Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu "New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)" (Motown/Universal) ***1/2 Erykah Badu continues to make the case that she's one of hip-hop's few genuine, and certainly most important, artists. She does it, paradoxically, by transcending genre to make that point, and on her new CD, she rifles with an alchemist's agenda through jazz, electronica, '70s soul and hip-hop. But it's her underrated role as wordsmith that most dazzles.

ERYKAH BADU had song ideas bursting into her brain at such a pace she could barely keep up. If it weren't for her 8-year-old son, in fact, a lot of that material might have been lost. "I was singing into my phone and recording things into the answering machine, and my son says, 'You don't have to do that, Ma,' " recalls Badu. "He says, 'All you have to do is blah blah blah with the computer. This is Garageband, and the jack is here, and click on this and write the lyrics and sing it.'

Roughly three quarters of the way through her triumphant two-hour set Thursday night at the Greek Theatre, Erykah Badu paused to explain the meaning of the word "vortex" to the capacity crowd. According to Badu, a vortex is a "swirling cloud of energy that sucks everything into its orbit." Further explaining the nomenclature behind "The Vortex Tour," her two-month jag across the United States, Badu declared that there are five natural vortices on the Earth and "whenever this tour isn't near one, we're going to create one of our own using the energy of the audience."

Underplaying her cosmic persona, hip-hop star Erykah Badu was casual and down-to-earth during a late-night Friday performance at the Knitting Factory Hollywood. Rather than becoming ordinary, however, the presentation emphasized the grit and urgency in her messages of social justice, love and self-respect. The show's purpose was to shoot video footage for the singer-songwriter's Web site, but it also provided fans in the packed house a rare chance to hear her in an intimate setting.

Singer Erykah Badu walks onto the stage at Billboard Live wearing a form-fitting dress made of a motley assortment of rag-like materials--patches of brown, purple velvet, a pattern of orange and white diamonds. The dress is symbolic. In her music, Badu takes patches of musical eras, mixes them together and wears them with attitude. "I'm a recycler," she later explains. "I take other people's trash and make it art."

Singer Erykah Badu walks onto the stage at Billboard Live wearing a form-fitting dress made of a motley assortment of raglike materials--patches of brown, purple velvet, a pattern of orange and white diamonds. The dress is symbolic. In her music, Badu takes patches of musical eras, mixes them together and wears them with attitude. "I'm a recycler," she later explains. "I take other people's trash and make it art."

Erykah Badu, the high priestess of hip-hop soul, has already captivated much of the pop world with "Baduizm," her beautifully seductive debut album, which features a lulling mix of jazzy soul, Egyptian spiritualism and lyrics that speak on subjects ranging from reincarnation to cultural oppression.

A very pregnant Erykah Badu is scheduled to perform a mini-concert tonight at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, as part of the post-premiere benefit for "Eve's Bayou," a film starring Samuel L. Jackson (who's also producing), Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Diahann Carroll, Vondie Curtis Hall and Branford Marsalis. These cast members are expected to turn out for the benefit (proceeds are scheduled to go to the International House of Blues Foundation).