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New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh Image
Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 25 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 77 Ratings

  • Summary: Unlike New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War, the follow-up is the opposite of the 2008 release, with songs about relationships and love and with a more analog sound.

Top Track

Window Seat
so, presently I'm standing here right now you're so demanding tell me what you want from me concluding concentrating on my music, lover and my... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 25
  2. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh's comfortable style only makes it that much easier to get pleasantly lost in.
  2. With a single flutter, she exudes both confidence and insecurity. With each fragile note, she conveys experience and doe-eyed enthusiasm, optimism and loneliness, and ends up wooing us and wowing us in the process.
  3. Whether the specifics involve being needed or wanting to fly away, lusting for someone or letting go, "New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh" is a velvety, but still appealingly odd, exploration that feels more like a casual counterweight than a heady sequel.
  4. Mojo
    80
    Through the hypnotic, J Dilla produced Love to the ghostly Incense, the short skit You Loving Me to the skittish jazz of Agitation, it's the sound of an artist in full, uncensored flow. [June 2010, p. 93]
  5. The spacey, meandering jams flow effortlessly, bringing to mind sunny afternoons with an old lover and a big bag of weed. No, it’s not the kind of album that’ll change the world, but it might just be the perfect summer soundtrack of the year.
  6. Part II is an altogether more personal and laidback affair, concerned with romance and emotions.
  7. Badu seems so taken by hazy texture--and so determined to play the weirdo--that she's neglected to write many actual songs.

See all 25 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 10
  2. Negative: 2 out of 10
  1. May 21, 2019
    10
    It's great to hear Badu returning to her vibe from her earlier works in Mama's Gun and Baduizm.
  2. HankP
    Apr 8, 2010
    10
    Initially underwhelming, but grows on you like crazy.
  3. Urghee
    Apr 13, 2010
    10
    This is dope! And it gets better and better after each listening.
  4. Nov 15, 2011
    7
    This part two can get to be even better than the first one. But, either way, just one song stands out off the bunch: 'Window Seat'. Might beThis part two can get to be even better than the first one. But, either way, just one song stands out off the bunch: 'Window Seat'. Might be this, the record for life from Erykah. Even though, she could have not put some dongd in this CD, because it sounded a little bit too long for me. Expand
  5. Nov 29, 2021
    7
    Return of the Ankh is a relief in that Badu does not attempt to trump herself with a set that is even more intense and powerful than itsReturn of the Ankh is a relief in that Badu does not attempt to trump herself with a set that is even more intense and powerful than its predecessor.if 4th World War drank three whole jars of holy water. It doesn't sound one bit like her debut (as early reports indicated), but it does bear the mark of its creator having rolled through the full cipher. Expand
  6. ChristopherS
    Apr 8, 2010
    5
    More compassionate than the last album, she experiments too much w/ her 'veteran' rather than her talent.
  7. uptonk
    Apr 12, 2010
    1
    Very boring. I think she's running on ganja fumes. Where are the songs? These are more like ideas unfulfilled. This is one of those Very boring. I think she's running on ganja fumes. Where are the songs? These are more like ideas unfulfilled. This is one of those projects where the performer's ego is the only thing running the show. A real snooze. Expand

See all 10 User Reviews

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