Mama's Gun
Encyclopedia
Mama's Gun is the second studio album
by American recording artist Erykah Badu
, released November 21, 2000, on Motown Records
. Recording sessions for the album took place from 1999 to 2000 at Electric Lady Studios
in New York City
. Mama's Gun encompasses such musical styles as jazz
and soul
, and it contains confessional lyrics by Badu, which cover themes of insecurity, social issues and personal relationships. The album has been viewed as a female companion to neo soul artist D'Angelo
's second album Voodoo (2000), which features a similar musical style and direction.
The album contains the single "Bag Lady
", a top 10 Billboard
hit, nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
and for Best R&B Song. The song "Didn't Cha Know?
" was also nominated for Best R&B Song. The album features substantial contributions from several members of the Soulquarians
outfit, of which Badu was a member. It also features guests such as soul singer Betty Wright
and trumpeter Roy Hargrove
. Mama's Gun was met with great critical success and sold strongly, reaching Platinum
two months after its release. Thematically the album explores topics regarding self-esteem, relationship breakdowns, and police brutality
, and features a more eclectic sound than its predecessor. Rolling Stone
magazine named it amongst its Top 10 Albums of 2000.
and its follow up, Live
, Badu took a short break to tend to her role as a mother to her newborn child, Seven, whom she had with her partner at the time, André Benjamin. She returned to collaborating with Questlove of The Roots
. The frequency of their collaborations led to her becoming a member of the Soulquarians
- a collective formed of like-minded musicians, singers and rappers including Questlove, D'Angelo
, Jay Dee, and Common
(with whom she had previously worked in 1997). Unfortunately, by the time the songs for her follow up album had begun to materialize, her spousal relationship with Benjamin had already broken down. Badu used the experience as inspiration for several of the songs that she would write, most notably "Green Eyes". Another event, the murder of Amadou Diallo
by New York City Police, serves as the basis for the song "A.D. 2000". Critics have noted that while Baduizm contained its share of cryptic lyricism, Mama's Gun is much more direct in its approach, and places the artist in a subjective position more than its predecessor.
As with other Soulquarian collaborations, the majority of the album was recorded at Electric Lady
, Jimi Hendrix
's personal recording studio, which was also used to create several landmark albums by David Bowie
, Stevie Wonder
, and John Lennon
. The sessions were informal, and took place simultaneously with D'Angelo's Voodoo and Common's Like Water for Chocolate
, resulting in impromptu collaborations and a distinctive sound that can be found among the three albums. Renown recording engineer, Russell Elevado
, who was responsible for the mixing of all three albums, has stated that he used older techniques and vintage mixing gear in order to achieve the warmth found in older recordings. While most current recording techniques involve the use of hi-tech digital equipment, Elevado employed the use of analog equipment including vintage microphones and recording to tape.
. Jay Dee had been working with Common on his album but was yet to meet Badu, so the rapper arranged for the two to meet. She relates the song's creation:
It was the second single and garnered some unwanted attention when the source of its sample, jazz fusion
band Tarika Blue, filed a suit seeking compensation for its release as thus. The case was settled out of court. The song "...& On" is a continuation of her 1997 hit "On & On" and, like that song, sees Badu waxing cryptically yet again, although she conscientiously teases her own mystic image when she sings "What good do your words do if they can't understand you? Don't go talkin' that shit, Badu". After this song, the album jumps into "Cleva
", which begins with the line "this is how I look without make-up". Badu uses the song to challenge accepted standards of female values when she asks "She's cleva and I really wanna grow, but why come you're the last to know?". The issue of self-esteem is further explored on two other songs; the funk-jam "Booty", and the jazzy album version of "Bag Lady
". On the latter, Badu uses the titular "bag lady" as a metaphor for a woman who carries emotional baggage
over from her previous relationships and is unable to let anyone get close to her. She stresses the importance of obtaining closure when she sings: "Bag lady, you gon' hurt your back/Draggin' all them bags like that/I guess nobody ever told you/All you must hold on to is you". The controversial 1999 shooting of Guinea immigrant Amadou Diallo
by the NYPD's Street Crimes Unit served as the basis for "A.D. 2000" (the abbreviation standing for Diallo's initials). Rather than singing a condemnation of the NYPD, as had most other artists who were incensed by the event, Badu chose to sing an elegy
which, while noting the tragedy of Diallo's killing, also observes the furor over the circumstances, which she viewed as likely to be temporary: "No you won't be name'n no buildings after me/To go down dilapidated ooh/No you won't be name'n no buildings after me/My name will be misstated, surely". The song recalls other symbolic protest songs such as "Strange Fruit
" by Billie Holiday
, an artist with whom Badu has received some favorable comparisons. Mama's Gun contains two back-to-back love songs; the dreamy, astronomical ballad "Orange Moon", and the acoustic, reggae-tinged "In Love With You" - a duet between Badu and Stephen Marley
.
The last song, and arguable centerpiece of the album, "Green Eyes", is a sprawling, three-part epic exploring the contradicting emotions of a woman trying to cope with a breakup. The first part, titled "Movement 1 (denial)", features piano by James Poyser, trumpets by Roy Hargrove
, and sounds akin to the effect of being heard through a 1930s gramophone
record player. It sees Badu singing in a soft bluesy baritone comparable to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald
. In this section of the song, Badu denies feeling hurt when she finds out that her former lover has a new partner. She sings: "My eyes are green/Cause I eat a lot of vegetables/It don't have nothing to do with your new friend". The second movement, dubbed "acceptance", features bass guitar, flutes, and piano and is a lot jazzier, featuring brush-stroke drums by Questlove. In this section she sings: "I can't remember the last time I felt this way about somebody/You've done something to my mind/And I can't control it/But I don't love you any more/Yes I do, I think/Loving you is wrong". In the third section, she finally succumbs to her emotions and reveals at once, feelings of regret, abandonment, and unfulfilled promises, as well as a yearning to rekindle an affair which almost certainly consumed her, and which she has yet to move on from: "Don't you want be strong with me?/You told me we could have a family/Want to run to me when you're down and low/But times get tough and there you go/Out the door, you wanna run again/Open your arms and you'll come back in/Wanna run cause you say you're afraid". Because of her highly publicized involvement with André Benjamin, many assumed that she was referring to their break-up in the song and also on her song "Tyrone", however both parties have stated that there is no animosity between them and that they are on good terms, and speak regularly (it is worth noting that "Tyrone" was recorded in 1997, while the pair were still an item). Benjamin responded to the rumors in the song "A Life in the Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete)", from the 2003 Outkast
album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
.
song "Xxplosive". The popularity of the song landed the album at #11 in the national charts when it was released four months later in October, 2000. This was a noticeable drop from Baduizms peak chart position of #2, although the album sold strongly and had reached Platinum by late December the same year. Despite this, there were only two more singles released from the album, the latter of which received no music video and barely any promotion, although Badu herself did direct a rare video for "Penitentiary Philosophy", which was not released as a single.
and for Best R&B Song, while "Didn't Cha Know" was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song
. Rolling Stone
magazine listed it among their Top 10 Albums of 2000, applauded her for taking "chances the way Stevie Wonder or Nina Simone did in their prime" and went on to say "she has taken her art to the next level." Entertainment Weekly
called the album a "'70s soul homage featuring live musicians and a smooth-funk sound that wouldn't be out of place on a CTI
record". Elysa Gardner of USA Today
gave the album three out of four stars and complimented Badu's songwriting. CMJ included it in their Best Of The Year roundup and called it "a sultry concoction of mild jazz and soft '70s marked by an all-around reverence for 'retro'....demonstrating her true artistry." In his review for PopMatters
, music critic Wayne Franklin wrote:
The A.V. Club
s Keith Phipps praised Badu's lyrical themes and the album's "deceptively simple arrangements, a lovely breakup suite ('Green Eyes'), and near-infinite replay value". Noted music critic, Robert Christgau
(of the Village Voice), gave the album a rating of "A" and commented that "maybe her sources are autobiographical, but she’s here to inspire all black-identified women and the men who admire them." Noting the relatively lukewarm reception of the album when compared with Baduizm, Bill Meyer wrote for Ink Blot magazine that "it's everything we say we want in music: gutsy, introspective, innovative, bold, real in a way that few other albums even try to be--and yet nobody was talking about this record at the end of the year." Meyer was particularly vocal in his praise of Badu's artistry, boldly lauding Mama's Gun as an album that is "as good and important as all those soul and rock albums my friends say aren't made anymore: Talking Book
, Court and Spark
, Curtis, Darkness on the Edge of Town
, What's Going On
, Maggot Brain
, all them." In closing he called Badu "the most important American musician working today". The New York Times
s Jon Pareles
named it the fifth best album of 2000.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American recording artist Erykah Badu
Erykah Badu
Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
, released November 21, 2000, on Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
. Recording sessions for the album took place from 1999 to 2000 at Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios, at 52 West 8th Street, in New York City's Greenwich Village, is a recording studio originally built by Jimi Hendrix and designed by John Storyk in 1970...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Mama's Gun encompasses such musical styles as jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and it contains confessional lyrics by Badu, which cover themes of insecurity, social issues and personal relationships. The album has been viewed as a female companion to neo soul artist D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
's second album Voodoo (2000), which features a similar musical style and direction.
The album contains the single "Bag Lady
Bag Lady
"Bag Lady" is the first single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song is about a woman trying to begin anew in a relationship, but who has too much emotional "baggage" and can't get close to people. The message of the song is to "pack light" and have hope for the future...
", a top 10 Billboard
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
hit, nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for quality R&B songs...
and for Best R&B Song. The song "Didn't Cha Know?
Didn't Cha Know?
"Didn't Cha Know?" is the second single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for 2001....
" was also nominated for Best R&B Song. The album features substantial contributions from several members of the Soulquarians
Soulquarians
The Soulquarians is a neo soul and hip hop-informed musical collective with members from Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Richmond, Brooklyn, Chicago, Dallas, and Oakland. The collective formed during the late 1990s, continuing into the early 2000s, and produced several well-received albums...
outfit, of which Badu was a member. It also features guests such as soul singer Betty Wright
Betty Wright
Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...
and trumpeter Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
. Mama's Gun was met with great critical success and sold strongly, reaching Platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
two months after its release. Thematically the album explores topics regarding self-esteem, relationship breakdowns, and police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
, and features a more eclectic sound than its predecessor. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine named it amongst its Top 10 Albums of 2000.
Background and recording
After the success of BaduizmBaduizm
Baduizm is the debut album of R&B and neo soul musician Erykah Badu, released February 11, 1997 on Kedar Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during January to October 1996 at Battery Studios in New York City, Sigma Sounds & Ivory Studios in Philadelphia, and Dallas Sound Lab in...
and its follow up, Live
Live (Erykah Badu album)
Live is a live concert album by American R&B singer Erykah Badu, released in 1997 . Apparent throughout Live is the raw emotion that Badu shows when performing...
, Badu took a short break to tend to her role as a mother to her newborn child, Seven, whom she had with her partner at the time, André Benjamin. She returned to collaborating with Questlove of The Roots
The Roots
The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals...
. The frequency of their collaborations led to her becoming a member of the Soulquarians
Soulquarians
The Soulquarians is a neo soul and hip hop-informed musical collective with members from Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, Richmond, Brooklyn, Chicago, Dallas, and Oakland. The collective formed during the late 1990s, continuing into the early 2000s, and produced several well-received albums...
- a collective formed of like-minded musicians, singers and rappers including Questlove, D'Angelo
D'Angelo
Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
, Jay Dee, and Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
(with whom she had previously worked in 1997). Unfortunately, by the time the songs for her follow up album had begun to materialize, her spousal relationship with Benjamin had already broken down. Badu used the experience as inspiration for several of the songs that she would write, most notably "Green Eyes". Another event, the murder of Amadou Diallo
Amadou Diallo
Amadou Diallo was a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant in New York City who was shot and killed on February 4, 1999 by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss. The four officers fired a total of 41 shots...
by New York City Police, serves as the basis for the song "A.D. 2000". Critics have noted that while Baduizm contained its share of cryptic lyricism, Mama's Gun is much more direct in its approach, and places the artist in a subjective position more than its predecessor.
As with other Soulquarian collaborations, the majority of the album was recorded at Electric Lady
Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios, at 52 West 8th Street, in New York City's Greenwich Village, is a recording studio originally built by Jimi Hendrix and designed by John Storyk in 1970...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
's personal recording studio, which was also used to create several landmark albums by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, and John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. The sessions were informal, and took place simultaneously with D'Angelo's Voodoo and Common's Like Water for Chocolate
Like Water for Chocolate (album)
Like Water for Chocolate is the fourth studio album by American hip hop rapper Common, released March 28, 2000 on MCA Records. It was a considerable critical and commercial breakthrough for Common, receiving generally favorable reviews from major magazine publications and selling 70,000 copies in...
, resulting in impromptu collaborations and a distinctive sound that can be found among the three albums. Renown recording engineer, Russell Elevado
Russell Elevado
Russell Elevado , is a recording engineer and record producer based in New York City. Elevado's achievement for recording and mixing contemporary R&B recording artist D'Angelo's critically acclaimedVoodoo album, gained him a Grammy award in 2000...
, who was responsible for the mixing of all three albums, has stated that he used older techniques and vintage mixing gear in order to achieve the warmth found in older recordings. While most current recording techniques involve the use of hi-tech digital equipment, Elevado employed the use of analog equipment including vintage microphones and recording to tape.
Music
The album opens with the explosive, psychedelic, guitar-lead "Penitentiary Philosophy", which features a sample of Stevie Wonder's "Ordinary Pain", heavy drumming from Questlove, and guitar by Jef Lee Johnson. The song is an expression of what Badu sees as a state of mental imprisonment. She urges disillusionment and liberation from false beliefs: "Here's my philosophy/Livin' in a penitentiary/Brothers all on the corner/Tryin' to make believe/Turn around ain't got no pot to pee". The song features a twice-repeated breakdown section where she almost whispers her lyrics, as the music slowly builds up and launches back into the main groove. The following song, the spiritual "Didn't Cha Know", features ethnic-sounding percussion, wah-wahs, and emotive strings. The song was produced by Jay Dee with contributions from James PoyserJames Poyser
James Poyser in Sheffield, England is a multi-Grammy winning songwriter, musician and multi-platinum producer.Poyser has written and produced songs for various legendary and award-winning artists including Erykah Badu, Mariah Carey, John Legend, Lauryn Hill, Common, Anthony Hamilton, D'Angelo,...
. Jay Dee had been working with Common on his album but was yet to meet Badu, so the rapper arranged for the two to meet. She relates the song's creation:
It was the second single and garnered some unwanted attention when the source of its sample, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
band Tarika Blue, filed a suit seeking compensation for its release as thus. The case was settled out of court. The song "...& On" is a continuation of her 1997 hit "On & On" and, like that song, sees Badu waxing cryptically yet again, although she conscientiously teases her own mystic image when she sings "What good do your words do if they can't understand you? Don't go talkin' that shit, Badu". After this song, the album jumps into "Cleva
Cleva
"Cleva" is the third and final single from American singer Erykah Badu's second studio album, Mama's Gun . It was produced by Badu, J Dilla, and James Poyser, a member of the Soulquarians and Badu's own production team Frequency...
", which begins with the line "this is how I look without make-up". Badu uses the song to challenge accepted standards of female values when she asks "She's cleva and I really wanna grow, but why come you're the last to know?". The issue of self-esteem is further explored on two other songs; the funk-jam "Booty", and the jazzy album version of "Bag Lady
Bag Lady
"Bag Lady" is the first single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song is about a woman trying to begin anew in a relationship, but who has too much emotional "baggage" and can't get close to people. The message of the song is to "pack light" and have hope for the future...
". On the latter, Badu uses the titular "bag lady" as a metaphor for a woman who carries emotional baggage
Emotional baggage
Emotional baggage can be defined as 'Painful memories, mistrust and hurt carried around from past sexual or emotional rejection'.It is an image of 'a big sack that you carry around with you at all times...[with] every disappointment, trauma, and wrong that you've ever experienced....This image, the...
over from her previous relationships and is unable to let anyone get close to her. She stresses the importance of obtaining closure when she sings: "Bag lady, you gon' hurt your back/Draggin' all them bags like that/I guess nobody ever told you/All you must hold on to is you". The controversial 1999 shooting of Guinea immigrant Amadou Diallo
Amadou Diallo
Amadou Diallo was a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant in New York City who was shot and killed on February 4, 1999 by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss. The four officers fired a total of 41 shots...
by the NYPD's Street Crimes Unit served as the basis for "A.D. 2000" (the abbreviation standing for Diallo's initials). Rather than singing a condemnation of the NYPD, as had most other artists who were incensed by the event, Badu chose to sing an elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
which, while noting the tragedy of Diallo's killing, also observes the furor over the circumstances, which she viewed as likely to be temporary: "No you won't be name'n no buildings after me/To go down dilapidated ooh/No you won't be name'n no buildings after me/My name will be misstated, surely". The song recalls other symbolic protest songs such as "Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who released her first recording of it in 1939, the year she first sang it. Written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem, it exposed American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings had occurred...
" by Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, an artist with whom Badu has received some favorable comparisons. Mama's Gun contains two back-to-back love songs; the dreamy, astronomical ballad "Orange Moon", and the acoustic, reggae-tinged "In Love With You" - a duet between Badu and Stephen Marley
Stephen Marley (musician)
Stephen Robert Nesta "Raggamuffin" Marley is a Jamaican American musician and the son of reggae legend Bob Marley and his wife Rita Marley. He is a five-time Grammy award winner as an artist, producer, and member of Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers.-Life and career:Marley was born in Wilmington,...
.
The last song, and arguable centerpiece of the album, "Green Eyes", is a sprawling, three-part epic exploring the contradicting emotions of a woman trying to cope with a breakup. The first part, titled "Movement 1 (denial)", features piano by James Poyser, trumpets by Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
, and sounds akin to the effect of being heard through a 1930s gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
record player. It sees Badu singing in a soft bluesy baritone comparable to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
. In this section of the song, Badu denies feeling hurt when she finds out that her former lover has a new partner. She sings: "My eyes are green/Cause I eat a lot of vegetables/It don't have nothing to do with your new friend". The second movement, dubbed "acceptance", features bass guitar, flutes, and piano and is a lot jazzier, featuring brush-stroke drums by Questlove. In this section she sings: "I can't remember the last time I felt this way about somebody/You've done something to my mind/And I can't control it/But I don't love you any more/Yes I do, I think/Loving you is wrong". In the third section, she finally succumbs to her emotions and reveals at once, feelings of regret, abandonment, and unfulfilled promises, as well as a yearning to rekindle an affair which almost certainly consumed her, and which she has yet to move on from: "Don't you want be strong with me?/You told me we could have a family/Want to run to me when you're down and low/But times get tough and there you go/Out the door, you wanna run again/Open your arms and you'll come back in/Wanna run cause you say you're afraid". Because of her highly publicized involvement with André Benjamin, many assumed that she was referring to their break-up in the song and also on her song "Tyrone", however both parties have stated that there is no animosity between them and that they are on good terms, and speak regularly (it is worth noting that "Tyrone" was recorded in 1997, while the pair were still an item). Benjamin responded to the rumors in the song "A Life in the Day of Benjamin André (Incomplete)", from the 2003 Outkast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo OutKast, released September 23, 2003 on LaFace Records in the United States. Issued as a double album, it clocks in at over two hours and consists of a solo album from both of the group's members...
.
Commercial performance
The lead single from Mama's Gun was the "Cheeba Sac" mix of "Bag Lady", which, with its colorful, artsy music video, shot to #1 on the R&B charts, and also into the Top 10 on the billboard charts. This remix of the song contained a sample from the Dr. DreDr. Dre
Andre Romelle Young , primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records...
song "Xxplosive". The popularity of the song landed the album at #11 in the national charts when it was released four months later in October, 2000. This was a noticeable drop from Baduizms peak chart position of #2, although the album sold strongly and had reached Platinum by late December the same year. Despite this, there were only two more singles released from the album, the latter of which received no music video and barely any promotion, although Badu herself did direct a rare video for "Penitentiary Philosophy", which was not released as a single.
Critical response
Critical reactions to the album were largely positive. "Bag Lady" was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for quality R&B songs...
and for Best R&B Song, while "Didn't Cha Know" was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song
Grammy Award for Best R&B Song
The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song has been awarded since 1959. From 1969 to 2000 it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song, from 1962 to 1968 it was known as Best Rhythm & Blues Recording, and from 1959-1961 as Best Rhythm & Blues Performance...
. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine listed it among their Top 10 Albums of 2000, applauded her for taking "chances the way Stevie Wonder or Nina Simone did in their prime" and went on to say "she has taken her art to the next level." Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called the album a "'70s soul homage featuring live musicians and a smooth-funk sound that wouldn't be out of place on a CTI
CTI Records
CTI Records was a jazz record label founded in 1967 by producer/A&R manager Creed Taylor. Initially, CTI was a subsidiary of A&M Records, but the label went independent in 1970...
record". Elysa Gardner of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
gave the album three out of four stars and complimented Badu's songwriting. CMJ included it in their Best Of The Year roundup and called it "a sultry concoction of mild jazz and soft '70s marked by an all-around reverence for 'retro'....demonstrating her true artistry." In his review for PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
, music critic Wayne Franklin wrote:
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s Keith Phipps praised Badu's lyrical themes and the album's "deceptively simple arrangements, a lovely breakup suite ('Green Eyes'), and near-infinite replay value". Noted music critic, Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
(of the Village Voice), gave the album a rating of "A" and commented that "maybe her sources are autobiographical, but she’s here to inspire all black-identified women and the men who admire them." Noting the relatively lukewarm reception of the album when compared with Baduizm, Bill Meyer wrote for Ink Blot magazine that "it's everything we say we want in music: gutsy, introspective, innovative, bold, real in a way that few other albums even try to be--and yet nobody was talking about this record at the end of the year." Meyer was particularly vocal in his praise of Badu's artistry, boldly lauding Mama's Gun as an album that is "as good and important as all those soul and rock albums my friends say aren't made anymore: Talking Book
Talking Book
Talking Book is the fifteenth album by Stevie Wonder, released on October 28, 1972. A signal recording of his "classic period", in this one he "hit his stride"...
, Court and Spark
Court and Spark
Court and Spark is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Released in January 1974, the album saw Mitchell infusing her folk-rock style, which she developed throughout her previous five albums, with jazz inflections...
, Curtis, Darkness on the Edge of Town
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen, released in the late spring of 1978. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel...
, What's Going On
What's Going On
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records...
, Maggot Brain
Maggot Brain
Maggot Brain is the third studio album by the American funk band Funkadelic, released in 1971 on Westbound Records. The album incorporates musical elements of psychedelia, rock, gospel, and soul music, with significant variation between each track. Pitchfork Media named it the seventeenth best...
, all them." In closing he called Badu "the most important American musician working today". The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
s Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
named it the fifth best album of 2000.
Track listing
- "Penitentiary Philosophy" (Erykah Badu, James Poyser, A. K. "?uestlove" Thompson) – 6:09
- "Didn't Cha Know?Didn't Cha Know?"Didn't Cha Know?" is the second single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for 2001....
" (Badu, James Yancey) – 3:58 - "My Life" (Badu, Poyser) – 3:59
- "...& On" (Badu, Jahmal Cantero, Shaun Martin) – 3:34
- "ClevaCleva"Cleva" is the third and final single from American singer Erykah Badu's second studio album, Mama's Gun . It was produced by Badu, J Dilla, and James Poyser, a member of the Soulquarians and Badu's own production team Frequency...
" (Badu, Poyser, Yancey) – 3:45 - "Hey Sugah" (Badu, N'dambiN'dambi-Biography:N'dambi is the ninth of eleven children born to a Baptist minister and missionary. Her father was a minister and singer in a quartet group. She got her professional start singing with Gaye Arbuckle, a local gospel singer, touring with Arbuckle for two years...
) – 0:54 - "Booty" (Badu) – 4:04
- "Kiss Me on My Neck (Hesi)" (Badu, Jack DeJohnetteJack DeJohnetteJack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...
, Poyser, Yancey) – 5:34 - "A.D. 2000" (Badu, B. J. Wright) – 4:51
- "Orange Moon" (Badu, Bray Lon Lacy, Martin, Eugene "Snooky" Young) – 7:10
- "In Love with You" (Badu, Stephen MarleyStephen Marley (musician)Stephen Robert Nesta "Raggamuffin" Marley is a Jamaican American musician and the son of reggae legend Bob Marley and his wife Rita Marley. He is a five-time Grammy award winner as an artist, producer, and member of Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers.-Life and career:Marley was born in Wilmington,...
) – 5:21 - "Bag LadyBag Lady"Bag Lady" is the first single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song is about a woman trying to begin anew in a relationship, but who has too much emotional "baggage" and can't get close to people. The message of the song is to "pack light" and have hope for the future...
" (Badu, Brian Bailey, Ricardo Brown, Nathan Hale, Isaac HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
, Craig Longmiles, Martin, Andre Young) – 5:48 - "Time's a Wastin" (Badu, Young, Martin) – 6:42
- "Green Eyes" (Badu, Vikter Duplaix, Poyser) – 10:04
Personnel
- Jon Adler – Assistant Engineer
- Erykah Badu – Vocals, Vocals (bckgr), Producer, Art Direction
- Chris Bell – Engineer
- Leslie Brathwaite – Mixing
- Earle Brown – Engineer
- Tom Coyne – Mastering
- Russell Elevado – Mixing
- Chris Gehringer – Mastering
- Leonard "Doc" Gibbs – Percussion
- Larry Gold – Cello, String Arrangements
- Mark Goodchild – Recording
- Roy HargroveRoy HargroveRoy Anthony Hargrove is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002...
– Trumpet, Horn Arrangements - Pino PalladinoPino PalladinoPino Palladino is a Welsh bass guitarist who gained fame playing primarily rock and roll, blues rock, and rhythm and blues music, although he has been lauded for his ability to play most genres of popular music, including jazz, neo soul, and funk...
– Bass - Emma Kummrow – Violin
- Bray Lon Lacy – Overdubs
- Steve Mandel – Mixing Engineer
- Shaun Martin – Keyboards
- Roy AyersRoy AyersRoy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...
– Vibraphone
- Robert Maxwell – Cover Art
- Shinobu Mitsuoka – Mixing Engineer
- Vernon Mungo – Production Facilitator
- Peter Nocella – Viola
- Charles Parker – Violin
- James Poyser – Producer
- Tom Soares – Mixing
- Erik Steinert – Sequencing, Pro-Tools
- Gregory Teperman – Violin
- Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson – Drums
- Don Thompson – Photography
- Kierstan Tucker – A&R
- Mike Turner – Assistant Engineer
- Michael Whitfield – Art Direction, Design
- James Dewitt Yancey – Producer
- Bilal Oliver - Vocals (bckgr)
- Geno "Junebugg" Young – Vocals (bckgr)
- Yah Zarah – Vocals (bckgr)
- Krystof Zizka – Assistant Engineer
Album
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
11 |
| U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
3 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Internet Albums Billboard charts The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine... |
12 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "Bag Lady Bag Lady "Bag Lady" is the first single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song is about a woman trying to begin anew in a relationship, but who has too much emotional "baggage" and can't get close to people. The message of the song is to "pack light" and have hope for the future... " |
Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
6 |
| 2000 | "Bag Lady" | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | 1 |
| 2000 | "Bag Lady" | Canadian Singles Chart | 6 |
| 2001 | "Didn't Cha Know" | Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | 28 |
| 2001 | "Cleva Cleva "Cleva" is the third and final single from American singer Erykah Badu's second studio album, Mama's Gun . It was produced by Badu, J Dilla, and James Poyser, a member of the Soulquarians and Badu's own production team Frequency... " |
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | 77 |
Chart procession and succession
External links
- Mama's Gun at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Mama's Gun at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
- Soul Survival at The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...