Erykah Badu is bringing some much needed meditation into this crazy world this weekend. Tomorrow (May 2), the “Bag Lady” singer will lead a guided meditation on NTS Radio’s 24-hour “Remote Utopias” live-stream event.
According to Timeout London, the “radio fest will take place across two live channels, with musicians, DJs, artists and filmmakers from across the globe dishing out exclusive premieres and live audio and video streams.” Jorja Smith, Jonah Hill, Skrillex, DJ Python, Weyes Blood, Four Tet, Duckwrth and more will also be apart of the all-day event.
The Baduizm singer recently launched her own “Quarantine Concert” series to give fans exclusive access to intimate performances from her home. For part two of the series, she charged fans $2 to view her performance. Some fans questioned having to pay to watch her performance online. Badu responded to the criticism by telling her fans that she needed another form of revenue.
“How [the music industry] works is, the artists get about 8 to 20 percent [of record sales], but it’s not paid until the record label recoups the money they loaned to you in the form of an advance, so it’s really not designed for us to become wealthy,” she said. “That’s why we rely on our live shows.”
“We’re not rich people. We just play rich people on TV,” she continued. “This is how we make our living and some of us only have one form of income and that’s shows. I wanted to create another revenue of income and you’re helping me do that in a big way.”
Badu will also go head-to-head with Jill Scott in next week’s “Verzuz” battle. The Instagram Live will be the first time women have competed in the popular duel. The event is set to go down Saturday, May 9 at 7 pm ET.
Check out a preview of what’s to come in Badu’s meditation below.