Who has brought Summer Walker, H.E.R. and Erykah Badu together on his new album?

Collaborator of Chance the Rapper and Ty Dolla Sign on the track Blessings (Reprise), and of the group Gorillaz – on the track Andromeda in 2017 -, the rapper Shelley FKA DRAM, also known under the pseudonyms Shelley and D.R.A.M, has just unveiled his new album… Shelley FKA DRAM. The 37-minute long album of pure R’n’B has some tasty surprises in store, including appearances by hot contemporary R’n’B figures Summer Walker and H.E.R, she who won the Grammy Award for “Song of the Year” and the Oscar for “Best Original Song” for Fight For You, from the soundtrack of Shaka King’s movie, Judah and the Black Messiah.

 

 

The track 93 Acura Vigor, on which we hear the voice of Erykah Badu, queen of neo soul – that hybrid genre born in the early 90s, which draws on jazz, funk, Cameroonian makossa and hip-hop, while pure soul was, at the time, in the hands of Sade and Neneh Cherry – is particularly noteworthy. Born in Dallas in 1971, Erica Wright first stepped on stage at the age of 4 to dance with her actress mother. She went from freestyle rap and acting classes as a teenager to become a successful solo artist, signing a contract with Kedar Entertainment. In 1996, Erykah Badu worked on her first album with a certain Kedar Massenburg, a bigwig from the Motown label, who coined the term “nu-soul”. Her nasal phrasing, close to that of Billie Holiday, made her the spokesperson for the nu-soul revolution initiated by her male alter ego D’Angelo, whose opening act she was at the time. In 1998, her first opus, Baduizm, was crowned best R’n’B album at the Grammy Awards. She won ahead of Mary J. Blige and Whitney Houston. Later that same night, she won the award for Best Female R’n’B Singer. At the time the track On & On was already a huge hit.

 

 

Shelley FKA DRAM by Shelley FKA DRAM, now available.