she is respected by jazz enthusiasts and manages to convince staunch fans of soul. She has even managed to seduce lovers of r&b.

She was born as Erica Abi Wright (Dallas, USA, 1971) and changed her slave surname to Badu, two syllables that she normally sings in a scat style. She made her debut on the music scene with Baduizm –winning a Grammy for best r&b album– and followed it with Live (97), Mama’s gun (00), Worldwide underground (03) and, in 2007, Baduizm (special edition) to mark the 10th anniversary of its first release.In New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4Th World War, her fourth studio album that has been on sale since last February, Erykah has remained faithful to her roots, eluding super-productions and pleasing her audiences with raw sounds and messages full of meaning.

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