Listen To This

"You've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a human being, dammit! My life has value!" implores a voice of discontent midway through Erykah Badu's ostentatiously-titled New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War. The scream is a culmination of this batch of Badu's songs, which take up the cross of being a person of color in the new millenium. When these issues clash with Badu's roster of A-List hip-hop/soul producers, the result is a record that pays homage to the past while looking forward, both sonically and socially.

Required.