Erykah Badu chose not to make a big deal about the 25th anniversary of Baduizm, her trailblazing debut album. But she is marking the silver jubilee of her second album with “Mama’s Gun ’25: The Return of Automatic Slim.” The tour began in October at the Hollywood Bowl and ends Dec. 10 with a hometown show at Toyota Music Factory.
It’s a well-deserved party. In many ways, Mama’s Gun is a stronger work — jazzier, funkier and deeper. Badu took a steely-eyed look at crime and racial inequality in songs like “Penitentiary Philosophy” and “A.D. 2000.” Then she turned the spotlight on herself, singing about mistakes and heartbreak after her split with André 3000 (“Green Eyes”) and her quest for growth and resilience (“My Life,” “Bag Lady.”)
All these years later, she’s still gaining insight from the album’s lyrics.
“A lot of them … I wrote as a young person and I haven’t even hit some of the messages yet in myself and dug deep into them,” Badu, 54, told The Los Angeles Times earlier this fall. “So it’s been 25 years, but there’s still 14 songs and 14 messages to get through for me.”
Details
8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd., Irving. $75.50 and up, Ticketmaster.com.
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