Essence's 'Black Women In Music' To Honor Erykah Badu

Coinciding with the twenty year anniversary of her debut album Baduizm, Erykah Badu will be getting a special honor during Essence's "Black Women In Music" event.

Held during Grammy week Essence's special celebration will be highlighting Erykah's artistic contributions, as well as the album that ultimately made the Dallas musician a household name.

"From the time that she first hit the scene with her album Baduizm, we all fell in love with the genius that is Erykah Badu," Vanessa De Luca, Editor-in-Chief of Essence, said in a statement. "It is only fitting that we honor the accomplishments of our neo-soul queen, whose remarkable artistry still moves us 20 years later."

Baduizm, originally released on February 11, 1997, became a landmark album for Erykah, spearheading the emergence of the neo-soul genre that rose to prominence in the late '90s and early 2000s. The 14 track release ended up being both a commercial and critical success, with the album even winning the award for Best R&B Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards.

Several days after Essence's "Black Women In Music" event, Erykah will be performing at the Soulquarius 2017 music festival. The one day event also includes performances by The Internet, Baby Bash, Jon B, Lloyd, Mya, Willow Smith, DMX, Brandy, Monica, Jhene Aiko, Kelis, Ja Rule, Ashanti and more.

Also, following in Erykah's influential footsteps may very well be her 12 year old daughter Puma. A few weeks ago Erykah shared a video of Puma covering Rihanna's "Stay." Two clips of Puma's performance were uploaded to Erykah's Instagram, with one of the posts getting a comment for Swizz Beatz.

"She need to let Egypt prod a track ASAP," Beatz wrote, referencing his five year old son that has a production credit on Kendrick Lamar's Untitled Unmastered.

Congratulations to Erykah, and if you are looking for a particular way to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of Baduizm we have you covered — our shop has the vinyl version of the album in stock.