Mama's Gun

Before Lauryn Hill and Macy Gray smacked the world upside its head, turban host organism Erykah Badu was opening ears and moving hips to the new-soul slide with her 1997 hit, Baduizm. The long-awaited Mama’s Gun conjures a similar groove, dipping Badu’s honey-flavored voice in old-school soul, heady funk, sultry jazz, and even back-country blues. Some of the slow-burning ballads are too much on the bland, Peabo Bryson tip, but we guarantee that with the lights turned low and a friendly neighbor between the sheets, you won’t be complaining.