Erykah Badu reflects on her seminal album Mama’s Gun in a conversation with Spotify in honor of its 25th anniversary.
Her Anniversary episode finds her chatting with Thundercat and DJ Quik about creating the album, which she recorded with the Soulquarians and named after her grandmother’s pistol.
“My grandmother, we called her Granny, and she had a gun in her nightstand and we were forbidden to touch it because it was Mama’s gun,” Erykah explained in the Spotify episode. “And I feel like Mama’s gun is untouchable.”
“I feel like Mama’s Gun was the words and the messages that I had,” she continued. “There’s the power and the ammunition. Each song was a bullet.”
Erykah also recalled her early days with the Soulquarians, blew out a candle on a birthday cake for the album and performed some Mama’s Gun’s tracks, among other things.
Mama’s Gun was released in November 2000, featuring songs including “…& On” and “Bag Lady.” Erykah is now on tour supporting the anniversary celebration of the album. She’s teamed with Veeps to livestream her Dec. 6 show at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn.
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