Baduizm is heralded as a pivotal record that resurrects the energies of soul and jazz music past, rooting itself in hip-hop overtones that are both inviting and enchanting. It’s hard enough to have a good debut, let alone a masterpiece out the gate Badu makes the insurmountable look commonplace.

Speaks for itself: triple-platinum, Grammy-winning, and the record to put Erykah Badu far ahead of her contemporaries. This is the debut album that set it all off. Since Worldwide Underground’s in your Anthology box set, here’s a primer on Badu’s career to give soul to the uninitiated. Badu remains an icon and an elder, her sounds set toward peace and healing even as we fight many of the same wars. It’s funk for funk’s sake, granting Badu the chance to get free without the extra weight of the world on her shoulders. Badu’s 2003 album Worldwide Underground came in the wake of these struggles, but perseveres by channeling the jam session cypher energy of her roots into an album-long exercise of form and mood.

The following years found sent her on a tear: she became a Soulquarian - frequently collaborating with the likes of The Roots and J Dilla - toured extensively, and remained a critical darling even as she struggled with public breakups, writer’s block, and a search for new creative energy. She sold millions worldwide, earned several Grammy nominations, and released a Live album soon after, giving birth to her first-born Seven on the release day. In ’97, Baduizm dropped to critical acclaim, and Erykah Badu became a worldwide name for her innovations in R&B and neo-soul. Massenberg went on to sign Badu as a solo artist, and the Kedar imprint ended up under the Universal Records umbrella. That same year, Massenberg orchestrated Badu’s appearance alongside D’Angelo on their rendition of the Marvin Gaye single “Your Precious Love” for the High School High soundtrack. It wasn’t until ’96 that their demo caught fire, eventually landing on the desk of Kedar Massenberg: a record producer just getting his Kedar Entertainment imprint off the ground. After leaving Grambling before graduating in ’93 to make things shake, Badu returned to Houston and worked several odd jobs as a teacher and a waitress while continuing to perform and cut demos with Free.

She attended Grambling State in 1989, and started the group Erykah Free with her Chicago-based cousin Robert ‘Free’ Bradford on production.

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