Erykah Badu On Stand-Up, Meeting Prince And 'Unpopular Opinions'

If you were to try and fit Erykah Badu into a neat little box, you might say she's a soul singer/songwriter and leave it at that.

But you'd fail to acknowledge her many other talents, from her work as an actress (Cider House Rules and the upcoming What Men Want), to her otherworldly grasp of social media, to her work helping babies into the world as a certified doula.

Born Erica Wright in Dallas in 1971, Badu first came into the public consciousness with her 1997 Grammy Award-wining debut album Her early success would make her forever associated with the Neo-Soul genre popular in the 1990s, alongside D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill and others. But throughout the years her musical output has ventured well outside one specific genre. For instance, her most recent release, the 2015 mixtape , Badu dubbed the style "Trap & B," a unification of hip-hop, R&B, experimental rock and jazz.