Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (2 LP)

"Didn't Cha Know" was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.R&B diva Erykah Badu's long-awaited second studio release finds her incorporating pronounced jazz influences into her history-cognizant mixture of hip-hop and soul. Jazzy touches, from the vibes on "My Life" to the ballad "Orange Moon," with its languid upright bass and bop-schooled piano, abound. Jazz trumpeter extraodinaire Roy Hargrove was responsible for all the horn arrangements on MAMA'S GUN."Booty"'s Crusaders-style horns and loose, funky rhythm nod to mid '70s R&B, and the guitar lines on "Bag Lady" could have come off a vintage Marvin Gaye album. With its delicate acoustic guitar textures, lush background vocals, and '70s-style keyboards, "A.D. 2000" occupies a classy middle ground between Sade and HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS-era Joni Mitchell. The album closes with the adventurous, suite-like "Green Eyes." The first section of the song finds Badu crooning in a '30s jazz-blues style over crackl