115. Erykah Badu- Baduizm (1997)
Ms. Badu is one of my favorite artists so I have to review one of her albums. This is a very important album for the Neo Soul movement which was a rising genre during the mid- to late 90's. Before the D Angelo's, Badu's and Maxwell's, Neo Soul was a common underground/non commercial genre. This album along with others helped commercialized the genre and is commonly recognized as one of the major important album's for the genre.
This album mostly fuses neo soul, soul, funk, hip hop and jazz. Ms. Badu channeled Billie Holiday's raw emotions through her singing and covered a wide range of subjects such as love, deception, social issues, substance abuse, self esteem, friendship, poverty, maternal issues and family.
If you love old school traditional soul R&B then you will enjoy this album. Ms. Badu wants to enlighten you with her personal struggles with love and her opinions on social issues with sincerity and with class. This is a classic album and a must listen.