BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ERYKAH BADU, the artiste who sang the famed, ‘I think you better call Tyrone’, caused quite a stir in the music industry when she stripped naked in her new music video ‘Window Seat’.
The video was shot in Dallas and shows her walking through the town gradually removing garments from her body until she was stark naked.
At the end of the video, a naked Badu is shot in the head and falls near the same grassy knoll near where President John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963, reported ballerstatus.com.
“They who play it safe are quick to assassinate what they don't understand,” she states at the end. “They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel more comfortable in groups, less guilt to swallow.
They are us. This is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual." During the weekend, Badu took to her Twitter account (@FatBellyBella) to explain the Coodie-directed music video, which she says her team filmed in one shot.
"We only had one shot to get it right," Badu wrote. "We didn't plan the shot. Coodie and I just went raw dog. Too busy lookin for cops and being petrified."
She later explains that the entire clip of her walking and stripping down took a couple of minutes to film, because they captured it and ran.
According to Badu, the screaming folks off camera were distracting, but she kept it together: "I held my head up and kept moving. ...There were children there. I prayed they wouldn't be traumatised."
The video is said to be risqué, and, as a mother, she ran it by everyone in her family including the father of her children, her kids and mother before filming.
“I told Puma (5) my plans. She looked at me with a blank face and replied, ‘Okay mama. Can I have another pudding?'" Badu wrote. "I asked @jayelectronica if I should go [through] with it. He said, 'If you feel good about it do it – you got one shot to be Erykah.’”
Badu delivered a baby girl on February 1, 2009, who is fathered by her boyfriend, rapper/producer Jay Electronica.
The two were subjected to criticisms by their fans over her relationship history and the addition of the baby.
Badu also has children with rappers Andre 3000 of Outkast and West Coast rapper The D.O.C. Responding to the criticisms in a rant on okayplayer.com, Badu explained how serious she takes being a mother and has raised two very good children, and acts as both mother and father in most cases.
“I am a great mother and caregiver to my two children and to this world," Badu wrote. “My children are two of the kindest and happiest people I have met…I am their doctor and their nurse, and even sometimes their mother and their father. I am an excellent mother and resent all of the negative comments and insults on my character."
Ballerstatus.com reported that she explained her relationships with Andre and D.O.C., stating that she did not go into each situation lightly.
“I put much time and thought into having and raising my children. I've had the honors of having two home births and two wonderful partners by my side. Every relationship I have been in was because I loved the person dearly and was dedicated to us 'exclusively' for a number of years.
The fathers of my children are my brothers and friends. We have a great deal of respect for one another and always will. We love our children to no end.
We took our own 'vows' and continue to uphold them, and that is what that is. Question? What is marriage? Who is the judge? Would it 'look better' to marry and divorce and marry again?"
‘Window Seat’ is featured on Badu’s new album ‘New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh’, which was released yesterday (March 30).
