SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Erykah Badu is best known as a musician, particularly for her hit '90s album "Baduizm."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ON AND ON")
ERYKAH BADU: (Singing) Oh, on and on, my cypher...
DETROW: That's her hit song "On And On." But Badu's bio includes so much more than just music. She's an actor who could be seen in the August Wilson adaptation, "The Piano Lesson," streaming on Netflix this Friday. She's a doula who helps welcome new life into the world. And she also helps guide people in hospices and nursing homes at the end of their lives. She joined NPR's Rachel Martin on our Wild Card podcast where well-known guests answer big questions about their life.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
RACHEL MARTIN: First three cards - one, two or three.
BADU: Middle - two.
MARTIN: Middle - two. That was quick. You were feeling that. Is there a place that feels like home, even though you haven't lived there?
BADU: And is it a place that I would have visited before?
MARTIN: I don't know.
BADU: Yes. A space shuttle for one.
MARTIN: Tell me why.
BADU: 'Cause, like, I could get used to it, just, like, the four walls, as long as I have a few activities. I'll be all right. I just think about it all the time.
MARTIN: Do you?
BADU: (Laughter) Yeah.
MARTIN: Come on.
BADU: A space shuttle for one - yeah, that'd be great.
MARTIN: Oh, there's not even any other astronauts on the space shuttle?
BADU: No. No, just me. For one.
MARTIN: Do you want to be going somewhere, or do you want to just float around in space for...
BADU: Just as long as they don't open that door.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
BADU: I'm fine (laughter). We can float. We can do whatever. We can roll, swim, you know, sail.
MARTIN: So do you like being alone?
BADU: Yes.
MARTIN: Were you blessed with that coming out of the womb, or did you learn how to be alone, or...
BADU: I think I was blessed with it, I'll say, because I've always really enjoyed it.
MARTIN: Was your mom OK with that, or was she like, Erykah, you need to go make some friends?
BADU: Oh, yeah. I had friends, for sure - lots of them. But I still really enjoyed mostly being alone and going home and getting under the dining room table after school. And there was this long cloth over it.
MARTIN: Yeah.
BADU: I had all my, you know, color books and crayons and snacks and - yeah, I just liked it. I was always making something or building something that was a secret.
MARTIN: Yeah.
BADU: Yeah.
MARTIN: Was music part of that?
BADU: Oh, yeah.
MARTIN: Like - yeah.
BADU: Well, music was the background of everything in my life. It was the undertone. It was the hum of my universe as a child. There was a radio that was always on in the bathroom, a small radio.
MARTIN: Was there a channel?
BADU: It was K104 FM radio. It was R&B radio, yeah, and the songs, you know...
MARTIN: Yeah.
BADU: ...'Cause they play them eight times a day.
MARTIN: That's right (laughter).
BADU: We were kind of programmed. Yeah. No, those songs - but music was always the undertone. And my uncle had a great record collection, and my mother had a great record collection. So music was, like, a central force for us.
MARTIN: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Three more - one, two, three.
BADU: Three.
MARTIN: Three - is there anything you long for?
BADU: Yes. I want to get my best work out of me 'cause it's still in me. And I feel it, and something in me can't let it go yet. I long for that moment that I'm able to let that go and give it to the world.
MARTIN: So you don't feel that you've reached that apex yet, huh?
BADU: No. Not at all.
MARTIN: You strike me as a kind of person who, even if you put out this album - are you going to be satisfied? And it could be amazing.
BADU: I'll be satisfied with the album, yes. Each album is like a kid. You know, it's, like, you know, it goes through this whole birthing process and this whole gestation process and growing. So you don't never want to let it go, really. So each album is very, very special. But I just - as an artist, I just want to do more every time.
MARTIN: But it's reachable. It's not an unreachable thing. It's a reachable thing.
BADU: Perhaps, we'll see. But see if I say it's reachable, then it's too easy. I have to believe that it's not reachable. And I'm the only one that can reach it.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: OK. We're moving on.
BADU: Move on.
MARTIN: Move on. Three more - one, two, three.
BADU: Three.
MARTIN: Three - well, I know the answer to this question.
BADU: No, you don't.
MARTIN: OK. You're right.
BADU: (Laughter).
MARTIN: Do you think there's more to reality than we can see or touch?
BADU: No.
MARTIN: What?
(LAUGHTER)
BADU: See, you thought you knew the answer. OK. Do I think there's more to reality than we can see or touch? Absolutely. Absolutely.
MARTIN: I know you work as a doula. You also sit with people who are at the end of their life.
BADU: Yeah.
MARTIN: And in those spaces, it's hard to deny that there is more to reality than we can see or touch 'cause there's an energy there that...
BADU: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...We can't see or touch when life moves in and out of the world.
BADU: Yes. I mean, I don't know. And I don't have to know to want to be the welcoming committee as a doula...
MARTIN: Yeah.
BADU: ...You know where they're coming from. I just - I want to make sure that - from what I've learned since I've been here, I just want to feel like a - your guide around the high school, and I'm a junior, and you're a freshman, you know? And this is what I know about the school - is what I want to share.
MARTIN: Yeah.
BADU: As a doula specifically, I'm the welcoming committee. I want to make sure that when you come to this place, the room is prepared for you because I believe if you have a start with easy breath and love and things you can smell that are beautiful and music that you can hear that's beautiful and your parents united - and even though they have problems, they're taking this day to come together for this most important ceremony, the day you came into this world.
MARTIN: So if you're the welcome committee for the baby, when you sit with people who are at the end of their life...
BADU: I'm the ushering committee.
MARTIN: Yeah.
BADU: Yeah, so I'm not going to profess that I know where they're going or by what kind of pathway or portal or vortice (ph). I just want them to have the same experience going out - easy breath...
MARTIN: Yeah.
BADU: ...Easy heart rate. I've left this realm or this place with something sweet to smell or to taste or to hear, with love and relaxed. And I suggest that there should be no fear. Let's get to a point of no fear because you're going to know something that we don't know. But I believe that you're going to need your easy breath.
MARTIN: Erykah Badu, thank you so much.
BADU: Thank you, sis. Peace to you.
MARTIN: Yeah, and to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DETROW: For more from that conversation with Erykah Badu, follow the Wild Card podcast. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
