Shine Sister, Shine--Erykah Badu Shines her Light in Copenhagen

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Badu in concert.
Now, I don't really keep track of the music scene cause, well, I got enough on my plate as it is already, but Ms. Badu has always been an exception and the explanation is simple: She's fly as hell.
Every since KG slipped a promotional copy of Baduizm in my hand and said, "Check this out", I was hooked. One of the true marks of brilliance is making seemingly transparent art: Creations that seduce us into believing that the process of creation had been seemless. We don't experience the heartaches of the creator, the frustrations of the band, we don't hear all the many ways the song didn't work, or all the other ways it could. What we hear instead, is a seemingly effortless collection of the essence of her process.
Just a while back, I was checking out Ms. Nina Simone on youtube. One of the wonders of modern technology: Being able to check out the High Priestess of Soul from my cramped desk in Copenhagen. I was like, who is carrying Nina's torch?
I'll be the first person to say I'm sometimes slow to make connections. It's definitely due to the firecracker process of hundreds of ideas going off in my soul simultaneously. Some people call it Attention deficient Disorder, but anyway, when I saw Ms. Badu up on that stage last night it finally hit me--She has that torch and you know what? She deserves it. Watching Ms. Badu on stage is watching the alchemy of spirit doing what it is supposed to do. Another thing I hadn't realized is--that Woman can sang: and no, that is not a grammatical error.
What a show. She gave 1000% as effortlessly and cool as your neighbor pouring you a cup of hot chocolate. While I watched from the audience, her and her band's beautiful faces took me back to Elementary School Playgrounds, double-dutch ropes, handballs bouncing off a concrete and Flatbush Avenue. She took me back to the wonders I left behind and instead of making me sad about it, instilled the conviction that I too am part of this mission. Ms. Badu is an artist of the highest kind: She inspires, she fertilizers and reminds us of the possibility. Most of all she makes the connections: Between the Blues, soul, Hip Hop, rock, (she even broke out with some traditional African song!). And she sings about things that matters--even if, as I suspect, many of her audience don't even get, but feel. (Does a Danish girl really know what Other Side of the Game is about? Does it matter?) Sister Badu raises to the Universal and again, I crown her the new High Priestess of Soul because in the end, no one deserves it more than she.
Thanks Erykah--for answering your call. You inspire us to do the same.