In an interview with The Combat Jack Show, Common spoke about his new album, Nobody’s Smiling, and the topic of his past relationships came up. Of course, he was once involved with Erykah Badu (they were together from 2000 and 2002) and during the time he was with her, it seemed that the rapper’s whole style changed. A similar change occurred when Badu was involved with Andre 3000 back in the day (but he never looked back), and because of this, many have joked about the effect she has on rappers–a “voodoo” of sorts. There has been a song about it (“She Got That Erykah Badu“) and everything. But Common is the first man she’s been with to really talk about such jokes and claims. Badu was his first love, and while he joked about the power of the “Badu box,” he admits that she was a big inspiration to him.
When speaking on the effect she has on men, Common says she’s just that special.
“Yeah, the ‘Badu Box’ is real. Man, it could take you to another universe [laughs]. Nah but seriously. That’s when you meet somebody that’s real special and you’re like, ‘Man, this woman’s got…she got something else, man. It ain’t just sex, it ain’t just the looks. It’s just something that’s kind of like spirit-wise where you’re like, ‘This woman got something else.’ And that’s all it is. but for me, I just appreciated her for all those aspects: Her being super-talented, of being real fresh, and being into new s**t I just wasn’t up on. And then at the same token that whole spiritual things is real. We’re both Pisces.”
And he also explained why he was walking around in kufis and crochet ensembles for a time while they dated.
“She definitely was not like, ‘wear this.’ It was something that was coming from me. Moving to New York I had the aspirations to do something new, to change, to grow, just try new things. She definitely was an influence I can’t act like she wasn’t an influence because she introduced me to certain people that were creative artists, but as far as my choice – it was my choice to say, ‘I want to do this. I want to do that.’ She wasn’t agreeing with some of my fashion choices either to be honest. But that period in my life, I had a great time. Erykah, I be listening to some of her songs, and I’m like, ‘This girl is dope.’”
Badu has spoken in the past about the jokes about her mystical powers on men, According to Global Grind, she had this to say a while back:
“I learned just as much from them as they learned from me. I’m a cold motherf***a though. But the people I’m with are cold too, they’re a reflection of that. Become a cold motherf***a and the motherf***a will just come like magnets.”
You might want to write that last part down so you too can become a “cold motherf***a.” But in all seriousness, what do you think of what Common had to say?
Check out the full interview, which is more than an hour long, here. The question about Badu occurs at the 1:25:30 mark.
