Erykah Badu & The Alchemist - Before the World Blows

In the eleven years since her last project, Erykah Badu has gathered not conclusions but a series of existential insights. Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment exists within the tension between introspection and growth. Abi is Badu. Alan is The Alchemist. Recorded over 18 months in Dallas and Los Angeles, the album is the inevitable collision of two iconoclasts—hypnotic, funny, blunt, deeply personal, and impossible to categorize neatly.

Meditative and fluid, Before the World Blows finds Badu contemplating which parts of ourselves and our stories are worth protecting before the world breaks and fragments. The album unfolds in four movements through love, art and identity, with The Alchemist's sample-based architecture meeting Badu's rhythmic, jazz-informed experimentation.

The result moves fluidly between soul, blues, funk, rock, jazz and underground hip-hop. Both gatefold 2LP editions include a lyric sheet insert and belly band.