"I didn’t miss it [tour shows]. I’ve always wanted to perform from my bed at home... I never wanted to do the packing and going through the car and luggage and the hotel and, 'What’s the password? What’s the internet?' You get tired after years and years of doing it, you know?" - Erykah Badu told the New York Times about not touring and performing live-streams instead. She was among the first to start charging for her streams, that were richer production-wise - "I wanted the audience to feel like their money not only got them into the show, but they also got to help create the moment". Neighbors, it seems so, loved it as well - "I had to get a truck to broaden the bandwidth of my house. All the neighbors had high-speed internet for a couple of weeks because of it".

Hopefully the universe won't implode
May 09, 2020

"Epic" battle - Erykah Badu and Jill Scott

The newest episode of battles curated by music producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland will feature neo-soul artists Erykah Badu and Jill Scott - the first female superstars in the series (previously it was RZA vs. DJ Premier, Swizz Beatz vs. Timbaland, T-Pain vs. Lil Jon, Mannie Fresh vs. Scott Storch, and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds vs. Teddy Riley). All Hip Hop is sure the battle will be "epic" since Badu and Scott "are the best of the best". It's on Saturday, May 9 - at 7 p.m. Philadelphia time, 6 p.m. Dallas time, 1 a.m. Barcelona time.

Erykah Badu's Quarantine Concert Series saw the singer and her band perform live from her Dallas home, playing a different set each time in the interactive live stream, Variety reports. Badu charged viewers directly - $1 for the first concert, $2 for the second, $3 for the third. The first two live streams together drew more than 100,000 viewers, which would put her gross in the low- to lower-middle six figures. Angel Olsen did a different thing - she performed a solo set from home to benefit her band and touring crew as well as a charity, MusiCares’ COVID-19 relief fund. The show had a mandatory $12 fee ($15 on the day of the show), filling her set with rarities and some new material.

While on stage in Chicago, Erykah Badu told her fans she was “puttin’ up a prayer right now” for R. Kelly. The veteran singer also told of her hopes that, someday, Kelly sees “the light of day and comes forward". “But what if one of the people that was assaulted by R. Kelly grows up to be […]