Mama's Gun

Baduizm has the more-replayable songs, but I'd venture to say this is the better album. So much of what makes this great is how much Badu values patience and expects the same of her listeners. It does spend some of its early runtime in the shadow of its predecessor a bit, and not just including the reprise. But when it finds its wide-open spaces for truths to linger, it's a gorgeous and inimitable work. Rarely do artists show intimacy as something non-exclusive to the sexual.