''Worldwide Underground'' is the third studio album by American singer

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer and songwriter. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

, released September 16, 2003, by

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2003, following Badu's period of

writer's block Writer's block is a non-medical condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Writer's block has various degrees of severity, from difficulty in coming ...

, and her performances during the '' Frustrated Artist Tour''. Production was handled primarily by the production group Freakquency , consisting of Badu, Rashad Smith,

James Poyser James Jason Poyser (b. January 30, 1967) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been a member of the hip hop band The Roots since 2009, and plays with The Roots in the hous ...

, and RC Williams. Prominently influenced by old-school 1970s and 80s

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

, R&B and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

elements, the album features an unconventional musical structure; the songwriting took a path of somewhat less subliminal, metaphorical lyrics than Badu’s previous work, expressing more lighthearted (but sincere) feelings, instead. The album’s content mainly focused on the general state of

hip hop culture Hip-hop culture is an art movement that emerged in New York City, in the borough of The Bronx; Primarily within the black community. Hip Hop as an art form and culture has been heavily influenced by both male and female artists. It is charac ...

, reminiscing on good times, friends, partying, young love, “hood life”, and some references to gang culture.Alt URL
/ref> The album features appearances from artists

Dead Prez Dead Prez (stylized in lowercase) is an American hip hop duo composed of M-1 and stic.man, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self-de ...

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, singer, and actress. She has received various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe ...

Bahamadia Antonia D. Reed (born April 22, 1966), known professionally as Bahamadia, is an American Hip hop music, hip hop artist and singer. Bahamadia released her debut album, ''Kollage (album), Kollage'', in 1996, followed by the independently released ...

, and singer

Angie Stone Angela Laverne Stone (née Brown; December 18, 1961 – March 1, 2025) was an American singer-songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. With a career spanning over four decades, she has been credited with revolutionizing the sound of Ol ...

. The album debuted at number three on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 143,561 copies in its first week. It was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, and produced three singles that achieved moderate chart success, while the album was underpromoted and sold less than her previous albums. Upon its release, ''Worldwide Underground'' received generally lukewarm reviews from critics. The album has sold 609,000 copies in the United States.

Background

After taking some time off to raise her child, Badu returned in 2000 with ''

Mama's Gun ''Mama's Gun'' is the second studio album by American singer Erykah Badu. It was recorded between 1998 and 2000 at Electric Lady Studios in New York and released on November 21, 2000, by Motown Records. A neo soul album, ''Mama's Gun'' incorpora ...

.'' The album was characterized as more organic in sound than her previous studio album, and primarily produced by the

Soulquarians The Soulquarians were a rotating collective of experimental Black music artists active during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Initially formed by singer and multi-instrumentalist D'Angelo, drummer and producer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, and p ...

and noted

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A session bassist, he has played bass for a number of acts such as the Who, the John Mayer Trio, Gary Numan, Paul Young, Don Henle ...

. A remix of one of the album's songs, " Bag Lady", was issued as the first single and topped the R&B charts for seven weeks. The album was well-received, with the lyrical content winning notices from many publications. Reviewers found some of her lyrics hard to decipher on her initial releases. Despite not charting as high as her first two albums, ''Mama's Gun'' was another platinum-selling success, and "Bag Lady" was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2001 Badu embarked on the '' Mama's Gun World Tour''. The tour started in North America on February 10 in Cleveland, Ohio at the Allen Theatre. Badu will perform two nights in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. After the release of ''Mama's Gun'' and "Love of My Life", Badu suffered

Release and reception

''Worldwide Underground'' was released on September 16, 2003, by

. It debuted at number three on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart in the week of October 4,Billboard 200 (10/4/2003)
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. Retrieved 2010-03-30. selling 143,561 copies in its first week. Ultimately spending 11 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200, it also entered at number two on ''

''s

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

and spent 30 weeks on the chart.Chart History: ''Worldwide Underground''
''Billboard''. Retrieved 2010-03-30. By December 2003, the album had sold 394,000 copies domestically. Its first single, "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop)", peaked at number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and at number one on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The second single "Danger" reached number 82 on the Hot 100 and number 27 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while the third single "Back in the Day (Puff)" peaked at number 62 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. On October 28, 2003, ''Worldwide Underground'' was certified

in sales by the

, following sales in excess of 500,000 copies in the United States. According to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

, the album has sold 609,000 copies in the United States. ''Worldwide Underground'' received generally lukewarm reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 71, based on 14 reviews.''Worldwide Underground'' (2003): Reviews

. Retrieved 2010-03-30. Andy Kellman from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

said the record sounded "more like a weekend jam session than an endlessly labored-over, polished project. For the most part, this is a good thing". ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' critic

Mark Anthony Neal Mark Anthony Neal is an American author and academic. He is the Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African and African-American Studies at Duke University, where he won the 2010 Robert B. Cox Award for Teaching. Neal has writt ...

commended Badu for her themes relating to hip hop culture and for her musical direction, writing that "it finds the artist '' Stepping into Tomorrow'', with a new production collective in tow and some straight-up, free-floating, funky-ass R&B. And for the first time in her career, Badu is wearing her own voice and it is unmistakably Badu".Neal, Mark Anthony
Review: ''Worldwide Underground''

. Retrieved 2009-08-09. Georgia Christgau from ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' wrote that "although sometimes her reliance on mood threatens to get the better of ''Worldwide Underground'', Badu remains faithful to the old school of flow, a blend of drums and rhythm designed to service soul's best instruments: its vocalists."Christgau, Georgia
Review: ''Worldwide Underground''
''

''. Retrieved 2009-08-09. ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' ranked the record number 90 on its list of the Best Albums of the Aughts. In a less enthusiastic review, '' Uncut'' deemed ''Worldwide Underground'' oft-interesting but too

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...

-oriented music, while ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

'' observed "rambling, digital fiddling and self-indulgent sprawl here, but a sense of purpose, too, even as her lips move on autopilot." Jon Caramanica from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' was more critical and said apart from "Danger" and "Love of My Life Worldwide", most of the songs sounded aimless, "variations on some atmospheric theme ... slither ngalong unthreateningly".

Tour

Badu embarked on the ''Worldwide Underground Tour'' in 2004. The US trek kicked off on February 3 in New Orleans. and ran through the winter and spring with supporting act ''Floetry'' joining the tour February 5 in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

made a special opening act appearance at the February 11, show in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Badu resumed the tour during the fall with additional dates in America and Europe. Badu founded the '' Sugar Water Festival'', a music festival co-found by Badu,

and Jill Scott. The trek played to amphitheaters and arenas in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

during the summer of 2005 and 2006. It began in 2005 as an event to bring awareness to health issues to African-American women. British duo

Floetry Floetry were an English contemporary R&B, R&B duo comprising Marsha Ambrosius ("the Songstress") and The Floacist, Natalie Stewart ("the Floacist"). The group recorded two studio albums, one live album, and sold over 1,500,000 records worldwid ...

opened shows during the 2005 run. The festival was relaunched briefly in 2006 with

Kelis Kelis Rogers (; born August 21, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and chef. She attended Manhattan, New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she played saxophone and was selected for the Girls Ch ...

opening the show and comedian

Mo'Nique Monique Angela Hicks (née Imes; born December 11, 1967), known mononymously as Mo'Nique, is an American comedian and actress. She debuted as a member of The Queens of Comedy and earned recognition as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian. In 2 ...

hosting the festival. 2006 was the final year for the outing. The festival was to expand into

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, however, this did not come to fruition. The '' Summer Tour'' was a concert tour in 2006 by Badu. The tour started on June 10, in Knoxville, TN, with three shows in the U.S. and resumed in July for several shows in Europe. In August, Badu co-headlined dates with Jill Scott and Queen Latifah at the ''"Sugar Water Festival"''.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

Freakquency * Erykah Badu – vocals, arrangements, funk box (track 2, 5), drum programming (6) *

– keyboards (2–4, 6–9, 11), additional programming (2), drums (11) * Rashad "Ringo" Smith – drum programming (except 1, 4, 10), "funk cuts" (5), "cuts, spices and herbs" (11) * R.C. Williams – keyboards (5, 7), additional programming (3) with * Braylon "Brother B." Lacy – bass (2–5, 7–9), handclaps (5) * Doc Gibbs – percussion (2–4) *

Zap Mama Zap Mama is a Belgian singer-songwriter, performer, composer, lyricist, activist, video artist and ethno-vocal therapist born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raised in Belgium. Zap Mama sings polyphonic and afro-pop music, a harmonic music ...

Caron Wheeler Caron Melina Wheeler (born 19 January 1963) is a British singer, songwriter, record producer and musician. Born and raised in London, she performed in various singing competitions as a teenager and began her recording career as one of the found ...

– vocals (2) * Chinah Blac – background vocals (2, 7) *

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album ''Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz album), Let Love Rule'' (1989) was characterized by a blend of Rock music, rock ...

– electric guitar (4 ot 3 as stated in album credits * Dwayne Kerr – flute (5, 11, 12) * Jazz Bell, Sam Bell, Tisha Creer, Alfredo Gray, Robert Pack, A. Pérez – background vocals (5) * Eevin Wright, Rod Rice – handclaps (5) * M-1,

Stic.man Khnum Muata Ibomu (born Clayton Gavin, March 6, 1974), better known by his stage name stic.man and more recently as stic, is an American rapper, music producer, activist and author known for his work as one half of the political hip hop duo dead ...

– vocals (6) *

– rap, drum programming (6) *

Roy Hargrove Roy Anthony Hargrove (October 16, 1969 – November 2, 2018) was an American jazz musician and composer whose principal instruments were the trumpet and flugelhorn. He achieved critical acclaim after winning two Grammy Awards for differing styles ...

– trumpet, vocals (8) *

– vocals (9) *

– vocals (11) *

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to prominence as a vocalist and bassist for the R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné!, which he formed with h ...

– bass guitar (11)

Production

* Producers: Freakquency,

* Executive producers: Erykah Badu,

Kedar Massenburg William Henry "Kedar" Massenburg (born 1963) is an American record producer and music executive who served as president of Motown Records from 1997 to 2004. Massenburg is best known for discovering and cultivating American singer Erykah Badu, as w ...

* Co-executive producers: James Poyser, Rashad Smith, Tom Soares, R.C. Williams * Recording Engineer: Tom Soares * Assistant engineers: Shinobu Mitsuoka (4), Tim Olmstead (5) * Mixing: Tom Soares, Leslie Brathwaite (7), Brian Stanley (8) * Mastering: Chris Athens (exc. 7), Robert Wechsler (7) * Creative director: Sandy Brummels * Vocal Coaching: Erykah Badu, Lis Lewis, David Angerstein * Art direction: Erykah Badu, Kenny J. Gravillis * Drawing: Erykah Badu * Photography: Marc Baptiste * Make-up: Melanie Harris * Stylist: Carlton Jones

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

*
Worldwide Underground
' at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

*
Worldwide Underground
' at

*
Worldwide Underground
' at αCharts {{Authority control 2003 albums Albums produced by Raphael Saadiq Albums produced by James Poyser Albums produced by Rashad Smith Erykah Badu albums Motown albums