It started with a Mobb Deep beat.
Erykah Badu was riding in a car with her longtime creative partner Cold Cris when "The Realest" came on, a Prodigy and Havoc cut from Murda Muzik in 1999, produced by The Alchemist. She mentioned she had always wanted to sing over it. Cold Cris told her he knew the guy who made it. That chance moment in a moving car set in motion a collaboration that took over two decades to finally arrive.
Before the World Blows is out today, August 28, 2026. It is Erykah Badu's first full-length album since New Amerykah Part Two in 2010. Sixteen years. And it is The Alchemist's most unexpected project in a catalog full of unexpected projects.
The Year of False Starts
After false starts and cryptic teasers, the album was originally announced under the working title Abi & Alan, named after the first names of both artists. The project was supposed to drop August 29, 2025. On that day, Badu went live on Instagram from her bed and told fans nothing was dropping at midnight, pointing the finger at Alchemist. ALC denied ever announcing that date. For months the album sat in limbo, listed on digital platforms under the placeholder "Sorry, we don't have an album title yet." Cryptic posters appeared in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Paris and New York reading "One More Song..." Fans decoded the clues. The title shifted from Abi & Alan to something bigger: Before the World Blows.
The rollout was its own event. The album was played in full in phone-free listening sessions with Yondr pouches. "Next 2 U" arrived first as a single in June 2025, followed by "Witch Doctor" on August 13. 2026 That first session at The Alchemist's Los Angeles studio produced "Next 2 U," built on a flip of the very Mobb Deep beat that started everything.
The Album
The pairing shouldn't work on paper. Erykah Badu is neo-soul's defining voice, a singer who bends time and phrasing to her own logic. The Alchemist is boom bap's most prominent living producer, a crate-digger whose beats are built from dust and menace. Put them together and the obvious risk is that neither fully commits to the other's world. That risk never materializes. Instead, Alchemist strips his production back just enough to give Badu room, and Badu leans into the grit rather than smoothing it out. The result is heavier and stranger than either of their solo catalogs would predict.
The seven-minute opener "Echos" sets the tone immediately. Badu processes the stress of the delayed rollout and answers her critics over a sprawling instrumental that refuses to be rushed. It is an album-opening statement in the tradition of her best intros, the kind that tells you the record ahead is going to move at its own pace and dare you to keep up.
1st Single "Next 2 U"
"Next 2 U" is the track that connects the origin story to the finished record. The flip of "The Realest" is unmistakable if you know the source. Badu sings over something that was always hers in spirit now it is hers on record too. The warmth between the two artists is immediate and real. Eighteen months of sessions between Dallas and Los Angeles built a trust that shows.
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