Mama's Gun

Mama's Gun
Studio album by Erykah Badu
Released	November 21, 2000
Recorded	1999–2000 Electric Lady Studios (New York, New York)
Genre	R&B, neo soul, funk, jazz, soul
Length	71:50
Label	Motown/Puppy Love
Producer	Erykah Badu, Questlove, J Dilla, James Poyser, Snook Young, Shawn Martin, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, Karma Productions
Professional reviews
Allmusic [1] Boston Herald [2] Robert Christgau (A)[3] Entertainment Weekly (B-)[4] Los Angeles Times [5] PopMatters (favorable)[6] Rolling Stone [7] Slant [8] USA Today [9] Washington Post (favorable)[10]
Erykah Badu chronology
Baduizm (1997) Mama's Gun (2000) Worldwide Underground (2003)

Mama's Gun is the second studio album by R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter 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, soul and rock, and contains confessional lyrics by Badu, which cover themes of insecurity, social issues and personal relationships.^[7] 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.^[4]

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.^[11] The song "Didn't Cha Know?" was also nominated for Best R&B Song.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]. On January 21, 2001, The Special Edition of Mama's Gun was released.

Conception

Background

After the success of Baduizm 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 lover at the time, André Benjamin. She also began collaborating with Questlove of The Roots, working on the group's breakthrough 1999 album Things Fall Apart. 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.^[14]

Recording

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.

Music

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Content

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 p**

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 Poyser. Jay Dee had been working with Common on his album but was yet to meet Badu, so the rapper - who was now dating Badu - arranged for the two to meet. She relates the song's creation:

I went to Detroit to work with this cat that I heard a few tracks from that drove me crazy. Common took me over there, we went down to the basement, Common left and Dilla [Jay Dee] and I sat and talked. He had records wall to wall like it was a public library and he goes, “OK, I want you to look for a record.” I’m looking through these organized, tightly packed crates, and I just pulled out one record and the artist was Tarika Blue. I liked that name. I put on the first track [“Dreamflower”] and I fell in love with the song and I kept playing it over and over again and I said, “I want this.” He showed me how to loop a small part of the bassline, he was very generous in teaching you and letting you be hands on. Then I left the room and when I came back he had looped some drums to a small sample of the song and I started to write to it. I came up with the "Ooooh, heeeey" melody. I wrote for a few days and then the song came to be. I’d hike down to his house in mittens and a scarf. I just kind of stayed down there and worked until we got the things the way that I liked.^[15]

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

In February 1999, the Street Crimes Unit of the NYPD gunned down 23 year-old unarmed Guinea immigrant Amadou Diallo, after apparently mistaking him for an unidentified rapist. The four officers involved in the incident (excluding a fifth officer who did not fire on Diallo) were acquitted of all charges. The outcome of the trial sparked public protests and demonstrations which resulted in closer scrutiny of instances involving police brutality and excessive use of force (Diallo was fired upon 41 times and hit 19 times). This event 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.

"Green Eyes"

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). Feeling unfairly represented, however, Benjamin nonetheless 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:

When I was going through them phases trying to find

Anything that seemed real in the world

Still searching, but I started liking this girl

Now you know her

As Erykah "On and On" Badu

"Call Tyrone on the phone", why you

Do that girl like that boy you ought to be ashamed

The song wasn't about me and that ain't my name

We were young, in love, in short we had fun

No regrets no abortion, had a son

By the name of Seven

The End And To Be Continued...

Reception

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. Dre 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 Baduizm's 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 Performance 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."^[11] 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".^[11] 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."^[16] In an article for PopMatters.com, music critic Wayne Franklin wrote:

Badu continues to grow with Mama's Gun, her third release. It is a journey into a deep and tender part of Erykah's soul; a place most would keep heavily guarded. From the opening whispers that are supposed to be the voices in her head, the listener is made to feel as if they stumbled onto the open diary of a woman who has poured her soul into the pages. At first, you feel bad for invading her privacy, but then you are drawn in and you can't turn away... Mama's Gun is a definite work of art, destined to remain in heavy rotation for some time to come.^[17]

—Wayne Franklin

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."^[18] 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 Goin' On, Maggot Brain, all them." In closing he called Badu "the most important American musician working today".^[19] The New York Times's Jon Pareles named it the fifth best album of 2000.^[20]

Track listing

1. "Penitentiary Philosophy" (E. Badu, J. Poyser, A. K. Thompson) – 6:09
2. "Didn't Cha Know?" (E. Badu, J. Yancey) – 3:58
3. "My Life" (E. Badu, J. Poyser) – 3:59
4. "...& On" (E. Badu, J. Cantero, S. Martin) – 3:34
5. "Cleva" (E. Badu, J. Poyser) – 3:45
6. "Hey Sugah" (E. Badu, N'dambi) – 0:54
7. "Booty" (E. Badu) – 4:04
8. "Kiss Me on My Neck (Hesi)" (E. Badu, J. DeJohnette, J. Poyser, J. Yancey) – 5:34
9. "A.D. 2000" (E. Badu, B. J. Wright) – 4:51
10. "Orange Moon" (E. Badu, B. Lacy, S. Martin, G. Young) – 7:10
11. "In Love with You" (E. Badu, S. Marley) – 5:21
12. "Bag Lady" (E. Badu, B. Bailey, R. Brown, N. Hale, I. Hayes, C. Longmiles, Martin, A. Young) – 5:48
13. "Time's a Wastin" (E. Badu, G. Young, S. Martin) – 6:42
14. "Green Eyes" (E. Badu, V. Duplaix, J. Poyser) – 10:04

Album singles

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 Hargrove – Trumpet, Horn Arrangements
• Pino Palladino – Bass
• Emma Kummrow – Violin
• Bray Lon Lacy – Overdubs
• Steve Mandel – Mixing Engineer
• Shaun Martin – Keyboards
• 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 Khalib Thompson – Drums
• Don Thompson – Photography
• Kierstan Tucker – A&R
• Mike Turner – Assistant Engineer
• Michael Whitfield – Art Direction, Design
• Yah Zarah – Vocals (bckgr)
• Geno "Junebugg" Young – Vocals (bckgr)
• Krystof Zizka – Assistant Engineer

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Chart procession and succession

Notes

a. Planned track listing

The tracklisting originally planned for this album was changed by Erykah Badu shortly before its release. Consequently, many compact discs bear the following tracklisting as had previously been planned:

1. "Hey, Sugah"
2. "Booty"
3. "Kiss Me On My Neck (Hesi)"
4. "Didn't Cha Know"
5. "My Life"
6. "... & On"
7. "Cleva"
8. "Props To The Lonely People"
9. "Time's A Wastin"
10. "A, D. 2000"
11. "Penitentiary Philosophy"
12. "Orange Moon"
13. "In Love With You"
14. "Bag Lady"
15. "Green Eyes"

Early CD booklets have the lyrics to the songs which remain unreleased from this project. On later releases, the compact disc itself has a signed message from Erykah Badu which reads:

"I changed the sequence at the last minute, peace."

b. Special Edition releases

A Special Edition 1CD release was issued in 2000. In addition to the standard tracklisting, the release added "Bag Lady (Cheeba Sac Radio Edit)" as track 15.

A Special Edition 2CD release was issued in 2001. It has the same artwork and tracklisting for the first CD as the original edition. The second CD, described as 'Bonus CD' has previously released material, remixes, and videos to single releases from the original album. The tracklisting is:

1. "Tyrone (live)" 3.55
2. "Hollywood" 5.35
3. "Drama" 6.04
4. "Your Precious Love" (featuring D'Angelo) 4.40
5. "Bag Lady (Basement Boys - Afrocentric remix)" 8.22
6. "Bag Lady (Enhanced video)" 4.08
7. "Didn't Cha Know (Enhanced video)" 4.03

References

External links

• Mama's Gun at Discogs
• Mama's Gun at Metacritic
• Album Review at The A.V. Club
• Album Review at The Independent
• Album Review at The New Yorker