I don’t know if it’ll go down with Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” or Common’s “The Light,” but you can count this new song by New-Orleans-born rapper Jay Electronica as another good one inspired by the woman who must stand, at this point, as hip-hop’s all-time greatest muse, Erykah Badu. (Who else would it be? Janet? Sade? Roxanne? Jane?) You’ll remember that Jay-the excellent and fast-rising rapper who Jon Caramanica wrote so nicely about last week in the Times-posted live reports on his Twitter page as Erykah gave birth to their daughter, Mars Merkaba, a year-and-a-half ago. He is an open book.
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I grew up in New Jersey. I live in New York. I write for the Awl, and also a book called Public Apology, for Grand Central Publishing.