Erykah Badu and The Alchemist have finally released Before the World Blows, a 16-track album that arrived Friday (Aug. 28) after 18 months in the studio between Dallas and Los Angeles and one very public false start. It's Badu's first full-length project since her 2015 mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone, per Pitchfork, and her first proper studio album since 2010's New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), according to Complex.
Pitchfork hears “a hallucinatory house party that never quite spins out of control,” with Earl Sweatshirt, Westside Gunn and Steve Lacy among the drop-ins, over vibe-heavy beats and percussive detours that frame Badu's riffs on modern times. Thundercat is on “They Ain't You,” and Kamasi Washington closes the record on “Black Box,” a song about phones that Badu has explained to The Guardian this way:
It's the first thing we reach for in the morning—it has become our pseudo-husband and wife.
Erykah Badu, to The Guardian, as quoted by Pitchfork, Pitchfork
The beat that started it
The whole project traces to one instrumental. The Alchemist produced “The Realest” for Mobb Deep's 1999 album Murda Muzik, and Badu, a longtime fan, wanted to sing over it. Complex relays her story from Drink Champs:
I'm a huge Mobb Deep fan, of course, and I always wanted to sing over this, ‘The Realest,’ and he goes, ‘I know the guy that produces it.’
Erykah Badu, to N.O.R.E. on Drink Champs, Complex
That first Los Angeles session produced “Next 2 U,” built on a flip of “The Realest,” and the other single, “Witch Doctor,” arrived Aug. 13 with a video Badu directed and stars in. The Alchemist told Billboard last year that he was still struggling to believe it: “I'm still bugging that I have a record with her. This is a big step for me.” Hear the pair's Drink Champs conversation below.
Why it matters
The rollout was messy. Badu announced the project in March 2025, and a rumored Aug. 29, 2025 release came and went, with her posting a video saying nothing would drop at midnight. For months the album sat on streaming services under a placeholder title, and the real title was confirmed only two days before release. Complex says it is out on the independent labels Control Freaq and Young. The wait didn't dim the reception: Billboard's review of the 16 tracks says the result “did not disappoint.”
What's next: a North American tour with De La Soul as support and Smino on select dates, which Billboard places at Forest Hills Stadium in September. Badu's Hollywood Bowl show with The Alchemist got its own art-world treatment.
- Album
- Before the World Blows, 16 tracks
- Out
- Friday, Aug. 28, 2026
- Labels
- Control Freaq / Young
- Guests
- Westside Gunn, Earl Sweatshirt, Steve Lacy, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington, DRAM, Joi, DJ Creole Princess
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
