Soul music as we know it today seems to be very generic, blasé, not as original as years past but that is changing thanks to the recent graduating class of soul acts such as Jhelisa, Laurnea, Maxwell, Angie Stone, Jill Scott and D'Angelo just to name a few.

Sitting pretty atop of the class is Erykah Badu (who's given name is Erica Wright and was discovered by current Motown Head Kedar Massenburg) who caused such a immediate buzz in the industry with her debut set 'Baduism' in '97 that all ears were listening eagerly with anticipation for the sophomore set.  With comparison to the great voices of our generation such as Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn and Nina Simone Erykah became a household name and you just knew that Miss Badu would not be the next one hit wonder

On this her 3rd album for Motown, 'Mama's Gun' is a superb set that's fueled by Erykah's creative talents as a  singer, songwriter, producer and director (she makes her directorial debut on 'Bag Lady' the video) The set is driven by Erykah's ability to marry the musical styles of R+B, Jazz, Funk, Hip Hop and some good old fashioned soul music with her wizard poetry in words and song. The lead off single 'Bag Lady ' is soul music at its very best with sweet harmonies and a heavy drenched bassline a instant hit across the boards. Following suit is the sexy 10 minute long ballad 'Green Eyes', explaining the powers that be between two - very sensual. Up next is 'Booty ' the anademy never sounded sweeter you make your own decision on this one and then there's the seductive 'In love with you ' one word description - wicked. 'Kiss Me On My Neck ' is a funky floor mover primed for the radio airwaves (whether it makes it there remains to be seen.

'Young Man ', 'Didn't you know', 'Dear Misery ', 'AD 2000 ', 'Born again' and ' All I got to give' rounds out the set which I think for the most part will topple her debut and with that said we will wait and see if I'm right.

TD.