Erykah Badu

Personal context

Summary

Erykah Badu is a singer-songwriter and actor known for Baduizm, Mama’s Gun and New Amerykah Part One, as well as roles in films including The Cider House Rules and What Men Want. Her music ranges from intimate soul and spirituality to social commentary on black identity and life in America. She helped popularize “stay woke” through “Master Teacher” and later said the term had been turned into a put-down for black people. Badu has described herself as “not a feminist” but a humanist, and has said she is “not very political.”