Originally released November 21, 2000

Reissued November 4, 2016

Universal

2xLP

Next to D'Angelo's Brown Sugar and Voodoo, Mama's Gun is probably the most likely to be pegged as the 'ultimate neo soul album.' Recorded in Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady studio's — down the hall from where Voodoo, Common's Like Water For Chocolate, The Roots' Things Fall Apart, Bilal's 1st Born Second, and a few more — with the Soulquarian collective (Questlove, J Dilla, Roy Hargrove, Pino Palladino, Q-Tip, Mos Def, deep breath, James Poyser, Jill Scott, Raphael Saadiq, D'Angelo & Badu), it offered the most succinct version of a the new school of soul music would sound like from a direly important viewpoint — a woman's. It was born from the coals of one of a legendary hotbed of talent, with those Electric Lady sessions becoming the stuff of legend. It's wise beyond Badu's years; she was 28 when recording began, though she plays the part of a timeless matriarch. It's deep as a crater without ever sounding corny. It's sexy and assured without veering into self-indulgence. It's cool beyond reproach. It checks all the boxes of a vital, important piece of music. And the music itself is so singular, so humane and real and soul-stirringly beautiful that none of the aforementioned matter at all. Mama's Gun is a damn near perfect album. To anyone interested in soul (read: music at large), it is required listening.