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Erykah Badu, that goddess of a woman, swayed onto the stage just past 11:30 PM on cool Tuesday night at The El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. The “secret” show, advertized only through email and Badu’s Twitter account, was the culmination of the two years she’d been laboring over New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh, her newest effort and sixth album to date. “Part Two,” Badu said during her hour and a half set, “is the melodic, serious, feminine series.” The album follows New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War, which debuted in 2008, after a five-year hiatus by Badu, to rave revues. The Dallas, Texas songbird’s requisite Afro was replaced with a Rick James-inspired wig, black dreads hanging, gold beads placed at its tips. She stood before a crowd of 300 in a tan trench coat, …
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There hangs an exquisite watercolor painting of boxer Mike Tyson in his prime. He is draped in championship belts, that menacing look in his eyes, the signature gold tooth barely visible beneath his steely profile. The greens, reds, yellows, and blues give life to the portrait against the whitewashed wall. It is a sharp, if not overly self-evident, reminder that champions are not made overnight. In the adjacent room hangs similar paintings—one of all-star San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana and another of Hall-of-Fame linebacker Lawrence “LT” Taylor. A boxing ring sits center floor. The crowd of neon du jour twenty-somethings eagerly awaits the arrival of their champion. He is late.
Georgia Anne Muldrow
Kings Ballad
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