Reception
Baduizm established Badu as a popular artist and received reviews lauding her return to the simplicity of early-1970s soul. (And, - "Like the conscious soul era it invoked - the Stevies, Slys and Marvins and Curtis Mayfields of the early '70s - its politics and social comment strived to be inclusive, to understand why a vicious, materialist attitude had permeated black culture since the Reagan '80s.") Badu's original claim to fame was bass-heavy, groovy beats and emotionally charged lyrics. The most popular song from the album, which led to her subsequent fame, was "On & On". On July 17, 2007, a special edition of Baduizm was released which contains the original album plus a bonus CD which contains different versions on "On & On", "Appletree", "Next Lifetime", and "A Child With the Blues" (originally featured in the film Eve's Bayou).
Baduizm's commercial and critical success earned Erykah Badu popularity at the time and helped establish her as one of the emerging neo soul genre's leading artists. Along with D'Angelo's Brown Sugar (1995) and Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (1996), the album has been recognized by music writers for beginning neo soul's popularity and helping the genre obtain commercial visibility at the time. Baduizm is listed as one of the 261 greatest albums since punk and disco (the year 1976), in the music critic Garry Mulholland's book Fear of Music (ISBN 0-7528-6831-4). 'This record works as seduction soundtrack, Saturday night chill-out, Sunday morning church replacement. The success of Erykah Badu's masterpiece briefly threatened to inspire a new era in conscious soul. But only Lauryn Hill and D'Angelo were at her level. Baduizm stands alone, a missing link between '70s street funk, basement jazz, bohemian hip hop and the blues reinventions of Portishead."
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