Then I met this guy, Kedar Massenburg, who was managing D’Angelo at the time, and he understood what I was doing. A couple put me into artist development-a Special Ed kind of thing. We separated and I moved to New York and auditioned for many labels and they didn’t really get it. But in my heart, I didn’t want to be in a group. We took a couple of pictures and we were called Erykah Free-his name was Free. I wrote my first song when I was in a group with my cousin, called 'Apple Tree.' My cousin liked the song he played it for people and they liked it, and I said, 'Alright, another one!'-and on and on, until we had put together a 14-song demo in Dallas in his room. I just didn’t know if it’d be theater or film. I liked singing and any kind of art and I knew this love for art and this practicing would be my career at some point. ** Erykah Badu: **I had been a theater major and a dancer for most of my life, from the time I was 4 years old. GQ: You’re happy with how everything played out? GQ: Would you change anything about the way you handled the start of your career? It only sounds alike because I’m present in all of it.

I don’t have one song that sounds like another one in my entire catalog.

If I can speak for a lot of artists who feel the same way I do, it doesn’t really matter. I think titles in music are mainly constructed to categorize things to sell units.

** Erykah Badu: **It was constructed outside of us.

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