Genesis chapter 40 tells the story of a Pharaoh who while celebrating his birthday killed his head baker and saved his cupbearer. Matthew chapter 14 tells the story of King Herod’s Birthday. After his daughter, Herodias, danced at his celebration, he offered her any gift she wanted, to which she asked for the head of John The Baptist on a platter. He reluctantly acquiesced. These are the only two birthday celebrations mentioned in the Bible, and the reason Jehovah Witnesses don’t celebrate birthdays. It’s why I didn’t grow up celebrating birthdays.
Because of my religious upbringing I didn’t openly celebrate my birthday until I moved out of my mother’s house and abandoned my childhood dogma. In elementary school, my teachers were instructed to remove me from class whenever a classmate was celebrating their birthdays. Some teachers snuck me a slice of cake or a cupcake, but for the most part, I was escorted to the library and sat by myself until the party was over. My mother always acknowledged my birthday, but never made a big deal of it. My father never did. Birthdays were sad days for me. I always felt like I was missing out.
In middle and high schools, I mostly hid my religion and accepted cards and sometimes balloons, but hid any trace of them before I got home. I wanted to experience all the wonder and excitement of birthdays, and once I was gone from my mother’s house, the celebrations began. Since then I’ve had great birthdays, good birthdays and a few crappy ones. If I’m being honest with myself, I must admit that I put a great deal of pressure on my birthdays to be the best ever. So much so that immediately after the party, or celebrations, I felt a bit of disappointment. Like I’ve been trying to catch up to everyone else’s experience, and expect some type of magic to overcome me with jubilation. I don’t know exactly when I came to this realization, but in the past few years I’ve eased up on my birthday expectation.
When I was a kid I was told that it was just another day, and should be treated as such. What I saw from the rest of the world is that it should be my very special perfect day, but how feasible is that? So now I just ease up a bit. I can’t hide my excitement when it nears, but I do try and tamper my anticipation, so I don’t end up ruining it for myself. Just like many upcoming occasions, anticipation can last for weeks, but the actual day only lasts for 24 hours, or a weekend if you're lucky. I love my birthday, and I want to have a good time, but I no longer expect perfection. It’s usually unattainable.
I turned 44 years old today. Another good trip around that big ole’ sun. A friend referred to it as my magnum year. I’ll “kick in the door wavin’ the .44”. I’m officially in my mid 40’s and gotta say, middle age isn’t as scary as I thought it’d be. I might’ve not always believed that it gets better with every passing year, but it absolutely has. For my “special day” I’m going to Lincoln Center to see the New York City Ballet perform Swan Lake. I wonder if Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis will be there. I hope no one dies on stage. Jokes aside, I love Swan Lake and I’m super excited.
My birthday gift for you dear reader, is the return of The High Piscean Monarch. I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to bring my fellow pisces, Erykah Badu, back to Sunday Morning Records. Mama’s Gun was my first SMR post, and I have been so excited to speak about another one of her albums. She has so many great albums to choose from, but today I submit to you; Worldwide Underground. Ms. Badu’s third studio album was released in 2003. When I first heard it, I was not a fan. Between Baduizm, the live album and Mama’s Gun, Badu had cemented herself as the Queen of Neo Soul. Three years after her highly acclaimed sophomore album Erykah dropped what some would call a bit of a departure album. While the first two were very Soul infused and Jazzy, Worldwide Underground was a bit more hip hop, a bit more hood and I don’t think people were ready for that side of Erykah. It wasn’t completely different though. There’s plenty of soul in Worldwide Underground, and plenty of hip hop in her previous two albums. But like I said, I didn’t dig it at first.
For me it took my friend Luciana, to open my eyes to it. I wrote about her and going to the Sugar Water Festival with her back in October in my post Sugar Water. During the concert I knew most of Erykah’s catalogue from the first two albums. When Luciana began signing songs I didn’t recognize, I asked about them, and she told me they were from Worldwide Underground. I told her I didn’t dig that album, and she was quite appalled. She made it her mission to get me to understand the brilliance of that album, and I soon after picked it up. Luciana was right. I listened to it with fresh ears, and realized how great the album was. It was different, but still great. Today I’ll try to demonstrate to all of you, how great Worldwide Underground truly is.
side a
intro - world keeps turnin’ starts out real smooth like. Erykah scats riding the melody, throwing in the “world keeps turnin’”. It sounds great and puts you in a real good Neo Soul Jazzy R&B mood.
bump it is all about bumping it real loud. Playing dope music so loud you can feel it. The song starts with a record scratch dropping that beat that’ll bust any subwoofer if played at the right volume. This is an ode to dope beats. The bands that supply them. The DJ’s that play them. The crowds that bounce to them. Everyone should be so lucky to experience that feeling at some point in their lives. I know I’ve been on two different sides of that divine equation
back in the day (puff) is both a reminiscing song and a smoking weed song. I miss smoking, though I hope I stick with not smoking. This song is all about vibes. A lot of this album is pure vibes.
“Wailin' and singin' and jammin' and talkin'
And pumpin' the trunk with the windows rolled up, puff”
The beat is so easy to groove to I can see myself stepping to it every time I listen to it.
i want you is my favorite song on the album. It’s over 10 minutes long, but the main portion of the song is only 8 minutes long. That part starts with a heartbeat that transitions into a steady drum beat, that gets faster and faster as it goes on. She sings:
“I I I I I I I
Want you you you you you you you
Oh, I I I I I I I
Want you you you you you you you”
The song builds so beautifully. Makes me feel the love real close. I love playing this song in either the beginning or end of a set. It either sets the mood or brings a good night to an end. 4-5 minutes in the song just gets so deep in your bones. So so good. The last two minutes of this song goes into a different melody powered by a rock style electric guitar played by Lenny Kravitz. It took me a while to warm up to the end of the song. I used to skip it, but now I relish it.
woo is another pure vibes tune. Erykah rap-sings on this heavy Hip Hop song. She shouts out places and people while making the crowd go WOO.
side b
the grind features Dead Prez and is all about the hustle. This side of the album is a bit more serious. This song talks about the drug hustle or any illegal hustle people take up in order to live and survive. I have a little experience in that world. I cosplayed a street dude for about a year. My circumstance was different than the one described in the song, but the hustle is real.
danger continues the theme from the previous song and begins with the lyrics “The brotha's got this complex occupation” which she first sang in the song "Otherside of the Game" from her first album Baduizm. Here she revisits the theme in a louder way. My favorite part of the song, the one that got me really into this tune goes:
“Block on lock
The trunk stay locked
Glock on cock
The block stay hot”
Listen to both songs. Badu’s been singing about this from day one.
think twice returns back to the vibes. This is a bit about love and starting something new that might be ill advised, but really it’s about the vibes. Roy Hargrove gets a shout out before a fantastic solo. I got to see him play once while working at the Bowery Poetry Club for a show called Revive the Live. That dude could really blow. He is greatly missed.
love of my life worldwide is a version of “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop)” which Badu made with Common a year before for the Brown Sugar soundtrack. This version features Queen Latifah, Bahamadia and Angie Stone. This song is more upbeat than the original. It’s a fun version.
outro - world keeps turnin’ starts like it begins. Same tune, same vibe. The last minute of the outro has some light space-like sounds. Don’t know exactly what that’s about, but it’s very Badu. Great end to a great album.
While this album doesn’t have all the great writing the previous two albums had, this one has some great songs and creates a great vibe. I can listen to it for days. Okay I’m gonna go celebrate my birthday now. See you next time for another Sunday Morning Records.