Album Drop
Erykah Badu and The Alchemist Finally Drop Their Anticipated Album ‘Before the World Blows’
Erykah Badu and The Alchemist have finally unleashed the collaboration fans have been waiting more than a year to hear, and the 16-track album is packed with some seriously unexpected names.
The neo-soul icon and acclaimed hip-hop producer have joined forces for Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment, a genre-blurring project that brings together soul, jazz, funk, blues and underground rap.
Released Friday, August 28, the album marks Erykah Badu’s first full-length studio project since 2010’s New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) and another major chapter in The Alchemist’s remarkable run as one of hip-hop’s most in-demand producers.
Badu and The Alchemist’s Unlikely Partnership
On paper, Erykah Badu and The Alchemist might look like an unusual pairing.
Badu helped define the neo-soul movement of the 1990s, while The Alchemist has spent decades crafting dusty, sample-heavy production for some of rap’s most respected underground and mainstream artists.
But their creative chemistry has proved impossible to ignore.
The project reportedly took approximately 18 months to make, with sessions split between Dallas and Los Angeles.
The collaboration traces back to The Alchemist’s work with Mobb Deep. Badu reportedly heard “The Realest,” a track from Mobb Deep’s Murda Muzik, and had long wanted to record over the production.
That eventually became the foundation for “Next 2 U,” one of the album’s early singles.
For The Alchemist, working with Badu was also something of a bucket-list collaboration. He began sending her beats whenever inspiration struck, with Badu eventually collecting enough material to head into the studio.
The 16-Track Album Has a Stacked Guest List
The guest lineup makes Before the World Blows even harder to predict.
The album features Westside Gunn, Earl Sweatshirt, DRAM, Steve Lacy, Thundercat, Joi, DJ Creole Princess and Kamasi Washington, while The Alchemist has also revealed DJ Quik’s involvement.
Westside Gunn appears twice, including on “Crossfade” and “No I.D.” Earl Sweatshirt contributes to “I Know That Man,” while Thundercat appears on “They Ain’t You.”
Steve Lacy joins Badu on “To The Moon (Plan C),” DRAM appears on “Valentine,” and Atlanta singer Joi contributes to “Crossfade.”
Jazz heavyweight Kamasi Washington gets the final word, appearing on “Black Box.”
The result is a guest list that reflects both artists’ unusually broad musical worlds.
Full ‘Before the World Blows’ Tracklist
The album contains 16 songs:
- “Echos”
- “I Just Play a Part”
- “Crossfade” feat. DJ Creole Princess, Westside Gunn & Joi
- “Witch Doctor”
- “Valentine” feat. DRAM
- “Next 2 U”
- “Love Me Not”
- “Breezy”
- “Abracadabra”
- “To the Moon (Plan C)” feat. Steve Lacy
- “They Ain’t You” feat. Thundercat
- “What the People Say (Apostle 1)”
- “Hot BiBi (Apostle 2)”
- “No I.D.” feat. Westside Gunn
- “I Know That Man” feat. Earl Sweatshirt
- “Black Box” feat. Kamasi Washington
The Album Almost Never Arrived
The road to release has been anything but straightforward.
Erykah Badu announced the project in 2025 after teasing a mysterious collaboration, but an anticipated release date passed without an album.
For months, fans stared at placeholder information while Badu and The Alchemist kept teasing the music.
The duo even played the project for audiences in phone-free environments, forcing listeners to lock their devices away.
Then came the cryptic “One More Song…” campaign.
Posters appeared in cities including New York, London, Paris, Sydney and Melbourne, eventually leading fans toward clues that revealed the album title.
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What Is the ‘Badu Burner Phone’?
The rollout went even further with the “Badu Burner Phone”, an interactive campaign designed to turn fans into participants.
Fans must complete challenges and decode clues before potentially gaining access to a phone number. Selected participants could then have the opportunity to speak directly with Badu through FaceTime or another video call.
It’s an appropriately unconventional campaign for an album that has refused to follow a conventional rollout.
Badu and The Alchemist Are Hitting the Road
The collaboration doesn’t end with the album.
Badu and The Alchemist are taking Before the World Blows on a North American tour, with De La Soul supporting and Smino joining on select dates.
The announced run includes stops in Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Queens, Denver, San Diego, Berkeley and Los Angeles, among other cities.
After years of waiting, the experiment is finally out in the world.
And considering Badu hasn’t released a full-length studio album in 16 years, the arrival of Before the World Blows could be one of the biggest neo-soul and hip-hop moments of 2026.
