B-Side Bangers: Erykah Badu

It’s a real queen’s birthday!

The ethereal Erykah Badu makes her milestone 55th lap around the sun today (February 26), still managing to possess that same youthful spirit we all fell in love with back in 1997 when she first emerged on the scene. Even though her signature head wrap that seemed to reach the clouds is far gone — you’d easier find her rocking a mohawk these days! — the innovative soul in everything she touches has remained consistent for the past three decades and counting.

We hope everyone is blasting their favorite Erykah Badu songs today, just like The Vinyl Lounge seems to be getting it on social media (seen below) with the vinyl release for her breakout debut, Baduizm.

RELATED: B-Side Bangers – Mary J. Blige

Of course, we preferred to dig a little deeper with the latest edition of “B-Side Bangers.” With Badu in mind, we found it easy to gather the material yet also quite difficult to narrow it down to the selected few. It was a hard task that took hours of revisiting an artist who helped shape the neo-soul movement and brought R&B to its most eclectic limits — a good day at work, indeed! What you’ll notice is that Badu plays well with others, delivering some of her most serenading recordings as a featured artist on another artist’s deep cut. It’s the best of both worlds, and her vocal style simply transcends from song to song, decade to decade.

As we await a proper follow-up to her last studio album — 16 years, but who’s counting! — we leave you with some b-sides that many fans will know and love and some that might even be fresh on your ears. You’re welcome in advance.

Erykah Badu, we see you! Celebrate the Queen of Neo-Soul on her birthday by checking out the best Badu deep cuts to burn incense to in this very vibey edition of “B-Side Bangers”:

1. “Your Precious Love” (Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell cover featuring D’Angelo) [1996]
Album: High School High: The Soundtrack (by Various Artists)

2. “Drama” (1997)
Album: Baduizm

3. “Ye-Yo” (Live) [1997]
Album: Live

4. “All Night Long” (with Common) [1997]
Album: One Day It’ll All Make Sense (by Common)

5. “One” (with Busta Rhymes) [1997]
Album: When Disaster Strikes… (by Busta Rhymes)

6. “Southern Gul” (with Rahzel) [1999]
Album: Make the Music 2000 (by Rahzel)

7. “Green Eyes” (2000)
Album: Mama’s Gun

8. “The Blast (Remix)” [with Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek as ‘Reflection Eternal’] (2001)
Album: Non-Album Single

9. “I Want You” (2003)
Album: Worldwide Underground

10. “I C U (Doin’ It)” [with A Tribe Called Quest] (2003)
Album: V3: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (unreleased compilation album by Violator Records)

11. “Poetry” (with Q-Tip) [2003]
Album: Hard Groove (by The RH Factor/Roy Hargrove)

12. “Bandy Bandy” (with Zap Mama) [2004]
Album: Ancestry In Progress (by Zap Mama)

13. “That Heat” (with Sérgio Mendes and will.i.am) [2006]
Album: Timeless (by Sérgio Mendes and will.i.am)

14. “Get Live” (with Strange Fruit Project) [2006]
Album: The Healing (by Strange Fruit Project)

15. “The Heart Gently Weeps” (with Wu-Tang Clan, Dhani Harrison and John Frusciante) [2007]
Album: 8 Diagrams (by Wu-Tang Clan)

16. “The Healer” (2008)
Album: New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)

17. “Fall in Love (Your Funeral)” [2010]
Album: New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)

18. “See Thru to U” (with Flying Lotus) [2012]
Album: Until the Quiet Comes (by Flying Lotus)

19. “Caint Use My Phone (Suite)” [2015]
Album: But You Caint Use My Phone

20. “Tempted” (featuring James Poyser) [2019]
Album: The Photograph: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (by Various Artists)