Erykah Badu

Erica "Erykah" Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), better known as Erykah Badu, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, activist, and actress.

Erykah Badu, 2011

Quotes

• Discipline is important, we need to be more focused on what we put into our bodies.
  • From the documentary Holistic Wellness for the Hip-Hop Generation (2003); quoted in "Common, Sticman, Badu Featured In New Health Documentary", AllHipHop (13 August 2003).

• I've been vegan for two years and vegetarian for 20 years. I used to be a dancer, and so health and vitality have always been important to me. I wouldn't say it took any one big event, vegetarianism just always made sense to me. [What farmed animals] endure is just terrible. It's horrible … Vegan food is soul food in its truest form. Soul food means to feed the soul. And, to me, your soul is your intent. If your intent is pure, you are pure.
  • "Erykah Badu", interview with VegNews (6 October 2008).

• Art is my religion.
  • Erykah-Badu.com, quote on official website.

• “I consider myself a performance artist more than a recording artist. The stage is where I feel the most comfortable in expressing who I am, where I am, discovering things about myself. It's more therapy than it is a job. Recording is like perfecting a moment, where performing live is just creating a moment. And I love the feeling of creating that thing that just disappears and evaporates into time. You have it on your phone or video but for me, it's over after the moment. And there's something really beautiful about being able to just let go of something after you create it.”
  • On how she views her artistry in “Erykah Badu On Stand-Up, Meeting Prince And 'Unpopular Opinions'” in NPR (2018 Aug 15)

• “I can see the evidence of that when I listen to music or hear young artists talk and they’re not shy at all about telling me thank you for the things I’ve contributed to them.”
  • On her influence on younger artists in “'I'm not sorry I said it': Erykah Badu on music, motherhood and wildly unpopular opinions” in The Guardian (2018 May 24)

• “I’ve learned so many things since then. I’ve changed in a way that involves elimination for the sake of evolution. There’s less emphasis on trying to figure things out. It’s about letting things be. I’m focusing on listening to the silence underneath everything. That’s what I try to connect with. I can listen to the silence right here, right now while we’re talking, and it feels so good. I’m in love with the silence.”
  • On how her viewpoint has changed since releasing the album Baduizm in “In Conversation: Erykah Badu” in New York Magazine (Jan 2018)

• “I don’t regret anything. I don’t like to make people feel uncomfortable or bad. But people are very sensitive in this climate. It’s very understandable. I totally understand. I get mad with them. I get it…But no. I would never take back a message of love…I’m sorry that it was misunderstood. But not sorry for saying it because it was from a place of love. And sometimes that happens.”
  • On the pitfalls of expression her opinions in in “'I'm not sorry I said it': Erykah Badu on music, motherhood and wildly unpopular opinions” in The Guardian (2018 May 24)

• “People can be bad for certain things. They could be bad around children. They could be bad with power. Are those people all ‘bad’? Could be. Maybe they need to get kicked off the planet. I don’t know. Each thing is individual. There aren’t rules for how we can or should think about something. We don’t have to believe everything we’re hearing. At least I don’t think we do. I’m glad I don’t watch this stuff.”
  • On how injustice and anger is interpreted in society in “In Conversation: Erykah Badu” in New York Magazine (Jan 2018)

• “I think it’s necessary. The world creates things up out of prayers that people pray and have. Things begin to move accordingly to how we all collectively think. When you see collectives moving on something you know that there’s going to be some kind of mass migration to a higher place, and I see that in the world as a whole, not just in America. I see it all over the globe. People are organizing and fusing together to make change, and it’s inspiring. I think it’s part of the natural order of things. We’re evolving, and what helps us evolve is social media. Social media is social evolution. It’s sparking a great change.”
  • On her viewpoint regarding the Black Lives Matter movement in “The Queen Speaks: An Interview with Erykah Badu” in Vice (2015 Oct 27)