About

A TAV Essential Listening Album.

Mama's Gun is the second studio album by American neo soul singer Erykah Badu. It was recorded between 1999 and 2000 at Electric Lady Studios in New York and released on November 21, 2000, by Motown Records. A neo soul album, Mama's Gun incorporates funk, soul, and jazz styles. It has confessional lyrics by Badu, which cover themes of insecurity, social issues and personal relationships … Critics have also noted that while Baduizm contained its share of cryptic lyricism, Mama's Gun is much more direct in its approach, and places the artist in a subjective position more than its predecessor.

The album contains the single "Bag Lady", a top 10 Billboard hit, nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and for Best R&B Song. The song "Didn't Cha Know?" was also nominated for Best R&B Song ... It also features guests such as soul singer Betty Wright and trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Mama's Gun was met with great critical success and sold strongly, reaching Platinum two months after its release. Thematically the album explores topics regarding self-esteem, relationship breakdowns, and police brutality, and features a more eclectic sound than its predecessor. Rolling Stone magazine named it one of the Top 10 Albums of 2000. – Wiki

“Mama's Gun features a host of all-stars, including members of D'Angelo's Soulquarian crew: Pino Palladino on bass, producer and pianist James Poyser, producer Jay Dee, jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove and drummer ?uestlove. There's also veteran funkateer Roy Ayers playing vibes and a duet with Stephen Marley, but this is the Erykah show, dominated by her confessional lyrics, her luscious voice, her sweeping musical vision. She begins with the rocking "Penitentiary Philosophy" and then gets you dancing with the soul of "Didn't Cha Know" and the James Brown-ish stanky funk of "Booty," each song bleeding into the next, each with abrupt shifts in texture that make the whole thing this restless soul fantasia.” – Rolling Stone