Erykah Badu

A fly love, uh uh say what

Common, Erykah Badu, Pharrell Williams, Q-Tip. "Come Close Remix (Closer)." Come Close, Geffen Records, 2003.

Let's get this week started off right.

🎶 Come close to me
Come close baby, come close ma (baby, baby)
Let me hold you love, come closer love
Know this world gets
It gets crazy baby, it gets crazy girl (but)
What's it without you, you, you, you? 🎶

He became the sun, I became the moon

Erykah Badu. "Other Side of the Game." Baduizm, Universal Records Inc., 1997.

🎶 Now, me and baby got this situation
See brotha got this complex occupation
And it ain't that he don't have education
Cause I was right there at his graduation

Now, I ain't sayin' that this life don't work
But it's me and baby that he hurts
Cause I tell him right
He thinks I'm wrong
But I love him strong
He gave me the life that I came to live
Gave me the song that I came to give
Pressure on me
But the seed had grown
I can't make it on my own
Summer came around and the flowers bloomed
He became the sun
I became the moon
Precious gifts that we both received
Or could this be make believe

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you
Work ain't honest but it pays the bills
(Work ain't honest but it pays the bills)
What we gonna do when they come for you
Gave me the life that I came to live
Yes, you did

Don't worry baby
Don't I know there's confusion
God's gonna see us through (yeah)
Peace out to revolution
But we paid though 🎶

Say wait a minute, Queen

ERYKAH BADU. "... & ON." MAMA'S GUN, MOTOWN RECORD COMPANY L.P., 2000.

I first witnessed Miss Erykah Badu perform at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom in June 2008. She stepped out on stage sporting a plaid leisure suit and a sky-high afro beaming out in all directions. Touring for her New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) album, she was pure fire, a true artist.

This flip of On & On from her 1997 debut Baduizm always puts me in a state of CAF. For Erykah in one of her cooler moments, check out the video below for "Love Of My Life" featuring former flame Common (skip ahead to 1:24 or listen the whole way through). We won't stop until the break of da-ooh-ooh-ooh-wn.

I'm a bit too dangerous, if you want me you should just...

Lion Babe. "Treat Me Like Fire." Lion Babe EP, LION BABE LLC, under exclusive licence to Outsiders Recorded Music Ltd. / Polydor Ltd. (UK), 2014.

When we caught The Roots play Oakland's Fox Theater just after Christmas 2014, I had no idea we'd be in for a serious treat care of their opening act. Singer Jill Hervey -- daughter of the stunning Vanessa Williams -- came out on stage with her wild mane, legs for days, a voice reminiscent of Erykah Badu, and a mesmerizing stage presence. "Treat Me Like Fire" instantly got inside my head, as I tried to place the sample (The Guess Who's "These Eyes"? Not quite.), the sultry and soulful "At The Hotel" by Eunice Collins. Production by Lucas Goodman, inspired by the late great J Dilla, Flying Lotus, and Timbaland, is on point (with some help from Pharrell).

Lion Babe returns to the Bay Area for a benefit concert this Wednesday, September 14th with Common at the Masonic. Tickets are $40 and all proceeds support Black Girls Code.