Mini Reviews- Janet Jackson: Discipline, Erykah Badu- New Amerykah
Janet Jackson- Discipline: HOT! This is a great dance album, so much energy, and Janet’s swagger is incredible. She is back!
Erykah Badu- New Amerykah: It pains me to say this but I’m not feeling this at all on any level. I love Badu, but I can’t get with this. I get it, she is going for the Black Militant/Hip Hop consciousness thing so I’m sure people who don’t want to seem un-enlightened will be reluctant to criticize…but I really don’t give a damn. I’ll give her cool points for tackling some serious issues, but on the other hand she totally abandoned addressing more personal aspects of life. The highlight of the album to me was the only genuinely personal song “Me”. She should have tried to find some sort of balance. With that said there are a few good songs, but nothing on the level of anything on Mama’s Gun.
Perhaps if some of her songs weren’t so lazy then I could give her a half a pass, but when you have a song like “My People” that starts off promising but just turns out to be 4 minutes of her repeating “Hold on my people” it just doesn’t cut it. Think about it…this is the same person who once sang ”But everybody wanna ask me why,What good do your words do, If they can’t understand you, Don’t go talkin’ that shit Badu, Badu”. Did she just give up?
Have you guys checked out these albums? What is your take? Are there any other disgruntled Badu fans out there or are you happy she took a totally different direction?
Posted by Reecie
As much as I love my girl, Ms. Badu, I have to co-sign with you. I am not feeling this album either. It just not Erykah. I have all her albums and this was by far disappointing! I’m hoping the next album will be better because I know she is truly talented!
I have a feeling Badu will grow on you, Reecie. As for Penny, overall it’s pretty dope. I’m pleased with both and will be happy for whoever is #1 next week.
best review ever for janet… short and to the point
What youre not feeling Erykahs new joint
granted, that “my people” song left me saying wtf??? but isnt that typical erykah
-this album has been getting major spin on my ipod
-its very comprehensive/complete, it has a vision/theme, not all schizophrenic like mot albums nowadays
-and its chock full of erykah’s quirkiness that i love (I love that within most of the songs during the breakdown, its a small song within the song with different arrangements, cadence, vocal styling)
- i love “me”, “soldier” which she said is likely to be her next single (i can so hear common being on that track and if he was i think he couldve put it over making it hot), “That hump” i love the breakdown, “telephone” and “master teaacher” which she accomplishes saying the word NIGGA repeatedly without it being offensive
- i was also i lil shocked with her claiming Islam on the album, i always thought she was about earth nature, mother earth— not organized religion.
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Janet— i wasnt that impressed, i really only like 2nite, the one with missy and discipline— tha other stuff wasnt doing it to me— her voice can be so lackluster at times— and her lyrics are so lame and minimal, and extremely juvenile at points
-So much better is the equivalent of Erykah’s “my people” with redundant ass lyrics not really going anymore
-i love “whats your name” instrumental/beat (esp how it begins)but was dissapointed what she brought to the track vocally/lyrically
-the reason i like “discipline” so much is bc of the sporadic moments she actually get loud and brings a little intensity instead of the boring whispering thing
badu takes herself to serious
poor songwriting and too much music noodling
I dunno, it’s like Worldwide Underground on crack
album in need of “is you really fixin to make an album full of chants, and stupid noises”
i would have been more interested in the South Dallas Badu, not this philly wierdo shit
erykah’s album is hot. i dunno what you’re smoking. its crazy. twinkle and that hump. as for janet its not that good, only songs i like are rock with u, never letchu go and greatest x.
This album is great on so many levels.
I can understand how the “traditional” e. badu fan might not be able to embrace this record at first, but if you really give it a chance it sucks you in. She definitely went left when everyone was expecting her to go right, but isn’t that what makes the greats so great?? The greats never take you on the same right twice….not Marvin…not Stevie…not Prince…nor Alicia.
I see why “Honey” was the bonus track b/c it sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of the album (also sets you up for Part Two of New Amerykah). The sound has such a winter feel to it. The sounds are dark, the drums are hard….just cold..in a good way! Where as “Honey” just has that spring/summer feel to it… which I’m sure Return of the Ankh will sound like…that record is said to explore her emotional/spiritual side (this one her mental)
I’m listening to “ME” right now. I wanted so much for Badu to just “do it” this time. Colleen Gibson-Wright — that little skit, that could ‘a been a song. Why not make that a song? That’s more like the writing style I expect from her. But this trying to be the next pro black leader or somepn just isn’t working. It looks to much like an “act” — like she went rummaging in some costume store and had an idea.
My People reminds me of something Abbey Lincoln would do with a hip-hop producer.
That feedback song is growing on me. I’m still kind of skeptic to buy that new Janet album. The last Janet album I got was All for you and that wasn’t that greatest album by her. If I like her next few singles than I might check it out.
When did Erykah say she was LEADING the revolution. I keep reading this ‘next pro black leader crap’. And since when is the lyrical content of what New AmErykah brings new for Badu. You all act like she was some diddybobber doin a 360 and ish. From Baduizm, to the Gun, then WWU, to this I see AND hear a steady evolution… actually RE-evolution to bring us modern P-Funk. Read all the press she was getting before the album dropped. She let it be known that this sound was coming and what she’s going for esp for the next two she drops this year.
Now I’m not going to lie, when I first heard it last Thursday when it leaked I was PISSED because in the car I couldn’t hear any of that lyrical flare at first. It took until Monday when I put on the noise cancellation headphones, tuned out the world and gave it a real listen and ever since then it was a wrap. The album is BANGIN hands down. I’d advise all the haters to give it another chance. The content is there. AND YES, I BOUGHT THE ALBUM FIRST THING TUESDAY MORNING!!! SUPPORT GOOD MUSIC PEOPLE.
Joker
Ummm…yeah I don’t see this album growing on me. She has a few good tracks where I hear glimpses of the Badu that made me such a huge fan to begin with. I’ll definitely be pre-screening her next album.
lol @ “I’d advise all the haters to give it another chance.”
The lyrical flare is mostly in the songs that are listed, like the bit after Master Teacher. I would have loved to hear an album with the bit after Master Teacher and the bit after Me — the That’s Colleen skit. That’s the writing I love of Badu, but the other stuff seems lazy like she put no creative thought into and just wanted to be deep.
I meant the songs that AREN’T listed
i love E. Badu’s album and totaly didn’t expect this direction, i bought 2 coppies as soon as i got out of class, its deep and funky all at the same time but some might find it hard to understand, im just waiting for part TWO.
and i totally agree with jermar on the views of janet.
Well I dont know about Erykah Badu’s album cause I havent gotten it yet, but I really love Janet’s album. I admit that I wouldnt know what she was saying on half the songs if they didnt provide the lyrics,lol. Nevertheless, its cool cause I still love Janet, plus her dance and slow songs are just good. My favorite is LUV & Discipline.
New Amerykah is part one of a trilogy, and i’ve heard that part two should be more personal, so if you’re looking for that more personal stuff you should definitely wait until July (i think). The album is great and i don’t think you should take the past as example; there’s an evolution every time she drops an album and i didn’t expect more or less from her. The Healer, Honey, Me, My people (a long interlude), Soldier…all great songs; The Cell, Master Teacher & Twinkle got that P-Funk crazy style…And the end, That hump & Telephone is that typical Badu style…So overall, a complete cypher of styles on part one. Watch out for part two; with that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0F-LcbCOc on it; a Ta’Raach production. SICK!
Badu is the Queen.
Ow, and don’t have any opinion on Janet or should i say she’s trying too hard…She should start a band with Britney! For Real.
I didnt pick up janet… been disappointed on the last 2 didnt feel like getting burned again… For me… last tuesday was all about Algebra’s album… I havent been able to take that out of rotation… I did pick up erykah’s too though
I really don’t understand why you would consider Erykah’s work on this very powerful album to be “lazy” just because it wasn’t neccessarily what you wanted to hear from her. Should she be making carbon copies of Mama’s Gun and Baduizm (where actually her easy flow throughout those albums could be described as more “lazy”)or whatever she feels her fans want to hear? This album threw me at first too as it was definitely a revamping of her “usual” style. Yet, I gave NEW Amerykah a chance because I respect Erykah that much as an artist. It’s very personal. Very political. And very courageous. Definitely nothing to be dismissed. Her shit could never be wack. (Well it could be, but I don’t see that happening in the near future) She could never be cliche or just trying to be militant. And for those fans who now need to prescreen her albums based on what they think her style should be Part 2: Return of the Ankh drops in July (the name says it all). She already knows…
I have to say I didn’t like the album at first, but there are some serious highlights on this album. If there’s something that’s not understandable, research it because that’s what I did. This is the first album that I’ve actually gone searching for lyrics for, from any artist in a LONG time. If you break down some of the things she’s saying in some of these skits and in some of the songs it makes great sense. I’m addicted to Master Teacher, The Healer, That Hump, and a few others. It wasn’t something that I expected, when I originally listened to it. It was too uncomfortable, the sounds. But I enjoy it so much because the words are still there, but sometimes you have to listen for them in between verses.
Love & Light,
jaha
Reecie, I respect your opinion as a critic/blogger but she didn’t give up, she just went down a road that most people didn’t expect her to go. At first, I was like, “WTF??” but after a few spins, the album grew on me. Now I’ll admit, it’s taken some time to really appreciate some of the songs like “My People.” I thought it was lazy of her to make a song like that but play that song after a long, hard day of working or during a stressful, distressing time and you’ll come to really appreciate it. I understand the beat changes in some of the songs now, they show the unpredictability and rhythm changes of life. For example, the beat changes towards the end of “Me,” a tribute to her mother. When you have a baby, your life changes, hence the end of the song. But some of my friends like it, others hate it and that’s very understandable because this is a love-hate album. The fans that are the most disappointed are the ones that were expecting that “Mama’s Gun” or even that “Baduizm” swagger, but I’m glad she didn’t go that route, and I’m a fan. She has to grow and keep thinking progressive. And just for the record, the next album, which is due in July, is supposed to be more soulful and emotional. The third, due sometime in the fourth quarter, will be funk.