Erykah Badu Interview! On D’Angelo, Radical Empathy, Love & Hip-Hop

Popcast

The New York Times

Music Interviews, Music Commentary, Music

3.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The singer and songwriter on her reign as one of music’s most idiosyncratic, spiritual figures and where her creative impulses are headed next. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think this is maybe the worst thing I had this week. Damn. That's a zero. That's a zero. Can we go lower? A negative. It's a negative. I don't like this shit. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Violence. Thank you. I'm mad. Thank you. That's his fault. Keep up to you.
0:21.6	Oh, hey, I try to decide.
0:22.6	We're willing to go.
0:36.6	Welcome to the New York Times Popcast, your other side of the game of weekly cultural review. I'm John Caramonica. I'm the critic. I'm Joe Costcarelli, and I'm the reporter. I'm Erica Badu, and I'm the stripper. Window C 2010. Erica Badu is here. At some point in the last 20-plus years, Erica Badu has touched your life and made it better.
0:58.4	Boduism. Mama's gun. Worldwide underground. New America. Architects of Neo-Soul, but an artist who defies any categorization.
1:12.0	Oh, wow.
1:12.6	Erica is here on the couch today.
1:14.5	We're going to talk about her long career.
1:16.8	And then stick around to the end because she's going to walk up to the third floor.
1:20.7	And we're going to bless the newsroom with the performance.
1:23.4	But first, the couch, bienvenu.
1:26.7	I'm happy to be here. It's a blessing. And hats off to both of you. Oh, thank you. Cheers. An honor. Recently, we had Earl sweatshirt here. Okay. And one of the most recent videos of you that I've seen floating around online is of you and Earl in a studio. Earl and I were an alchemist studio.
1:45.3	You know, we've always been friends.
1:47.1	I always done music together.
1:48.6	We just work all the time.
1:49.9	Sure.
1:50.4	We're both Pisces.
1:51.7	We both creatives.
1:53.5	We kind of really got together in Al's studio to start with.
1:57.2	And it was a session that was part of the album.
2:02.7	The Abby and Allen Project.
2:03.9	Abby and Allen Project.
	...

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