Erykah Badu released their debut album, Baduizm, in 1997 to a rare degree of popular and critical acclaim. The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter has been hailed as an exceptional talent who effortlessly melded jazz styles of the past with '90s R&B and hip-hop. Her fluent, highly individual, vocal and spiritually overtones compositions were received as something new and compelling.
Badu's voice has drawn comparisons to Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and, in particular, Billie Holiday. Added to this is the fact that she has cultivated a mystical personality, inspired by African and New Age sources. “Usually wearing a long gown, silver bracelets, necklaces and rings, and a head wrap that juts out like a crown, Badu works the candlelit, incense-encircled stage like a woman on a mission,” Kevin Powell wrote in Rolling Stone.