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New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
by Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 82 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.2 out of 10
based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 23 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Erykah Badu's latest album was produced by 9th Wonder, Madlib, Mike "Chav" Chavarria, and Bilal.

LABEL: Motown
RELEASE DATE: 26 February 2008
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): R&B, Soul

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
The Guardian
Each listen to New Amerykah brings fresh rewards: it demands to be explored.
Read Full Review
91
Entertainment Weekly
'Honey's' squiggly bass line and cute but inane sentiments (''Honey, you so sweet/Sugar got a long way to catch you'') are perhaps the safest, least interesting efforts on the album. Thankfully, Badu spent 10 other tracks showing us exactly what she can do.
Read Full Review
90
All Music Guide
Immediately moving and yet rather bewildering, New Amerykah, Pt. 1 is an album that sounds special from the first play, yet it will probably take years before it is known just how special it is.
Read Full Review
90
Sputnikmusic
New Amerykah reveals its considerable depths and strengths, and invites the listener to invest the time needed to explore them.
Read Full Review
90
Dot Music
New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War is an insane, obscure and exciting record of the kind that very few artists have the guts or imagination to make anymore.
Read Full Review
90
PopMatters
While the LP is smart and funky as hell, it distinguishes itself because it’s part of a series.
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90
RapReviews.com
In short, it is one of the best albums of the year, and could be one of the best albums of the decade.
Read Full Review
90
Tiny Mix Tapes
What is most impressive about New Amerykah is that Erykah simply breathes life into these tracks.
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88
Los Angeles Times
The result is a collection of demanding, disquieting and beautiful urban hymns that reveal their rewards on repeated listenings.
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87
cokemachineglow
Nearly 1700 words and I still feel like this record’s left me speechless. That’s an epiphany to cherish.
Read Full Review
80
Mojo
NuAmerykah is her boldest and best yet, brilliantly eccentric but repaying every indulgence. [May 2008, p.106]
80
The Wire
The closing 'Honey' leaves all the issues behind and drips with the kind of sultry retro-funk that proves New Amerykah to have been well worth any amount of waiting. [May 2008, p.70]
80
Observer Music Monthly
While Britain and the US are succumbing to a very retro take on the US's R&B heritage, the original queen of neo-soul has taken a giant leap forward.
Read Full Review
80
Uncut
She's far bolder, singing in a strange, little girl's voice over a solitary Chet Baker-style trumpet or chanting mantra-like over a bubbling African rhythm. [May 2008, p.87]
80
Slant Magazine
Badu's spare, pointillist lyrics are almost constantly folded deep within dense, heavy arrangements
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80
Billboard
Curtis Mayfield would be proud of both lyrics and her throwback sound.
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78
Pitchfork
Big tracks aside, it's an awfully static record, which gives it the kind of high-art "difficulty" that we critics have been known to like.
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75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
It's a challenging, even frustrating listen, but Amerykah stakes out Badu's place between vinyl crackle and tape hiss among things to be fond of, no matter how outmoded they become.
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70
The New York Times
It stands to reason that there should be another album’s worth of this material, which flickers back and forth between different kinds of sessions and ideas, some quite elegant, some deeply boring, none of it very well edited.
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70
Village Voice
New Amerykah seems adherent to the old "cohesive studio album" mold of the soul/neo-soul eras.
Read Full Review
70
Boston Globe
From the wild, ominous hard-bop of 'The Cell' to space-age chaos of 'Twinkle' to shimmying, shimmering 'Me,' there's never a dull moment--but more than a few bewildering ones.
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60
Rolling Stone
Some of the music is gripping--the modal-sounding chorus and blippy groove of 'My People' suggests an R&B version of Radiohead--but other tunes feel like absent-minded doodles, and Badu's social consciousness nets middling returns.
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60
NOW Magazine
Working with a forward-looking crew of producers, musicians and writers, including Madlib, the Roots, Sa-Ra Creative Partners and Karriem Riggins, was a wise move; they do a decent job on the funky New Amerykah, a throwback to the black power sound and consciousness-raising themes of the 70s.
Read Full Review
60
Q Magazine
The Dallas-born singer is still making music that's deep and unorthodox. [May 2008, p.141]
25
Hot Press
Veteran hip hop soul princess Erykah Badu's newest creative contribution is ambitious, but lacks the smoothness and cohesive feel of her previous work.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 23 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chris W. gave it a2:
A major disapointment! Her last album was much more focused. This is just garbage at points.

Dan C. gave it a9:
This is a fantastic album. beguiling, groovy, political, ironic, beautiful, messed up, rockin album..

R.T. Mar gave it a6:
Album contains 2 of my all time favorite songs by E.B. Bu 3 that I puposefully erased when saving to my i-Pod. Could have done without the militant black sufferage whining that goes on and on and on in a couple of tracks. Was hoping for a return to Mama's Gun , instead she put out a decent album with a bunch of out-takes from Superfly soundtrack. Good album when you sort through the clutter and politics. Not great by any stretch.

Conquertheworld gave it a3:
Creative in a bad way.

Heak T. gave it a9:
Early contender for album of the year, although she may yet surpass herself with her next installment/s. My favourite Badu album so far too. Very hard to get a multitude of producers on an album without it sounding patchy, but it's varied and consistent at the same time, a rare feat. From the meditative groove of "My People" to the pumped up old-skool workout of "The Cell", it's all immaculately executed, yet incredibly complex. I think critics that complain about lack of real "songs" miss the point; Badu prefers to vamp and let stream-of-consciousness lyrics flow over a beat and bassline, it's her way and it makes for an album that serves as a more worthy descendent of classic 70s funk by Funkadelic, Mayfield and Ohio Players than, say, Jamiroquai. Btw, bonus points for giving Georgia Anne Muldrow a guest spot on Master Teacher. She's ace!

Louis P. gave it a6:
I love me some Erykah Badu and I love me some REAL hip-hop, but I don't know if I love them in the same breath. "New Amerykah" is the marriage of both and too often one bogs down the other. Badu embraces the production, which at least detours from the standard radio garbage, but it also makes her sticks to concepts. Badu's voice rarely brims with the soul of her past successes, replaced with chants that lack charm or the sense of humor that made me fall for her past albums. Even with the political angle, Badu seems to be saying less this time since it all does not come from an emotional place. So thank goodness for "Honey", not because of the content, which is lighter than the rest of the album; but because producer 9th Wonder seems to be as in love with Badu's wobbly, nasal voice as I am. He shapes his production to complement her, where the other producers are just doing there own thing. The critics could be right though. "New Amerykah" might grow on me. On a second listen, I am able to separate the two, and enjoy them on there own merits. But I never had to make an excuse for a Badu album before.

Bc S. gave it a9:
Pretty hot record. General criticism: overexpansive and in need of sharper editing both in terms of lyrical scope and song length. General praise: brimming with creativity; an artist unafraid to flex her brain and sense of humor. Reserve judgment til you've spun the disc from start to finish all the way through. Undeniably hot: "The Hump," "The Healer," "Soldier," and "Twinkle."

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