#ThrowbackThursday: “Tyrone” by Erykah Badu

by Sean Smith

The normally secluded “Queen of Neo-Soul,” Erykah Badu , has had quite the past week in the public eye. She performed the hosting duties for this year’s edition of the Soul Train Music Awards which aired this past weekend. She also made headlines when during the show she made a joke in her opening monologue criticizing Iggy Azalea, basically saying that what she does on record should not be considered rap. Azalea would later take to twitter to respond to Badu’s comments as well as give her fans an update on the status of her next album.

Other than Badu’s award show hosting duties, the “On & On” singer has also been keeping busy promoting the release of a new music project she released this past Friday. The project is  called But You Caint Use My Phone and is more akin to a mixtape than an album. The eleven tracks included are all in some way telephone related, many sampling older songs with telephone references. The title of the project itself, But You Caint Use My Phone is taken from a line in an older telephone related song of her own, “Tyrone,” which we take some time to remember in this week’s edition of #tbt.

Erykah Badu released her debut studio album Baduizm, which featured the popular singles “On & On” and “Next Lifetime” in February of 1997. Later that year she released a live concert album, appropriately named Live, in November. The lead single released in support of the live album was a track called “Tyrone.” In a 2008 interview with Clutch Magazine, Erykah Badu talked about how “Tyrone” came into being and why it remains a special song to her.

“…it was a song I literally made up on stage in London in 1997. It was a spontaneous thing. Later, I looked around and saw they were having debates about it on TV and radio. They said I was male bashing. I had no idea that it would have such an impact. I was just making it up as I was going along. As the song blew up, I realized that I had to take some kind of stance. I began to challenge all the ‘Tyrones’ to do better. It’s the jam and I love it. It’s one of my favorite songs to perform on stage and it’s still hilarious to me.”

So with the “Queen of Neo-Soul” recently hosting the Soul Train Music Awards, and the release of her new project But You Caint Use My Phone, this week we remember her 1997 live track “Tyrone.” Enjoy.

Erykah Badu 

“Tyrone” (Explicit) (Live)

From Live 

Kedar/Universal Records

 Related Media 

Erykah Badu 

“On And On”

From Baduizm 

Kedar/Universal Records

Erykah Badu 

“Next Lifetime”

From Baduizm 

Kedar/Universal Records