Badu, Erykah & The Alchemist Before The World Blows: The Abi And Alan Experiment

After an eleven-year absence, Erykah Badu returns with Before The World Blows: The Abi And Alan Experiment, an ambitious collaboration with legendary producer The Alchemist. Abi is Badu; Alan is The Alchemist—the meeting of two singular artists whose work has always resisted easy categorisation.

Recorded across 18 months in Dallas and Los Angeles, the album balances introspection with growth as Badu considers what parts of ourselves are worth protecting before the world fractures: love, innocence, dreams, memories and womanhood. Its four movements trace an evolving sense of self through love, art and identity, allowing passion to blur with desire and hope with grief.

The Alchemist initially sent Badu a collection of instrumental beats, which she deconstructed and reshaped through warm samples, soft kalimba notes, immersive chords and drums. The resulting music moves fluidly between soul, blues, funk, rock, jazz and underground hip-hop while remaining unmistakably Badu.

From 2024 to 2025, Badu and The Alchemist developed the album onstage through intimate, phone-free performances featuring Badu’s digital collective The Cannabinoids and The Alchemist on MPC. Hypnotic, playful, candid and deeply personal, the finished record captures both artists continuing to explore and evolve.

This indie-exclusive edition is pressed across two transparent neon-orange vinyl records.