Top Takeaways From Erykah Badu & The Alchemist’s ‘Before The World Blows’

Erykah Badu and The Alchemist are two acts who truly need no introduction, but they’re certainly separated by the genres they’ve individually mastered. Erykah Badu & The Alchemist’s highly anticipated joint album, Before The World Blows, was released over the weekend and here are Hip-Hop Wired’s top takeaways. In 2025, Erykah Badu and The Alchemist unveiled their first single “Next 2 U” and showed the promise of the union. However, the album’s many stops and starts, along with slowly naming the project filled some fans with concern that the album wouldn’t materialize as hoped. Before The World Blows effectively eliminates any concerns of cohesion, and Badu’s strong songwriting and dreamy vocals work well with the atmospheric platters set by Alchemist.Below are our top takeaways from Before The World Blows.What ring rust?With her first full-length album in over 16 years, not counting 2015’s But You Caint Use My Phone mixtape, some fans may have pondered if Badu would be in fighting form. Trust us when we say the songstress more than lives up to her legendary status. The Alchemist exists comfortably in Badu’s soulful world. If there were any concerns that Alchemist would struggle...