Pictured: Erykah Badu in the studio with producer/engineer Mike Chav

Erykah Badu's fifth studio album, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), has been racking up the end of the year accolades including being named the #1 album of the year by the Associated Press, #4 top albums by the New York Times, top 5 albums by USA Today, and #9 by MTV, to name a few.  While there is no set street date, fans should expect Part Two to drop in the first half of 2009.  Continue reading to find quotes from NYT and MTV as well as more praise for Erykah, who you should feel free to congratulate in the comments section!


New York Times Names New Amerykah #4 Top Albums of 2008

4. ERYKAH BADU “New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)” (Universal Motown). Far removed from current R&B, Ms. Badu plunges into deep, strange funk to ponder her own psyche, the desperate state of the ghetto and the state of the nation. The grooves are sparse, jazzy and hollowed out while her multiplied voices drift in with unsparing observations, advice and arguments. It’s a late-breaking successor to Sly and the Family Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin’ On,” and just as uncompromising; Ms. Badu places the seductive "Honey" at the end of the album as a sweet reward.

MTV Names New Amerykah The 9th Best Disc Of '08`

9. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah, Part One (Fourth World War)
Time isn't really important in Badu's New Amerykah, which is why she jumps from the smoke-filled streets of the 1970s to the darkened and desperate projects of the present day to the post (pre?) apocalyptic future without much concern for the narrative arc. What is important is the message she conveys throughout those travels: that no matter how hard we try, things keep falling apart. They have been and they are and they will continue to do so, unless we wake up, stand up and — most of all — fight. So she puts the gun to our backs, orders us to march headlong into the darkness. She might not tell us where we're going — or what we'll see when we get there — but no one ever said revolutions were easy. This is a story told through stony beats, crackling samples and smoky voices, and rather terrifyingly so. Welcome to post-millennial tension.

More top album nods from around the country: Dallas Observer, Denver Post, Seattle Times, Washington Times , Vibe Magazine, The Charleston Post and Courier, The Boston Phoenix, The Idolator, Florida Today, Monterey county – The Herald