Erykah Badu Leaves Big Impression on Little Eyes and Ears

By Mali Dada D'Janite

I thought the show at BAM this weekend with Erykah Badu was really nice. I really enjoyed myself!

Erykah looked nice; I liked her outfit. She sounded well and she looked like she was really enjoying herself on the stage!

I really like that she was playing with The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, because they knew her songs, so it made the songs I’m familiar with sound even bigger and nicer.

These types of shows are an important reminder to adults that kids need music in their lives. They need to expand their music library, instead of only listening to hip hop all the time.

Even at school, I look forward to going to music class, because you learn sheet music and you listen to different varieties of music. I think it’s important because it’s an extra activity that gives you a really good reason to go to school.

I’m really a music lover because my father is a DJ, so I’ve been listening to different types of music since I was really young, like house and soul and afro-beat and world music.

When I was 6 or 7, my mom used to always play Erykah Badu in the house and I asked, ‘Who’s that?’ And she said, ‘Erykah Badu.’ So I started listening to her music all the time. I love Erykah’s voice and personality because she’s a pisces and pisces are really cool. She’s one of my role models.

Only listening to hip hop music isn’t always a good influence on children, because when kids grow up, they’re just going to talk about and play more of the stuff that was in the rap music.

When I listen to soul and afro-beat, I have a nicer vibe.

Mali Dada D’Janite is a 12-year-old community journalist and Bed-Stuy resident that attends the Urban Assembly of Arts and Letters School in Fort Greene. She loves to dance, act, draw, paint, write plays and sing in her father’s band “Earthman Experience.” She’s also a budding photographer who loves to get behind the lens and shoot “in the moment” photos that show the beauty of simple life. To follow Mali Dada and her daily photos on Instagram, go to afro_nerd_101.