Talk:Mama's Gun
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A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on February 11, 2026. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Erykah Badu recorded Mama's Gun at what was once Jimi Hendrix's apartment? | |||||||||||||
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The Washington Post review
Transcription using Google News Advanced News Archive Search. The Washington Post (Klein, Joshua. C.05. December 6, 2000) review of Mama's Gun (2000):
As hip-hop grew in popularity over the past two decades, many believed the classic soul music of the '60s and '70s would be buried by tradition-flouting new jacks interested more in making big bucks than in making songs that stand the test of time. But a fresh generation of neo-traditionalists arrived to shift the focus from cookie-cutter marketing and youth-culture pandering back to musicianship and songwriting. Artists such as Tony Toni Tone, Lauryn Hill, D'Angelo and Erykah Badu didn't simply hark back to the days of such standard bearers as Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Roberta Flack. Rather, they fused the past with the present, making dusty soul sounds new again with a mixture of old-school grit and streetwise savvy.
Badu has spent the better part of the three years since her auspicious debut, "Baduizm," popping up here and there on a friend's album but otherwise relatively silent. The new "Mama's Gun" should have been a blazing return to the scene. Instead, while the disc shows the singer ever mindful of the need for moderation in this age of "bling-bling" excess, the music is never quite as potent as it could have been. After the energetic "Penitentiary Philosophy," "Mama's Gun" comfortably settles into quiet-storm mode, the subdued groove ruling all. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. D'Angelo's "Voodoo," for instance, similarly invited the listener to succumb to its stoned sonic utopia, and for better or worse "Mama's Gun" sounds like that album's soul sister. "Kiss Me on My Neck" drums up some impressive voodoo magic of its own, while "Bag Lady" works surprisingly well, considering its odd jazz/reggae/march structure. "Bag Lady" and "Orange Moon" also enlist some effectively enigmatic metaphors, the latter conjuring evocative images to match the empowering lyrics, with Badu quietly declaring, "He rules the day, I'll rule the night."
After the hypnotic haze is lifted, though, the songs often disappear into the ether as well, despite some assured performances. On that end, Badu's team never falters. Recorded (as was "Baduizm") with the help of members of Philadelphia's ambitious hip- hop collective the Roots, "Mama's Gun" slinks, swings and swaggers, in love with its own backroom cool. Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson and famed horn man Roy Hargrove are both potent collaborators who have also worked with D'Angelo and rapper Common, helping the disc to hover somewhere between jazz, R&B and hip-hop. Throughout, the sparse bass of guests such as fellow D'Angelo vet Pino Palladino thumps mightily, capably carrying the bulk of the minimalist melodies of ". . . & On" and "Didn't Cha Know."
— Joshua Klein
Dan56 (talk) 23:43, 30 October 2009 (UTC)
Boston Herald review
Transcription using Google News Advanced News Archive Search. Boston Herald (Rodman, Sarah. 061. December 17, 2000) review of Mama's Gun (2000):
ERYKAH BADU. Mama's Gun (Motown). Three and a half stars. Three years after turning the world on to the smooth soul tenets of "Baduizm," Texas songstress Erykah Badu returns packing "Mama's Gun." That "Gun" is loaded with even more dynamic tunes, proving her debut was no fluke. It starts with a shot, the big, Rufus-worthy explosion of "Penitentiary Philosophy." The scratch guitar and bass rumble are just a hint of what's to come. From there, it's all the joy, pain, sunshine and rain of Badu's life story laid out in lively r & b grooves padded with jazzy piano riffs, ethereal flute and funky scat singing. "AD 2000" recalls Minnie Riperton, with its sparse acoustic guitar and willowy vocal. Stephen Marley proves a gruffly romantic sparring partner on "In Love With You" and Roy Ayers and Roy Hargrove contribute fizzy vibes and frothy trumpet sounds to "Cleva" and "Booty" respectively. Although Badu goes on a little too long, the music is enough to make even the staunchest NRA opponent want to pick up this "Gun."
— Sarah Rodman
Dan56 (talk) 23:51, 30 October 2009 (UTC)
Orphaned references in Mama's Gun
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Mama's Gun's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.
Reference named "ReferenceA":
- From Baduizm: https://www.billboard.com/artist/erykah-badu/chart-history/
- From Jazz fusion: Available online at: https://www.allmusic.com/explore/style/d299
- From Jazz: Manuel, Peter (2009: 69). Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
- From Billie Holiday: Lady Sings the Blues, p. 95.
I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT⚡ 14:17, 18 September 2014 (UTC)
External links modified
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External links modified
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GA review
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
- This review is transcluded from Talk:Mama's Gun/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Nominator: Bronx Langford (talk · contribs) 20:42, 7 September 2025 (UTC)
Reviewer: KmartEmployeeTor (talk · contribs) 17:51, 9 December 2025 (UTC)
Will review, ket.
Will be closing this nomination as a
Pass, really well-written! Good job. 11:09 am.
Good Article review progress box
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Did you know nomination
- The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. You can locate your hook here. No further edits should be made to this page.
The result was: promoted by JustARandomSquid (talk) 15:30, 31 January 2026 (UTC)
- ... that Erykah Badu recorded Mama's Gun at Electric Lady's Studio C, which was once Jimi Hendrix's apartment?
ALT1: ... that Erykah Badu's main inspiration for Mama's Gun was her son with André 3000? Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/13/arts/unwrapping-a-new-era-erykah-badu-gets-on-with-the-business-of-creating-herself.html- Reviewed:
Bronx Langford (talk) 23:15, 9 December 2025 (UTC).
| General: Article is new enough and long enough |
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| Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems |
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Hook eligibility:
- Cited:
- I don't see ALT1 in the article. I see that "Badu revealed the meaning behind the title of Mama's Gun to be a metaphor for her being protective of her son Seven", which is not the same thing as the song being inspired by her son. The NY Times source confirms this. - Interesting:

| QPQ: Done. |
Peer review
Mama's Gun
| This peer review discussion is closed. |
I've listed this article for peer review because I would like to nominate it for featured article. It is already a good article and I would appreciate feedback on what's necessary for it to merit FA status.
Thanks, Bronx Langford (talk) 14:42, 30 December 2025 (UTC)
Comments from Z1720
I have added this article to the Template:FAC peer review sidebar, where hopefully it will get more reviews. I recommend that you review other articles at WP:FAC to help get an understanding of the FA criteria and to build goodwill amongst editors. I also recommend that you seek a FA mentor who can give comments and advice on achieving your first successful FAC. Z1720 (talk) 03:53, 27 January 2026 (UTC)
- @Bronx Langford: This PR has been open for over a month without comment. Are you still interested in getting feedback? Z1720 (talk) 03:46, 10 February 2026 (UTC)
- yes, but I haven't sought any mentors out Bronx Langford (talk) 13:26, 10 February 2026 (UTC)
- @Bronx Langford: I would either seek out a mentor or close this PR. Z1720 (talk) 04:07, 11 February 2026 (UTC)