Erykah Badu Celebrates Queen Afua Day, Participates in Q&A

While it probably occurred unbeknownst to most of you, Saturday, June 27th was declared Queen Afua Day in Brooklyn NY by the Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz. The day recognized Queen Afua's contributions to Brooklyn as a spiritual guide and for the expansion of the Queen Afua Wellness Institute. The center offers healthy organic food options for people who might not otherwise have access to such food, and offers a variety of herbal healing treatments. I was fortunate enough to attend the center's opening and to partake in a Q&A session with one of the center's biggest supporters, Grammy-Award winning R&B soul singer Erykah Badu.

Now before I even talk about what she said, let me just say that Erykah Badu is an amazing, beautiful woman. Yea, maybe that puts some bias on my report, but this woman will immediately put you at ease in any situation. Sitting on stage with a cup of pudding, Erykah was genuine and spoke from the heart.

You could see Erykah's experience as a mother when two children ran up to the stage and began to shout, distracting the audience. However, Erykah immediately calmed the children, stepping down to them and offering them a glass of water. Erykah asked the children to water the nearby plants and the children did it, forgetting their desires to distract and gain attention, and instead, devoting all of their attentions to their new pursuit.

Erykah Badu attended the event as guest, taking time out of the recording of her new album, New Amerykah Part 2: Return of the Ankh, and participated in a question and answer session with the event's attendees. The questions for Erykah came in every shape and size, dealing with topics including spirituality, relationships and of course, the music industry.

Visitors can listen to the interview, or read our summary of the discussion below.

Erykah Badu Question and Answer

One of the first topics Erykah spoke on was meditation. Speaking on the issue, she said:

"Right now, I'm practicing a mental game with myself called 'Being.' The object of the game is to be present at all times. I'm a poor meditator because I've never been able to sit still…I would just close my eyes, and the more comfortable I got the more voices that would come into my head."

Poking fun, Erykah elaborated on her struggle:

"Here's my mind. Oh if I could just get to that place of enlightenment, then I won't be mad at anyone no more. Oh I should have said this, maybe I will be a better mother as well. Oh this is natural this is good."

Erykah then concluded the issue with an elaboration on the troubles people face:

"I'm tired of time traveling. Thinking about the past and the future. There's so much anxiety in trying to move to a place. Shoulda did this or been here. There's no anxiety in this room, it's only in our minds."

Erykah Badu is constantly changing, from head wrap to afro, you never know what she'll be doing.

This question serves as a great example of Erykah's way of talking. Throughout the night, Erykah Badu tackled thought provoking issues with a mix of seriousness and humor that kept everyone interested.

Dealing with other issues of spirituality, Erykah was asked about how she made the journey to become a sacred woman. As she pondered the challenge, Erykah alluded to the Matrix, stating:

"Being a sacred woman is like taking the red pill. I haven't made the journey, I've begun it. To be a sacred woman doesn't mean you've arrived anywhere. It means you've agreed to do the work. It's a contract you make [with everyone], and it means that I now know I have these choices in front of me."

Closing up the spirituality questions, Erykah was asked what she believes is the significance of the dream world. Thinking over the question, Erykah answered with:

"Earth Wind and Fire has a song, do you know who you are in the dream? What I've learned about dreams is that a lot of times they'll come true, or you'll experience it later. It makes me think that we've done all of this before, there are connections between us."

When talking about the music industry, one of the first questions Erykah Badu was asked was her reaction to Michael Jackson's death. Capturing her reaction to the news, Erykah said:

"When a brother was singing his songs, I just thought about ugh, his momma lost her son. And that's a place I just hadn't gone emotionally." "Michael Jackson's music is a part of our DNA. You can remember the smell, the sound, where you were in the kitchen."

And again, offering her mix of seriousness and humor, Erykah talked about how she first reacted when seeing the news in a text message:

"I got angry, like Michael Jackson can't die. He can be white. He can put masks on his children. Do all kinda things but he can't die. We're not through with him!"

However, not to lose the seriousness of the situation, she brought things back home when she said:

"It wasn't the songs. It wasn't the words. It was the energy. It was him that made us feel it."

Moving towards more industry-focused questions, Erykah was asked about artists as role models. In response, Erykah drew 50 Cent as an example:

"50 does a lot of wonderful things around the world without making announcements. There's a lot of philanthropy in the industry that you don't hear about. Because we are human beings, we're two sided."

After more than an hour of questions from the audience, Erykah Badu said her good byes and headed back to the studio to work on her upcoming album, New Amerykah Part 2: Return of the Ankh. In the end, it was a great experience at a cool locale and I'll be following up with Erykah in the future to find out more about what she's got in store for us on the new album.