The Alchemist speaks onstage at Hit-Boy, The Alchemist and BiG HiT's "Black & Whites" Premiere at Fine Arts Theatre on May 30, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. Erykah Badu performs onstage during the 2025 Dreamville Music Festival at Dorothea Dix Park on April 6, 2025 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The pair is currently on the road in Japan in anticipation of their collab album.
On the heels of Erykah Badu dropping her first single in 15 years — The Alchemist-produced “Next to You” — the pair is taking their show on the road in the lead-up to their anticipated collaborative album. The full-length project is produced entirely by ALC, and on Badu’s new track, the legendary producer flips one of his most celebrated classics: Mobb Deep’s “The Realest.”
Featuring fellow Queens legend Kool G Rap, “The Realest” was featured on 1999’s Murda Muzik, and samples “Born To Lose You” by Ecstasy, Passion and Pain.Badu announced that she was working on a new album with The Alchemist back in March. The project is Badu’s first studio album since 2010's New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) and her first major release since her But You Caint Use My Phone mixtape in 2015. She’d previously hinted at the new project in an interview with The Breakfast Club.
“I mean, I’m writing right now. I got a project coming out soon,” she said at the time. When pressed about a release date, she was characteristically vague.
“We’ll see,” Badu answered, before adding: “It’s an important one. It’s a collab album.”
The pair is currently on the road together for The Abi & Alan Japan Tour. It begins today at Billboard Live Osaka, continues June 28 at Billboard Live Tokyo, and concludes June 30 in Yokohama. They’ve also recently announced the U.S. leg of the tour, which kicks off on Aug. 8 in Seattle.
Abi & Alan: Luv Iz… Tour Dates
Check out “Next To You” below.
