Erykah Badu is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actress, and musician born on February 26, 1971, in Dallas, Texas, whose work spans the neo soul and soul genres.

Badu was educated at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas before going on to attend Grambling State University. These formative years preceded her emergence as a recording artist working primarily in English. Her occupational range is notably broad, encompassing not only singing and songwriting but also record production, acting, composing, poetry, and writing, reflecting a multifaceted engagement with the performing and creative arts.

As a United States citizen working across several creative disciplines, Badu has functioned as both a performer and a behind-the-scenes architect of her recorded output. Her role as a record producer places her among artists who maintain direct authorial control over the sonic shape of their work, while her activity as a jazz musician signals an engagement with a tradition that extends beyond the commercial parameters of mainstream popular music. Her poet and writer credits further indicate a practice that reaches into literary expression alongside her musical output.

The genres most consistently associated with Badu are neo soul and soul, categories that situate her within a lineage of rhythm-and-blues-inflected popular music that foregrounds vocal depth and emotional directness. Among the works attributed to her is Badu Pussy. These genre affiliations, combined with the range of roles she occupies as singer, composer, actress, and poet, define a career conducted across multiple expressive registers within American popular and artistic culture.