Erykah Badu New Amerykah, Part 1: 4th World War (2-LPs)

3 stars out of 5 -- "Badu kicks off the first disc by indulging her arty side: 4TH WORLD WAR is mostly dark, minor-key melodies, eerie chants and atmospheric electro beats..."
Ranked #19 in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums Of 2008 -- "AMERYKAH is a hip-hop update of Funkadelic's brain-melting sonic stews."
Ranked #12 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "Laptop R&B that uses hip-hop as its muse....Badu croons her own future in your ear."
"She is both earth mama and mystic, a Billie Holiday jazz-rasp queen with a tangy Southern drawl..." -- Grade: A-
4 stars out of 5 -- "[S]he's far bolder, singing in a strange, little girl's voice over a solitary Chet Baker-style trumpet or chanting mantra-like over a bubbling African rhythm."
"['Honey'] drips with the kind of sultry retro-funk that proves NEW AMERYKAH to have been well worth any amount of waiting."
"[T]he album is challenging, fabulously out there....It's drenched in a '70s acid-rock aura/ afro-sheen vibe -- a spacious, heady brew of trippy guitars, keyboards, and steady beats."
3 stars out of 5 -- "NEW AMERYKAH blends classic soul with Sly Stone-freak funk and zonked-out hip hop."
4 stars out of 5 -- "[H]er boldest and best yet, brilliantly eccentric but repaying every indulgence."
Ranked #16 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "[S]egueing through haunted hip hop, luscious soul and futurist funk..."