And God Created Badu

As I've been tellin' y'all, I've been a recluse as a of late. After several months of doing my damnedest to get out of this racket of mine, some folks (for reasons that baffle me now) took it upon themselves to press me to get back on the horse. But in getting back on the horse there's the need for self-assessment. I needed to know what kind of shape I was in and the who and I what I need to either keep or lose in my life as I'm trying to move into this "no complaining" direction. The answer was extreme hibernation. But when word got out that Erykah Badu was doing a free show at Wingate Park last night, I told myself that it was something I just couldn't pass up.

So me, Rich and his roommate Chris found ourselves on the way to Flatbush at like 3:30 in the afternoon, nearly four hours before the actual event. As the show was free we knew the multitudes would be out. And surely enough they were. If we hadn't gotten there when we did (and benefited from the gender-separate lines) we wouldn't have ended up four rows from the front at stage left chopping it up about everything from Burn Notice and Lost to the diverse crowd of women and men surrounding us. I took a certain pleasure in fucking with the middle aged security guy who told us we "couldn't not" sit in the section until the other one was full. I feigned dumb, pretending that I didn't understand his double-negatives while other louder and more forceful folks pounded him into verbal submission. If you want a black man to pipe down, sistas are the most effective tool on the planet.

There are a lot of things I know and have heard about Erykah as a person. Some are good. Some are very bad. But when she walked out on a stage like she did the first time I saw her than eleven years ago, all of that went away. Unlike so many artists these days, seeing her live often makes the beauty of her albums pale in comparison. She isn't just a singer. She's a bandleader, a producer, and a performer who uses every part of herself in the presentation. Standing out in front with a laptop to one side of her and a drum machine and djembe to the other. She knows she's in control. She knows she's fine. She knows that the crowd out there is all about her. And she uses that forum to kick a little knowledge, clown a little bit, be a little sexy and completely rock the house all in the same sitting. And it doesn't hurt that she's got one of the tightest bands I've ever seen.

So as I sat there clapping and yelling and bobbing my head like it was on a Spring, Chris leaned over to me and said "It's really good to see you out and happy". I found myself smiling inside, because I was happy. I was enjoying the moment, leaving all my problems and worries back at the lodge. Plus I kept scheming on how I could position myself into becoming baby daddy number four. Shoutout to all of you who've been writing me about how much you enjoyed Got and Cake. I ask that all of you keep me in your prayers as something is big is on the way for me and I'll need all of your energy for it to hatch in the way that I'd like it to. Soon come. Soon come. Out.