NEW AMERYKAH PART ON

Erykah Badu's 1997 debut album BADUIZM presented a confident young R&B star in the manner of Toni Braxton or Mary J. Blige, and also connected her with underground hip-hop through her use of the Roots as her backing band on much of the record. Since then, Badu has kept to an erratic release schedule: NEW AMERYKAH PART ONE (4TH WORLD WAR) is only her third full-length release. (Badu refers to 2003's funk-oriented experiment WORLDWIDE UNDERGROUND as an EP, despite its nearly 50-minute length.) Similarly, her records have grown both more personal and more outward-focused. NEW AMERYKAH PART ONE (4TH WORLD WAR) is even more experimental and musically diverse than WORLDWIDE UNDERGROUND, with Badu and her collaborators keeping the loose, jam-oriented, soul-jazz style of the EP and adding cutting-edge hip-hop beats. Lyrically, the album is as politically themed and downbeat as the title and subtitle suggest, with songs nodding to the Nation of Islam, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, drug abuse and the failures of government, with only the affirmative "The Healer," "Telephone" (a touching tribute to the late producer J Dilla), and the sweet-natured first single, "Honey," providing respites from the darkness.