Jill Scott x Erykah Badu: Right on Time for the Culture
[Originally Published on May 10, 2020]
Erykah Badu sits in front of her mic stand and camera, adorned in a dark red headpiece and a flowy fit that no one else could have conjured up. The eccentric outfit looks right at home on her and her alone. Her background is a black and white scene projected onto her wall. You can smell the incense ascending and tea simmering from your bedroom as you watch her on your screen. “The biggest compliment an artist can give another artist is…” she says before pausing, and then delivering the best “ill” face she can. A lot of us were doing the “ill” face hard throughout the Instagram Live session. In typical Ms. Badu fashion, Erykah had arrived 22 minutes late for the 7pm Versus livestream. But she was right on time. In fact, “as the world keeps turning”—as she would say—this livestream was right on time for the culture.
In uncertain and chaotic times, the co-mothers and Queens of Neo Soul brought us a session filled to the brim with warmth and joy. Jill Scott’s smile alone is so bright it could germinate a seed placed in unfertile soil. Beaming, she and Badu shamelessly geeked over each other’s music and talent as they played their staple songs back and forth. They expressed their extreme admiration and respect for one another as artists and as women—creating a space ripe with love. Though this was our first public taste of their friendship, the duo shared that they’ve always been friends. Despite being pitted against each other by the media and public, they’ve always supported each other’s success. From the moment it went live, the versus battle morphed into a kindred jam session.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the show was the behind the scenes insight Badu and Scott offered on their creative processes, careers, and art. The session had kicked off with fiery psalms of truth recited by legendary poet Nikki Giovanni. Scott shared that stumbling across Giovanni’s work inspired her to dive into Langston Hughes and other esteemed black poets. “It opened my mind and blew my wig back,” she chuckled. Badu started writing when she was five in order to release stress and clouding thoughts. “It was just one of those mediums to get things out,” she recalled. Jill Scott took a Long Walk down memory lane, telling us about how Questlove gave her the first opportunity of her career. Erykah Badu remembered being blown away by Scott’s powerful, smooth, and dexterous voice at the time.
The session was must-see and must-feel TV. The Obamas, Quincy Jones, Missy Elliott, and more black cultural architects were present—along with over 720k viewers worldwide. Rising starts in Neo Soul such as Syd from The Internet eagerly lined the front row. This was the realization of a matchup and collaboration of which we’ve dreamed for decades. During the show, Jill Scott encouraged artists doubting themselves and with hard drives of unreleased material to let it loose. Her comments alluded to the current pandemic. “We have something the world needs Keep creating. Hold tight and breathe easy,” she smiled. That night, at least 720k people breathed easier.
