Apple builds with Erykah on her new creative process that includes Garage Band, a MacBook and her Home studio.
“Making this album at home felt good,” Badu says. “I felt relaxed. I didn’t feel any pressure at all. I took my time. And in taking my time, things happened so quickly. I know that’s strange, but that’s how it happened. I didn’t have to go through the hustle and bustle and fuss of finding another engineer. I have a home studio, but I didn’t use it that much, because I was able to maneuver things by myself on the Mac. In four months, I had three albums—seventy-something songs and 20 to 50 more ideas.”
For New Amerykah, Badu laid freestyle vocals over tracks from producer 9th Wonder, who collaborated with producer James Poyser. “9th Wonder would send me a track and I would put some vocals on it, put a tambourine on it or something. Then 9th Wonder would IM it to James Poyser, who would put some keys on it. Poyser would IM it back to me, and I’d write a hook. I’d send it all to Mike Chavarria, and he would dump everything to two-inch tape to get a nice warm analog sound.”
